First Day of School (redux)

School started today, this time for my younger child. While I fully expect that tomorrow I will be cajoling and coaxing kids out of bed, this morning, it was no problem.

It also poured rain all day today. In one way that was good, since new clothes always seem to be fall clothes, and it is rarely cool on the first day of school. But rain on the first day of school means juggling raincoats and umbrellas and damp feet and damp backpacks.

This is the last year of elementary school for us. We are so fortunate to have a wonderful elementary school. I am already feeling nostalgic for it. This is a school where people who attended it as children are now sending their children there, who have the same teachers they had. It is a community (one we only borrow for school, since we live 8 miles away) that supports the school -- residents who haven't had a child in elementary school in decades will attend the concerts and the spaghetti dinner and the ice cream social.

 

The middle school, an excellent school, is in the same community, and receives some of the same support, but doesn't have as many of those social opportunities. The kids are older, so they aren't as interested in having parents look at their work hanging on a wall. They have moved on to other, more esoteric, things for which they seek praise and approval. I will give it, but I will miss seeing the 1 page reports with a half page drawing. So school is on again. My older one is already into the routine, for, of high school, and it won't be long before my younger one is, too. And all too quickly we will be attending the little 5th grade "graduation" ceremony, and elementary school will be a memory.

White Christmas

Sometimes it's the little things in life that give us the most satisfaction.

My 14-yr-old started  high school yesterday, my husband won a 10-day rally to the Arctic Circle, and my nephews both had great performances in their opening high school varsity football game.

But what is really making me happy is knowing that "White Christmas" will be released on Blu-Ray in November.

Shot in VistaVision, small screen has never really done the film justice. Laserdisk and DVD come pretty close -- I cried the first time I saw it on laserdisk, because it was the first time I saw it full ratio instead of pan and scan, and I realized there were extras dancing their hearts out I'd never seen before.

But blu-ray, high def and multi-channel sound (the original was released in mono...) will give us the experience the film makers probably dreamed of but never thought they'd quite capture.

So pop some popcorn, makes some hot cocoa, put out a platter of liverwurst sandwiches, and pull out those ski sweaters. I can't wait.

The End of an Era

On Monday night, my elder "graduated" from 8th grade.

Her middle school has a tradition of a recognition ceremony conducted somewhat like a graduation, in the gymnasium. There are student speakers, a speech by the principal, the choir sings, and each student is called by name and given a certificate of completion, along with any other honors they have earned. At the end, there is a tradition of showing a DVD with photos of all the 8th graders.

It was another cool night (but no rain until later!), which isn't a bad thing for graduations. Certainly it was plenty warm in the gym (also a kind of a graduation tradition). The class, for the most part, dressed up -- Several of the boys were in sport coats, many in ties. The girls all wore dresses, and the overall effect was nice, although some of them looked inappropriate for a night club. And many pairs of high heeled shoes were off the feet by the end. Ours wore character dance shoes, and was perfectly comfortable.

The middle school is named for the first chief of an American Indian tribe, and each year one of his descendents attends and gives a small present to the 8th graders. This year, instead, the school was presented with a framed ceremonial (canoe) paddle in their honor. It will hang in the school in lasting tribute to the class.

After the ceremony, a dance party was held in the Commons -- they entered on a red carpet, with papparazzi snapping their photos as they went in. No word on whether or not they were working cameras.

It was a bittersweet evening. You see, our elder is attending a private high school. While a few students from her middle school will be there, for the most part they will not. And I will not see some of the parents I have come to admire and value any more. I was sad to say goodbye, and had to explain that it isn't the academics but the distance (it's a 1 1/2 hr school bus ride to the high school -- the private school is 10 minutes from our house). Well, there is also the smaller class sizes and higher number of students focused on going to college. But mostly, it's the distance.

It's amazing to think that 14 years ago we were new parents in a constant state of panic, wondering what kind of person she would turn out to be. Now we know. And we couldn't be prouder.

Is it Finally Summer?

It was sunny and in the upper 70s today.

Okay, so it's June,  you say, and that's pretty normal. Sure it is, except that it's been rainy and 50s for the past two weeks.

But finally, summer appears to be ready to arrive. The forecast even predicts that the next five days will be rainless. But we'll see.