“I couldn’t help thinkin’ if she was as far out o’ town as she was out o’ tune, she wouldn’t get back in a day.”
The rain arrived sometime after 1:30. At 5 I woke up and could hear drops hitting the window. I don’t know how long it rained, but it rinsed away all the humidity and heat. This morning is a delight. The deck is dappled with sunlight. The air is dry and cool. All the windows and doors are open letting in the feel and smell of fresh air. Gracie is sleeping on the rug by the front door. She knows a good thing.
I sing but am always off tune. I wish I weren’t. Mostly I sing at home or in the car. I never sing in front of people. In the third grade I was told to mouth the words during the May procession. I was eight. Luckily that never dampened my love for music. I still remember that nun, Sister Eileen Marie, who was one of my favorites until that fateful practice. She was the only nun who let my dog stay in the classroom when he followed me to school. With other nuns, I had to leave school to take him home which was actually sort of fun. It was permission to take a field trip of my own, just the dog and me. My mother was always surprised.
Duke slept on a rug on the floor under the clock. Our classroom was in the cellar of the rectory as the school had run out of rooms and no one knew except us that Duke was allowed to stay. I thought that pretty neat, like we had a mascot. We had tables instead of desks, and the windows were high up and small like cellar windows are. We entered through a door beside the garage as the cellar was mostly above ground. We were the only class not in the school, and I loved having a private room. I loved the tables and folding chairs instead of desks. We piled our books and supplies in front of us down the middle of the tables. We had our own bathrooms: one for girls and one for boys and it was one at a time like a real bathroom. There were no bells. In the old building a student would stand on the top floor and ring a hand bell to tell us to change subjects, eat lunch or go home. In the cellar we kept an eye on the clock especially as we got closer to the end of the school day. We didn’t want to stay an extra minute.
The next year we were back in the old building on the top floor. We were one among many. It just wasn’t as fun.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: May procession, my dog Duke, ringing bells
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September 7, 2014 at 12:11 pm
We’ve had a rather wonderful day here, the kitchen door has been open all day and even now in the evening it’s warm and nice outside. Tonight some time the rain will arrive and it might mean thunder storms too.
We had the same class room from grade one to grade three and the same classroom from grade four to grade six and we just moved down one floor from third to fourth grade. I liked it upstairs though, the classroom was a bit smaller and the ceiling was broken (I think You call that anyway) when it leans the same way indoors as outdoors from a low point at the floor.
The bathrooms were in the cellar an no kid went there willingly 🙂 So I have absolutely no idea how it actually looked down there 🙂 🙂 The school still exists and it must be almost 200 years old by now.
Have a great day!
Christer.
September 7, 2014 at 3:20 pm
Christer,
Today feels chilly compared to the whole of last week. I just shut the window behind me. It may get a slow as 59˚ tonight.
We were the baby boomers, and there were so many of us that each grade had about 70-80 kids so they had to have two of each grade and the school quickly ran out of space. They started building a new school and we were bussed to another town for a year.
There wasn’t anything wrong about the basement except it was the lowest spot in the building and had no windows.
My school is about 110 hers old, at least the original building is. We called that the old school. Te new school was opened in 1958.
Have a great evening!
September 7, 2014 at 12:56 pm
My singing is like the title of the song “The One Note Samba”. I have no musical talent and no rhythm. My singing voice only sounds good to me when I am in the shower and alone in the house. In elementary school I attempted to play the trumpet and the piano. I had no success at either. Now I tell people that I can only play the iPod. That’s a step up from my previous musical foray playing the stereo. 🙂 However I love music and carry a wide variety on my iPad.
Ok, what’s a rectory? Is it similar to a convent? You have to define these Catholic terms for we of other faiths. A Baptist might think a rectory has something to do with a medical examination. 🙂 “I went to the doctor and he wanted to perform a rectory examination and I told him to leave my rectory alone”.
Yesterday was our best chance of rain until later in the week. We only received a little thunder without any of the wet stuff as the isolated cells passed by my location. Ft. Worth got flooded in some areas.
September 7, 2014 at 3:24 pm
Bob,
I could join you in a choir which would have kids crying and dogs barking. Mine never sounds good to me, but I do love singing to favorite songs. I tell people I played the triangle which I did in the rhythm band when I was little.
Rectory wasn’t originally a Catholic word. It comes from England and the Angelican church but is used by both religions to describe where ministers and priests live.
It rained last night, but I have no idea how much we had. I tend to think it wasn’t much compared to off-Cape.
September 7, 2014 at 1:57 pm
Hi Kat,
We had T-storms yesterday evening. It rained off and on during the night but by early morning it was done. I got showered on a little while walking the dogs but that was from a spawn following us through the canopy and knocking droplets off the leaves.
I sang in the church choir and the high school girls chorus. I’ve done solo performances in front of hundreds of people. My voice was good but eventually it succumbed to repeated bouts of bronchitis. I can’t stand my voice now. But I still do sing because it’s second nature to me. I just cringe a lot. 🙂
It’s such a lovely day I feel as though I should be outside doing SOMETHING. But all I really want to do is order a steak bomb pizza and keep on reading my murder mystery. I can see the lovely day through the window. 🙂
Enjoy the afternoon.
September 7, 2014 at 3:30 pm
Hi Caryn,
The spawn did it on purpose. They are like that, those spawns!
I didn’t think we’d get rain as it was supposed to be in the afternoon but was in Monday’s early morning instead. It wasn’t a whole lot. We could use some more.
I always cringed when I sang. Now i don’t care. I just sing around the house anyway. My sister was in the Reading Chorus for a long time. I used to go to her concerts. She had solos every now and then.
I was on the deck for a bit but my feet got too cold so I came inside. No guilt if I do nothing. I got over that a long while back. The steak bomb pizza sounds good!
Have a most enjoyable evening.
September 7, 2014 at 6:39 pm
Boom Boom out go the lights
More goofy weather, power still out for many, we were lucky, there you go. The Daily Mail were predicting snow in parts of Michigan on Tuesday….oh good grief, why are the Brits predicting our weather.
September 7, 2014 at 8:05 pm
My Dear Hedley,
Some towns in Mass. also ran into electrical problems. The wind was so strong it blew trees down on wires and poles.
How long was it out?
I guess extreme weather makes a splash all over the world! Snow now is just too difficult to comprehend. It is far too soon though the hail a couple of weeks ago was amazing. I don’t ever remember that happening before.
September 7, 2014 at 8:42 pm
Kat, it ripped in on Friday night and we were lucky enough to keep power. Some may stay out until Wednesday
September 7, 2014 at 9:33 pm
MDH,
The news had pictures of the damage from the storm in your area as it was far stronger then. It didn’t make it to Boston until Saturday afternoon but there was still plenty of damage though I don’t think the electricity will be out as long as to Wednesday.
September 7, 2014 at 11:27 pm
It’s Throwback Sunday with Keep The Coffee Coming circa 2005. Wonder how many visitors understand what I’m talking about?
September 8, 2014 at 9:39 am
im6,
I figure the early Coffee family will know.
September 8, 2014 at 12:43 pm
No idea what im6 is referring to
September 8, 2014 at 3:48 pm
My Dear Hedley,
Think about the music posting for today and think back to the early days of Coffee.