Back to school and not much else

 

This is Jacob, ready for high school, even though it will be remote. He's had his picture taken on the first day every years since kindergarten. This year is a first in several ways.

The first day of school but in such a strange year. My Austin grandsons and my local grandson started remote school today; I am still unsure if the Tomball kids are in the classroom or working form home, but I’m pretty sure their mom, a seventh-grade math teacher, is back in the classroom. Whether it’s remote or not, I don’t know. And the younger of my two Frisco grandgirls started her senior high school  year today. I think about her a lot—your senior year should be one of great adventure, lots of parties, lots of excitement, and I wonder what this year will be for her. I’m not sure if she’s in the classroom or not. Her sister, a senior at Colorado University in Boulder, is taking all remote classes except one lab.

Jacob told me tonight that his remote classes were not a good thing—I forget how he phrased it, but I had read that the Fort Worth ISD had “technical problems,” as did Dallas ISD. Jacob liked the golf team which is new for him this year (I don’t think golf is offered in middle school.) He’s been taking lessons all summer and playing as much as he could. With the high school team, he goes to a golf course some distance from the house for team meetings and practices. Tomorrow is supposed to be his try-out for the team, and he tells me he thinks he’ll do all right but he doubts it will happen. It’s supposed to rain.

I foresee a cutting back on the family dinners we’ve enjoyed ever since we began quarantining. Jacob will have golf though I don’t know how many nights a week, and Christian has begun to have occasional evening meetings for various charitable committees. Perhaps the world is creeping back to some kind of normalcy, even as we still keep our distance. But I will regret losing those family dinners. Tonight I ate alone and had leftovers—a bit of salmon too dry to be eaten alone, so I made it into salmon salad and sided it with cottage cheese.

Tonight in Texas, we are expecting dramatically cooler temperatures—like a high in the eighties tomorrow. Today’s high was ninety-three, and when neighbor Mary and I sat out for happy hour tonight, it was downright pleasant. As I write tonight, at 10:30, we are awaiting rain which was initially supposed to arrive between two and five, then got pushed to eleven. It’s very still tonight and very dark, so I expect the rain is coming. Christian just told me the heaviest rain will be tomorrow. Meantime, we’re seeing pictures of heavy snow in Wyoming, and Denver is under a snow warning. On September 8? Really? The world is really out of whack. But then, we all knew that.

At home the only other news is a couple of small happenings—tonight, Sophie nearly caught her tail on fire. Mary is a magnet for mosquitoes, so Jordan had put a citronella candle right next to her feet. Sophie, being her usual sociable self, came too close and in a minute, we smelled burning hair. I haven’t examined closely, but I suspect there’s some singed hair on that full tail that she wags around.

I have decided I will never master curbside pick-up for groceries. Jordan picked up an order yesterday and came home with four—yes, four bottles of maple syrup. I had been so intent on posting a note to the shopper that I didn’t want the brands online but wanted Central Market’s Organic syrup (from Vermont, I think). We thought the four bottles were a mistake (not a cheap one) and I was prepared to object, when I checked my order and it said four. All I can think of is that I upped the number of lemons to four and somehow got it mixed up. I’m hoping Christian will find lots of maple recipes for grilling salmon.

I’m ready for a change in the pace of life. Maybe the back-to-school feeling in the air gives me the jitters or maybe it’s the increasingly tumultuous political scene, but I have this sense of waiting for something to happen. Something big. Not a completely happy feeling.

Tomorrow is bound to be a better day! Stay safe.