Autumn closing in

I had my annual back to school dream last night, so I guess it's official. It was fourth block, the first day of school and I had a College Prep class. It was a basement classroom with no windows. There were posts and a cabinet between the front of the room and the desks, so I couldn't see several of the seats from where ever I was standing. I hadn't assigned seats, kids were coming and going, and I had to scrounge around the room for well-worn materials.

The reality is that I have two low level classes with 20 and 25 students each. I usually have between ten and fifteen students in a class like that. My dream refers to my fourth block CP class because after those two Standards classes, I'll be worn down and not as on top of things as I should be. I also refers to the fact that I change classrooms throughout the day adds to my fatigue and confusion. It's going to be a long year.

Anna finally got her senior portraits done today. I don't think they were great, but they're done. I can't say I'm looking forward to seniors at school and a senior at home. Again, it's going to be a long year.

I guess it could be worse. I could have freshmen.

Twere with a defeated joy

I survived a day of back to school shopping with all three of my kids today. Everybody got shoes, and the boys got most of their clothes. Of course Anna didn't find anything she liked. There is a trip to American Eagle in our future for her. Then we hit Staples for the school supplies, McDonalds for lunch and then we headed home. It pretty much wiped me out physically and financially. I just realized, however, that this may well be our last en masse back to school shopping trip. I'm not sure if I should celebrate or cry.

...."Twere with a defeated joy-
with an auspicious and one dropping eye...
In equal scale weighing delight and dole..."

Sorry, I can never resist a little Hamlet.

The Salem County Fair

Last night George, Conor, Sean and I went to the Salem County Fair. Anna stayed home to veg on the computer. I think it has been five or six years since we last went to the fair. It's good to see that some things haven't yet changed. George won the boys prizes with his basketball skills. Sean fed the goats and is apparently the next horse whisperer. Two horses came up to him and paid him all kinds of attention. We saw cows, horses, bunnies and sheep. There were restored tractors and cars. Afterwards we had burgers and ice cream at Richmonds. It was a real Salem County experience.

Luckily, George's business trip to California that was scheduled for today was cancelled. George has some real airplane issues and I can only imagine what would happen if he had gone to the airport this morning to find the mess created by these terrorist threats. His trip has been rescheduled for next week in Atlanta.

I would have posted more in July, but the entire month was taken up with doctor, dental, etc appointments. It was very boring to say the least. So far August has been relaxing. I have been logging lots of "on the bank" time watching Sean swim and take the raft in the river. I'm trying to resist the back to school crush/rush and focus on enjoying these last couple of weeks.