22 August …

 

We are still having smoke.  It hadn’t been too bad the end of last week and we actually saw blue sky monday, but … yesterday was a bad one and this morning isn’t any better.  We seem to be hanging in limbo between summer and autumn.  Colour change is slow.

There was a post on Facebook this morning which advised throwing stones at the smoke to make it dissipate.  Maybe I’ll try that.

No pictures this week.  Too much smoke.

Temperatures are dropping.  That’s good.  It makes sleeping more comfortable.

The rooster starts crowing about 0430, but it isn’t light until after 0600.  We’re getting one or two eggs a day even though they aren’t due to start laying for another two weeks.  And they can be closed in by 1945.

Five weeks to Equinox.

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School started yesterday.  Paul is a first grader now and the first impression of his teacher is that she is a “teacher”.  It should be a good year.  He came home tired, but this morning all was well.

Kamille is tutoring her autistic student again.  He is in fourth grade now so they are at the middle school. 

I don’t understand the break now between elementary and second school.  It’s not like it was when I was in school.  Then the elementary was K thru 6, middle was 7 thru 9, and high was the rest. Now elementary is K thru 3, middle 4 thru 8, and high the rest. 

I guess 4-4-4 makes more sense than 7-3-3.  But considering maturity, maybe not.

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I am still reading Agatha Christie’s Poirot stories and started reading Louise Perry’s Gamache stories.  Christie is always an easy read.  I am trying to decide if the Gamache ripoff of Poirot is worth it.

Also still reading about Washington’s spies during the Revolutionary War.  I wonder if the DAR would consider descent from one of those men as acceptable for membership.  It would seem they should qualify as “Patriots”.

And the third book currently on the reading stand is a James Rollins novel, written over a decade ago, which includes information about a new ice age as the result of the breakup of the Arctic ice sheet.  Interesting since current headlines are speaking of the Arctic ice disappearing with breakups larger than have ever been recorded.

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Fresh produce tailgate giveaway was yesterday.  This month it was zucchini, shredded iceberg lettuce, cauliflower, coleslaw mix, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, and cantaloupe.

We will be having zucchini fritters, zucchini bread, steamed cauliflower, raw cauliflower, cauliflower fried with melted cheese, salads and slaw, sharing cantaloupe with the chickens, and learning how to cook eggplant.

Not as many folks as last month.  Guess the smoke got to ‘em.

~~~

A classmate of Mark’s is a vocal musician and leads a summer chorale.  They will be giving their season-end concert/recital friday night at the church Mark and Kamille attend.  Mark has heard them practice and says they are amazing.  The family will be going.

~~~

And that seems to all for this week.  Politics are crazy.  Weather is crazy. Rooster crow is crazy.  Maybe throwing stones at the smoke will work.  Just might be crazy enough.

 

What a beautiful thing to be able to say “I fell apart, yet I survived.”

 

 So … ‘til next week …