“How sweet I roamed from field to field, and tasted all the summer’s pride.”
The day is warm at 71°. My birds have been busy at the feeders all morning. The chickadees, my stalwarts, have been replaced by a catbird, goldfinches, cardinals, titmice, Baltimore orioles and nuthatches. A blue jay drops by and scares away the smaller birds so I shoo him off once he’s had his fill. Sometimes I think I must be watching a Disney cartoon. Yesterday I saw a nuthatch fill up on seed then he flew to a nearby branch and fed another nuthatch, just as large so probably not a baby. The cardinal pair are the same. He feeds her the seed. I keep expecting music and ribbons and the sounds of tweeting birds and fluttering wings.
IGNORE THIS (EXCEPT FOR THE NEW PICTURE PART)! Coffee has a new look because the other theme was too difficult to work with when saving pages. The old posts didn’t appear in their entirety. This header space is too short for the other picture so I used a another one, also sent to me by Morphy. He was kind enough to do three or four different pictures for Coffee when I moved to WordPress. All that’s new is the picture, but I’m still looking for a theme which allows me to copy the posts without spending hours.
This morning has already been far too busy for me. Usually I loll around with coffee and the papers then I switch to coffee and a book. This morning I have already changed my bed, done a wash, put the trash in the car and swept the kitchen floor. I’m exhausted.
School is finished here for the summer on Wednesday, and I don’t have to imagine how those kids will feel as I still remember celebrating my last days of school. They always filled me with a sense of freedom, with an I can do anything I want feeling. The whole summer was mine, at least it was until the summer after I graduated from high school when I got my first job, and I would have one every summer after that until I graduated from college.
I spent those kid summers sweaty and dirty and loved every minute of them. I rode my bike everywhere. I was gone from early morning until near dinner time. The uniform of the day was always shorts, a sleeveless blouse and sneakers. Gas stations were pit stops and so were the woods. The town had lots of woods back then, and we’d ride on the pine needle covered paths with trees shading us on each side. I remember a spring in the woods where people brought bottles to fill. We’d put our sweaty heads under the running water to cool down then we’d jump back on our bikes. We still had much more world left to discover.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: Bird, coffee, school's out, summer vacation
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
June 20, 2011 at 11:57 am
I cannot believe how late your schools there get out! This is LATE!
s
June 20, 2011 at 12:26 pm
s,
They don’t start until after Labor Day which was September 6th so school didn’t start until the 8th then you have to add snow days.
June 20, 2011 at 12:12 pm
Hi kat,
White on black and red all over is a bit hard on the old eyes.
Love the header!
School doesn’t get out here until June 29, I think. Snow days are lots of fun in the dead of winter but not so much fun when they have to be made up in the balmy days of June.
The nuthatch could be a baby. I see the House sparrows surrounded by their begging babies who are just as big as Mom and Dad but apparently clueless about how to find something to eat. A bit like some teenagers I know. 🙂
Today I am doing nothing much because I did a lot over the week end and will have to do stuff tomorrow. I did do the dishes and water the plants. But that’s all I’m doing.
Have a great day.
June 20, 2011 at 12:35 pm
Hi Caryn,
I went back to the old one but kept the header, but it is a problem still as I can’t really copy my postings unless I do one page at a time. That is a part of the current (old) theme. It takes forever to do. I do get the difficulty with the color so I went back, but I need to find one which will work for all of us.
I wondered about the baby, but it flew off on its own a couple of times so I figured it was just a bit too independent.
June 29th was when school got out here a few years ago because of so many snow days.
I think you did enough. Now I’m heading to the deck though the clothes are still in the drying wrinkling as I write.
June 20, 2011 at 2:45 pm
The day started out with fog and sunshine, then only sunshine and to end with rainfalls and thunder 🙂
I did look a long time to see any difference in the appearance of Your blog only to read that You changed it back again 🙂 🙂 🙂
The schools are out for summer since last week over here and they will begin in early august.
I always looked forward to go to my friends house by the sea for at least four weeks every summer 🙂 When I got older i rode my bike there as soon as I could ( it was around 35 miles on a heavy trafficked road 🙂 and it was worth it 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
June 21, 2011 at 12:06 am
Christer,
It was another beautiful day here, a deck day. Tonight is chillier and perfect for sleeping.
I did-sorry there was no change, but I do need to find one.
We (in this part of the country) never begin in August. In other parts of the country they have air-conditioning so they can start early.
35 miles for a 4 week vacation by the beach is well worth the ride!
June 20, 2011 at 6:53 pm
those were the days Kat. I loved every minute of my childhood. It’s a different feeling with kids today.
they are sooo protected and spend most of the day making sure they are in safe harbor.
June 21, 2011 at 12:07 am
Z&Me,
It is different for kids today, and the world too is different. I think we were the lucky ones who still lived in an innocent world.
