Hooray for school spirit!

The elementary school across the street from my house held it's annual walkathon today, a fundraiser that to my mind far outshines selling candy bars or cookie dough. Drums began beating at 7:15 as the local high school marching band warmed up, police cars were everywhere. I sat on the porch and then on the steps by the sidewalk, enjoying the chaos. The police cars, with lights flashing, blocked streets; a balloon archway went up over a side street, marking the finish line; people in mostly red shirts (the official walkathon shirt was white by Lily B. shirts are red) hurried toward the school in record numbers; folks I knew waved at me. You could sense the happiness and excitement in the air, and I could certainy sense it in Jacob, as he prepared for his second walkathon with his dad accompanying him.

It seemed to take them a long time to get organized, so I snuck inside to dab on some makeup, or make the bed. Every time I went back out it still seemed chaos, so I'd go back in to do one more thing. The result of course was that I missed a chane to get a picture of  "my boys," but I got them in the driveway as they headed to the school, and I got one of the mass of people heading out through the neighborhood. Christian sent me the adorable one of Jacob's first-grade class in front of the school sign.
In my excitement at catching father and son in the driveway, I managed to get a terrific shot of Jacob's feet and a video no less of my feet walking. Jacob tells me sometimes, "Reading is just not my thing." Well, Jacob, photography is just no my thing. But I keep trying.
Jacob is blessed, as my kids were, to attend  neighborhood school with great spirit and great parent involvement--and his own parents are very involved. Tonight they will all three go to Spirit Night, an event with bounce houses, food, and other attractions. I'm glad those days are behind me, but I'm glad that Jacob and his family are enjoying them.
And I loved the excitement and chaos this morning.

My day started with marching drums about 7:30 in the morning. Sophie got so excited we had to go out on the porch early and listen to the drums--which can get rather repetitive, especially before you've had coffee. But there's something really neat about an elementary school that puts on a neighborhood walkathon instead of selling candy to raise funds--there was so much school spirit. The majority of parents marched with their children, and the Paschal HIgh School Band led the way, behind police cars with flashsing lights. Parents and children alike wore their red Lily B. Clayton T-shirts, and you could feel the excitement in the air. Jacob is lucky to go to this very special school. It was a long day for him, because tonight was family fun night, complete with hot dogs, face painting, bounce house, super-high slides, and all that kind of thing. His mom is out of town on business and pouting about missing all the fun.
I on the other hand had a relatively easy day--after I could get my car out of the driveway, when the parade festivities were over, I ran a couple of errands, did odds and ends, ate an early lunch and had a good nap. Jacob spent the afternoon at the neighbors' playing with three-year-old Abby. They created sidewalk art, of  which he was very proud. I got to stay home and clear stray junk off my desk. By the time his dad arrived to take him to family night, I was able to settle down and get some good solid writing time. Just wish I knew where this novel is going.

One of those days

Since retiring I've fallen into the habit of sleeping until abut eight o'clock--I wake about seven and doze as long as the dog, cat, and my bladder will let me. It's a delicious time, and my thoughts wander all over the good things in my life and what plans I have for the day. But this morning, at 7:45, I was blasted out of bed--literally--by the boom of marching drums. They were coming from the schoolyard across the street, and I finally got myself together enough to go out, get the paper, and see what was going on. Crowds of people were gathering on the lawn, then a sheriff's car pulled up with lights flashing, and pretty soon an inflatable arch went up over the side street. I finally figured out it was a walkathon, fund-raiser for the school (probably when first awakened I'd have donated money to get them to stop the drums but once I was up and about, I sort of liked them). Of course, the dog and cat went crazy--the dog demanding to go out, the cat demanding to be fed, and me deciding going to the bathroom was my first priority. I finally got everyone settled down, fed, and where they belonged. When I left for the grocery store, there was a police car almost but not quite blocking my driveway. The woman driving it moved it a bit, but it was still tricky getting out of the driveway without scraping a police car--now that would have been a nightmare.
The day went that way--I got tangled in a bunch of e-mails, a long conversation with Jordan about Kindle--she was relaying everything I said to a colleague until I finally said I felt like I was talking to a parrot. Had a delightful lunch at Nonna Tata (country Italian) with Susan and Melinda, then back to the computer. I spent a lot of time creating an author page on Kindle, and it was three o'clock in the afternoon before I read the morning paper, usually the first thing I do in the morning.
The rest of the day went okay--a nap, a bike ride, feeding animals (again! with the cat it's a constant process!), dinner making salad out of leftover salmon from last night with an added bit of gravlax I had on hand (made an interesting salad). Tonight I posted my short story collection on Smashwords which puts things on all kinds of e-platforms. I know I did both that and Kindle without following format instructions, so they are in less than ideal shape, but they're up and running--my usual impatience with tech instructions.
Tonight I've had it. I'm doing something I never do--watching TV: Dateline, to be followed by a Food Network show featuring a local restaurant. Sometimes it's good to chill.