Things have been quite busy as is usually the case during the semester. Advising is now over, and while I do like talking to the students, it is a bit exhausting.
I finished another book review and now must turn to writing an abstract on Maria Sibylla Merian, specifically her book about the insect world on Surinam: in German simply "Das Insektenbuch" -- with the subtitle: "Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium." It was published first in Dutch, since Merian lived in Amsterdam. I'm not quite sure how to tackle this project--I love the book, the illustrations are wonderful. One interesting aspect of her biography is that she became involved, after moving away from her husband from whom she was estranged, with a an early pietist religious community, the so-called "Labadists" named after their founder Jean Labadie. She lived on a plantation in Surinam under the protection of the Labadist community, and before going to Surinam had moved to their community in Friesland.
After the abstract is done I will tackle the Bettine article that needs to be revised before being sent to a new journal. I'm hoping to get that done before my sister and Ralf come to visit on May 1st. I might be being a bit ambitious here, but I do want to "turn it around" quickly! I'm looking forward to their visit, the last time she was in the States, was in 1998 for my wedding and when she was enroute to New Zealand, where she was moving to from Germany. (Ralf followed her there soon after but they moved back to Germany in 2003).
It would be realy cool if I could finagle some travel out of the Merian project--Surinam, Amsterdam....hmmmm.
Now on to more mundane things like breakfast!