June 20, 2011 at 6:59 pm
Until two years ago independent school districts in Texas could set their own yearly calendar. Our district used to begin the summer break the weekend of Memorial Day and the kids returned the second week in August. They also would get a one week fall break in October. This calendar was wonderful because all the schools are air-conditioned and vacation resorts are not as hot or as crowded in October as in August. Unfortunately, the State Legislature got involved and required by law that the districts start back to school the fourth week in August which killed the fall break. Six Flags and the summer camp lobby went to work on the legislators to return to a ‘more traditional’ summer break.
Who cares that educationally a longer break requires more remediation in the fall. I think we need to have year round public school. Let the family decide when to take the weeks of vacation. The Chinese, Indians (dot not feather) and other countries are going to beat the pants off of us economically because our kids won’t be able to complete in a global market. As it is now the kids only attend school 180 days a year. But we will have the same time off as our parents had in 1958, when the schools were not air-conditioned and the US was an industrial power. Enjoy the long summer break because the Chinese and the Indians are coming to take our kids jobs away.
June 21, 2011 at 12:10 am
Bob,
Some charter schools have longer years but most hold to the 180 days. The teachers” contract doesn’t allow for an August opening. The school dept. tried to get it changed, and the teachers voted no. There is a spring break and a winter break. I think they should just have one in March, but I am the voice crying in the wilderness.
The Cape is a summer resort area, and all the local businesses too screamed at the thought of losing their working force before Labor Day.
I would love to see school go all year.
June 20, 2011 at 10:45 pm
Have to disagree with Bob. I grew up in Texas, went to school there and remember school being out by Memorial Day and starting up after Labor Day. 3 full months of vacation. Seems like most schools end mid-June and start up again mid-August. That’s a full month — a month of summer I’m sure glad I didn’t miss out on. Don’t know that that extra month will make that much difference in the quality of education kids get today. Didn’t seem to hurt me (yeah, I know, that was back in the Dark Ages…). It’s really not about the quantity of time spent learning, it’s about the quality. But that’s a completely different argument… I’m a big advocate for teaching the arts, too. Seems everything’s being cut except for the “essentials,” yet I think arts are essential, too. Ahh… a well- rounded education. How primitive.
June 21, 2011 at 12:13 am
im6,
We start after Labor Day and end in late June here. The graduation requirements include the fine and applied arts, not just the core courses. There is talk now of adding additional courses of each as requirements.
I went to a parochial school, and we had all the holy days off. We also got out in mid-June at the latest. We didn’t go 180 days I’m sure, but I think I was well educated.
June 21, 2011 at 8:20 pm
Until two years ago independent school districts in Texas could set their own yearly calendar. Our district used to begin the summer break the weekend of Memorial Day and the kids returned the second week in August. They also would get a one week fall break in October. This calendar was wonderful because all the schools are air-conditioned and vacation resorts are not as hot or as crowded in October as in August. Unfortunately, the State Legislature got involved and required by law that the districts start back to school the fourth week in August which killed the fall break. Six Flags and the summer camp lobby went to work on the legislators to return to a ‘more traditional’ summer break.
Who cares that educationally a longer break requires more remediation in the fall. I think we need to have year round public school. Let the family decide when to take the weeks of vacation. The Chinese, Indians (dot not feather) and other countries are going to beat the pants off of us economically because our kids won’t be able to complete in a global market. As it is now the kids only attend school 180 days a year. But we will have the same time off as our parents had in 1958, when the schools were not air-conditioned and the US was an industrial power. Enjoy the long summer break because the Chinese and the Indians are coming to take our kids jobs away.
The traditional school calendar was set up in the early years of the last century when we had an agrarian economy and air-conditioning had not been invented. I went to elementary school in the 1950s in Dallas and by Memorial Day it was hot even with the huge fans that were put in back of the classrooms. Our entire public education system is designed for an industrial society with jobs that have been largely moved off shore. We need to have an education system for the information age with emphasis on math, science and critical thinking.
June 21, 2011 at 9:02 pm
Bob,
I have always used the same argument: that our current school year is based on a agrarian society. Kids aren’t in the fields all summer, and, with air conditioning, all year round schools make sense.
The culture is so firmly stuck on the summer off tradition that I don’t see it changing. The hope, at least in this state, is with charter schools. Though public, they can set their own times, length of school year,m dress codes and curriculum. They are what we need.
June 20, 2011 at 11:07 pm
Cheers
June 21, 2011 at 12:17 am
Minicapt,
Sadly, it does often matter.
I admit to the same feeling on occasion. Sometimes I figure it shouldn’t matter.
June 21, 2011 at 8:31 am
back from the beach, we spent the hottest week of the Summer (there so far)
driving down through Alabama we saw a bit of the tornado devastation, so hard to believe more people weren’t injured and a great reminder to keep sending a bit to the Red Cross when possible, it will be a long struggle.
So happy to catch up with everyone’s news on here, trying to go through the pile of photos i took and get those on smugmug soon. Missed you all!
June 21, 2011 at 10:43 am
splendid,
Welcome home!
Nothing much happened while you were gone. The weather got warmer, and I’ve been on the deck every day. The birds are hungry critters, but I love watching them. Soon enough it will be movie time.