They Make Me Feel Like Dancing

I didn't bring my camera last night as Mike and I watched members of the 23rd Army Band rock band play a concert in Tooele Park. I wished for it as we watched tiny children running, jumping, twirling and tumbling in time to the music - or not. There was a pair of little boys, maybe 5 or 6 years old, using a set of bleachers as a jungle gym. The smaller boy was agile and graceful. The larger child desperately wanted to keep up with his friend, but couldn't quite get the knack of skipping down four steps and jumping over the fifth to the grass. He would stand at the top and lean out like a baby bird contemplating its first flight, then take a staggering first step and stop, second step, stop, third step, fourth step, stop and consider whether the distance to the grass, and then a careful fifth step before hopping to the ground.
Speaking of baby birds - it's Peregrine falcon season in SLC. Good luck to "Early Bird." You can read more about him here: www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_12717742 (sorry, "insert link" isn't working for me today.)

Being Bored

Well, I'd like a day or two to get bored this summer. It's not happening. A list of things that I've done this summer so far - and recall that summer didn't start for me until June 10th.
1. Our washer went out and we had to go shopping for a new one. The old one was at least 16 years old. So we bought a new set which precipitated number 2 -
2. We had to change out the door to the laundry room because the old door wouldn't clear the new washer's door. That caused us to have to do number 3 -
3. Buy paint and paint a new door and door frame.
4. I went to the dentist for a cleaning where they cleaned off a gold crown. Literally. Now I need a new one. So I went in again for them to prepare the tooth and am still waiting for the final appointment.
5. Cory started having difficulty going up and down stairs. $750 later she is better, has about six fewer teeth, and does not have a herniated disk as we feared.
6. Kimmi, who has been in Spain on a semester abroad decided belatedly that spending an extra week in Madrid with two other young women from her class was a bad idea. She decided this after they spent several very late nights out drinking and gleefully told her just how much cheaper drugs were in Spain. I think she made the right choice, but it was too late to change her flight and send her home early, so we spent two days online with each other setting up a week in London for her so she could visit an old high school friend (who hopefully does not stay out past 2 am and do drugs.)
7. After two years I got word that the people at Qwest who provided a grant for our fifth grade now wants a report on how we spent our money. They wanted the report yesterday. I had to go back into work to find the materials I needed to make the report. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful to Qwest for the money and we used it well. I just didn't need one more job right now.

Well, that's about it for my first quiet weeks of vacation. I'm looking forward to those boring days sometime in the future.

School's Out for the Summer

Isn't that a song? The kids left yesterday at about 12:45. Well, more like 12:40 since I heard the wrong bell and let them loose. This group bolted for the door and most didn't look back. I forget that when it's a hard year for me it's often a hard year for them as well. Meanwhile, my partner across the way spent fifteen minutes after school crying and hugging her group. Don't know which is worse - hating to see them go or having them hate to stay. Next year there will be only two fifth grade classes, so we each have about 30 students. That's a huge increase over the 18 I had this year. I'll miss the calm that a small class brings. The most rotten part is that the classes could get bigger and there would be nothing we could do. Once the number of teachers is set it takes an atom bomb to make the district change anything, even if it's blatently obvious something NEEDS changing. Still, I have a whole two months to recover (Yeah, it's the 10th and I go back on August 12th or so. Though school doesn't start for kids until later in the month.)