Posted tagged ‘last day of school’

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“You get what anybody gets – you get a lifetime.”

June 29, 2017

I have been sitting here cursing aloud since 11 am. My computer stuck on the WordPress starting page and refused to go any further. I shut it down a couple of times, but the restart was still stuck. I have renamed my computer Hal.

Gracie has become a Hobbit in her eating habits. She snacks when she wakes up, constantly demands treats when she comes inside the house and has already had her elevenses.  Her afternoon and evening meals will be starting soon.

The day is breezy and cloudy. Every now and then the sky lightens, but the clouds don’t disappear. Rain is not in the forecast through the weekend.

This morning kids screaming woke me up. It was the brood from down the street. They go out and play before the school bus comes. It seems their play must be accompanied by screams, not words, just screams. They left and I fell back to sleep.

Most of the caterpillars must now be Gypsy moths. There is much less poop on the deck. (That sounds a bit nautical, but then it is Cape Cod.) I’ll be glad when the deck stays clean. I watered all the flowers out there this morning. I haven’t yet put down the rug or started the fountain. They’re for another day.

The spawns of Satan are at it again. Last night I noticed my new lights on the end of the deck weren’t lit. I went to check this morning and found a couple of bulbs chewed off the strand. I’m only sorry the spawns weren’t shocked. I can visualize a cartoon spawn with a bolt of lightning through its body.

When I was a kid, the last day of school was always a half day. We did a bit of room cleaning then we sat around waiting to get our final report cards. Once we had the cards in hand, we all turned to the back side where it said promoted to on the bottom. That’s all we cared about, even more than grades, but then I didn’t know a single person who wasn’t promoted. Bad behavior and poor study habits were never tolerated by the nuns.

Today is a sloth day. I deserve it after two busy days. Leandro and Rosana are here cleaning the house. Lee also fixed a cabinet for me and hung a shelf. He is quite a talented fix-it-guy.

My larder is filled. I have choices for meals instead of having to scavenge through the fridge and the cabinets. I even had to rearrange to make room. Life is good!

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“Seven a.m. on the first day of summer vacation was, to her mind, a dangerous time to be awake. Even God had to be sleeping in.”

June 16, 2016

Gracie news first: all went well. The lump was removed, and the vet found a second one which was also removed. Her loose tooth came out and she got her nails cut. She was excited to be home and immediately ran into the yard. Her tail has yet to stop wagging.

The weather the last few days has been almost perfect. The days have been in the high 70’s and the nights in the mid 50’s. I had coffee and read the papers outside on the deck. The air was perfectly still, not a leaf fluttered. It was quiet. It was also quite warm, already 75˚. When I finished, I came inside to a cool house.

I remember the joy of the first day of summer vacation. I also remember the elation on the last day of school. It was always a half day. It was also the day we got our final report cards. The front with the grades didn’t matter as much as the back. That’s where it said promoted to the next grade. I was never worried but I still checked it right away.

We used to run home from school that day. Running seemed important even though we had the whole summer in front of us. I figure it was us getting away from school as quickly as we could, sort of like putting it in our rear view mirrors.

The best part of summer was going to bed when we were tired and getting up any time we wanted. We lived in shorts, jerseys and sneakers. We still had to wear our Sunday church clothes but only one day of dress-up was bearable.

Summer food was the easiest of all. We had toast most mornings, sandwiches for lunch and something quick and easy for supper. Bologna was my go to it lunch. It was in a roll, and I had to cut pieces. I never did it well. The end of the bologna ended up uneven, and some slices in the sandwich were thick while other were so thin you could just about see through them. I always added hot peppers to mine. They came uncut in a jar. I used to split the peppers, plop them in my sandwich and hold the sandwich with two hands so nothing would fall out.

The other day my groceries came. From the deli I had ordered bologna. It is still my favorite. Sometimes, for old times sake, I add cut jalapeños. Holding on to the sandwich is never a problem any more.

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“I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June.”

June 20, 2012

Hello Summer!

Those words seem almost magical. It wasn’t that long ago we were longing for the summer and trying to stay warm during the dark nights of winter. Our feet froze in the snow. We cursed the shoveling. We huddled on the couch under afghans. Sure, the snow was lovely falling down but then we had to contend with it for days. Would summer never come? Well, here it is in all its glory, and today we’ll usher in the new season with the hottest day so far. Boston will be at least 95°, and here we’ll reach the low 80’s. Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter, but I don’t care! Finally it’s summertime, deck time, movies outside on a Saturday night, barbecues and outside showers.

I was on the deck earlier with my coffee and papers. It got hot. Gracie was in the shade and panting so we both came inside and the house felt wonderfully cool. This room gets the afternoon sun so it’s lovely in the mornings. From my perch here, I can see out my window. The leaves on the trees by the deck are barely moving. The sunlight is dappled. The sky is azure. Mother Nature did herself proud.

The beginning of summer always reminds of all those last days of school when we were finally free. The day felt like a holiday, not as good as Christmas but still high on the list of kids’ favorite days. No more getting up in the mornings and being grumpy at having to walk to school despite the weather. No more coats or hats or mittens or even spring jackets. The bike could stay out of the cellar until it started to get too cold again. Every day for the next couple of months was ours: unplanned and waiting to be filled with all the fun of summer. The street lights didn’t come on until really late so back out we’d go after dinner. I still remember the  sounds of those summer evenings: the shouts and laughter of all the kids in my neighborhood, including me, as the day disappeared and the summer night was upon us. It was time to watch for the fireflies.

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May 13, 2010

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