My enlarged hiking photo with a frame I made myself.

Day 4: July 4

This was certainly a different kind of Independence Day for me. If anything, it was a day to celebrate my freedom to take time for things other than dissertation writing. When I was in school full-time, I would focus, focus, focus during the semester, and then between semesters, I would create, create, create . . . cross-stitch, carpentry, redecorating projects . . . you name it. I have always needed to balance heavy-duty brain work with something more hands-on. So today, I made this frame. It's not perfect - it's a little crooked, actually - and the mitered corners leave a bit to be desired, but I don't care. It works fine for my purposes.

Next, I'm planning a sewing project. I saw some gorgeous fabric at the quilt shop - white background with butterflies in rainbow colors. It will make a beautiful stole!

My daily schedule has really changed. I used to be a morning person, and I'd be toast by 10:00 p.m. But it seems I do my best writing late into the evening. Last night I worked until after 11:00.

I had some great insights last night, and at one point, I felt directed to pull out my Symbol and Sacrament book by Louis-Marie Chauvet (if you know Chauvet and his writing, you know that this is an extremely dense book). Good old Chauvet! His theories of the symbolic order and the mediation of the body will really help me pull things together. In fact, I think I've discovered a slightly new direction for this whole dissertation. I do believe I've had an epiphany!

I love when that happens!

Oh, have I mentioned how much I hate formatting? I was going to try to format as I go, but it's so darn tedious that I'll wait until the writing is done, then I'll go back and do the formatting. I wish MS Word wasn't so funky.

I also mowed my very unkempt lawn today. My neighbors are happy, I'm sure.