Summer Daze

5 a.m. comes, I awake and decide to stay awake since next week I will have to get up early to drive to Charlottesville, Virginia. Cat is happy because she can go out and check out everything in the dark. I'm trying to set up a decent summer schedule for myself; if I don't, I feel like I have wasted my time off when school starts up again. Does anyone remember how nice it was to waste summer vacation doing absolutely nothing useful except for one's chores? I do, but I'm middle-aged now, and I have a great desire to continue moving in a positive direction.

Well, I go for a walk on the greenway. I like to walk. I get to stretch my legs, meet people moving one way or another, check out nature and architecture, and, most of all, think! I remember one time a male teacher asking me what did women like to do most of all. My answer: women like to think. That was not the answer he expected; he believed that women liked to shop. Obviously, he never noticed that I did almost no shopping. My favorite stores are home centers and fabric stores, i.e. places where I can think and dream plus walk.

After coming home, time for a quick bath in my decades-old claw-foot tub with window open bringing in light, sound, and the smell of summer. One thing about having no air conditioning in my house, I am reminded of summer visits to my grandmother every time a breeze comes through the mosquito netting. I love it, love it, love it!

On to my one hour or more of school work. I drove to the school this morning and took care of several things in about 3 hours, including a few I almost forgot. I laminated my new calendar system for the fall. Although I very strongly believe in the separation of church and state, I feel that people in the public schools have become too paranoid since my new perpetual calendar has no Christmas, Hannukah, Easter, Kwanzaa, etc. placards. At least I have all those from my old calendar, and I will use them with my new calendar.