Both SW and I are trying to make/find/take back extra time outside of our jobs to support “the rest of life,” with SW trying to support both Minnow and Spouse as well as herself. (Has anyone else noticed that, when women academics talk about balance, they tend to mean “work and the rest of life,” and when men academics do, it’s between teaching and research? Not all men… but it seems a pattern…)

Sometimes for me this means giving up on getting work stuff done, and prioritizing other things. This weekend, this meant finding time to visit my young friend Annika, who is rapidly heading towards her 3rd liver transplant, visit family and pick up the rest of our moved stuff that has been sitting in my parents-in-law’s garage for 2 months, meet people at the Scienceblogs 10^6 Comment party, sing a solo in my church choir, and attend the annual Feast of the Hunter’s Moon, at Ft Ouiatenon. (Let me just say, the story of the Native Americans was pretty sanitized.)

This is a lot for us in one weekend – usually I spend half of it working and half of it doing stuff around the house. Doing all this non-work stuff meant my Sunday evening and Monday evening were chock-full of catchup, but I am still glad we made time then. Some photos below the fold.

Windmills and golden soybeans, as we drive in Illinois.

Anni blissed out to “Jenny” (also known as “867-5309″)

Frankie’s favourite is “Hey Julie” and she knows ALL the words.

Frying crocqinolles (I think that’s what they’re called) the old fashioned way at the Feast

Making paper at the Feast

Some people take their setups very seriously

Quite right

There were a huge number of fife and drum corps who played for us, too!

See my whole Feast Flickr set here.

This weekend, my parents are visiting. We’re going to do home improvement projects, maybe go for a walk at a nearby park, and eat lots of good food which will hopefully have leftovers to carry us through the week.

What are you doing this weekend? How do you keep your work-rest of life balance?