Greetings again from St. Paul.  It's been a rollercoaster ride here as my mother has spent the last eight days recovering from surgery.  It's been more difficult than we had hoped it would be, but as of yesterday she's moved to a rehabilitation unit at the hospital.  The next few weeks will involve intense speech, physical, and occupational therapy to try to get back her usual capabilities.  There's reason to hope she'll recover fully, but also lots of opportunity for worry....

    My sister and I have been trading bedside shifts at the hospital.  In my off hours, I've been correcting the proofsheets for the translation of Natsume Soseki's Theory of Literature and Other Critical Writings.  Now I'm working on the book's index.   It should come out from Columbia University Press this December.  In my mind, the book will always be linked to my mother's illness.

   I'll be heading back to Chicago this weekend to help out with the move into our new home there as well as to take care of other accumulated business.  Then it will be back up to Minnesota.  As things stabilize here, I hope to resume blogging a bit more regularly:  it'll be something of a novelty to string words together just for the sheer pleasure of it.