Living in one country and working in another has its quirks. For one, I can never keep both countries' holidays straight. Today is Presidents' Day in the US of A, which means the revision I just submitted to my agency in Chicago triggered an "out of office" auto-reply. Duh. Didn't I vow last year to write down all holidays in my calendar going forward? I guess I thought I knew them by heart after 30+ years, but I don't. Without coworkers to chat with about plans for the long weekend, I'm obviously lost.

But it's not so bad. Now I have a beautiful, late summer afternoon to guiltlessly blog and otherwise putter about, knowing no one in the US will need the one other article on my to-do list for today. It's kind of like an unexpected snow day, without the snow.