On Sabbatical

Writing holiday, sabbatical, はたらきもの, abscondence — whatever you like to call it, that is what I’ll be doing for the next few weeks. I have a number of writing projects that I intend to complete as I make repair to a salubrious island in Thailand for this work.

I’ve been assiduous for the last month and have flown twelve times, been to Singapore, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Vietnam (twice), going through Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport every few days. I’ve spent a Saturday night watching Muay Thai at Lumpini Stadium in Bangkok and spent a crepuscular morning at Manila on the zoysia greens at Wack Wack.

When I spent much of last September writing at Italy I finished about ten articles, including the Greenkeeper International cover story for January 2010, the recently-published article about dandelions, fertilizer, and the Park Grass Experiment for the Green Section Record, and many articles about turfgrass science for Golf Course Seminar magazine in Japan. I’m really excited about the projects I’m working on right now.