Last days of vacation

We start on the journey home in the morning. The scenery is so beautiful here. The rolling hills of farmland with the sea in the distance is just perfect. Wildflowers are every where along the side of the roads. We've had some great food, too. All kinds of sea food and fresh vegetables from the island. Prince Edward Island is much bigger than I thought. We are staying in the middle and have driven in every direction to see the sights. One surprise is the red sand. Even the beaches have red sand.
There have been frequent comments about our accents. Most people are just curious. One sales girl today was a little indignant that she couldn't understand us because of our accent. Whatever...
Tomorrow we are driving about 9 hours back to Portland, Maine. Then we'll get up Sunday and take the train back to Boston. May have time to get more Italian cookies before catching the flight home. We'll see.
I'm ready to get back home. Once again there's a long list of things to-do. All I want to do is work on a little quilt with the fabric I found here. Got to get that newsletter done first.

Not a writer yet

Everyone was so complimentary of the short play I dashed off for the camp musical. I had begun to think of myself as a writer. People (children) were going to perform my work. Oh, me! I might have to autograph someone's program. So... the reality wasn't quite like I imagined. Either the acting stunk or the writing was lacking or both. The one adult part was performed by a kid who didn't have a clue, couldn't remember the lines or speak them with expression. They stood in a line and didn't add anything to the script. I added a note giving permission/suggestion to ad lib as needed. Boy, it was needed. Next time I will try to give more directions. I guess they couldn't read between the lines or ad lib.
Tonight is the final night of camp. We got through the week and didn't lose anyone to homesickness-almost, but not quite. This was a good camp but I miss the days when I had outgoing, friendly, talented kids, who kept busy and didn't need much hand holding. The fifth graders have made progress from last year and were asking about other camps and longer camps. Pretty amazing compared to last year.
The singing was very good. The songs were singable and just challenging enough to keep the better musicians interested. The staff was congenial but I miss the guys from years ago. Why do things have to change?
And speaking of change. I don't know if I can deal with another college kid music director at church. I may have to go somewhere else on Sundays and just help with Bible Club and children's choir.

Last Day of Summer School

Yes! Today was the last day of summer school. We had scheduled a field trip to the bookstore to pick out our free books. Brittany mentioned that there was a play area with water spouts at the shopping center, so I told the kids to wear shorts and flip flops, thinking they would just get a little wet. Well, I was WRONG! They got a lot wet. But they had a great time. They liked it as much as going to a pool. One problem-they were so soaking wet, that they were cold the rest of the day. One little first grader came prepared with dry clothes to change into when we got back to school. Next time I will tell them to bring a change of clothes if they want to play in the water.
The bookstore is so nice to give us free books and little snack cups of strawberry smoothie. A few of the kids brought money to buy books. A little kindergartner brought two dollars to buy a book and there were no books for two dollars. She looked so sad after being told every book was more than she had, that I told her I would give her the extra money. She got a girly sticker story book. Happy day! The kids who had perfect attendance got an additional free book thanks to their sweet, book loving teacher (and a reward credit card and teacher discount card).
Now summer can begin. I can sleep late. Go to the pool in the quiet of the early morning. And read, read, read.

Almost over

Tomorrow the ballet competition will be over. They will announce who the winners are. The winners will dance one more time. Then everyone will go home. It has been an interesting competition. The first night of round three, in the middle of a dance, a non-competing partner fell down and couldn't continue. They said he had ruptured a tendon. Ouch! His partner went with him to the hospital, so she didn't finish that dance or dance her contemporary dance. Last night she was able to complete the classical dance with another partner and danced a different modern dance.
Unfortunately yesterday a water main broke and there was no water pressure for most of the day. When I got to the auditorium there were rows of port-a-potties on the east plaza. Our aging pipes need to be replaced. How embarrassing. They are announcing the winners tonight on TV but I will get to see them tomorrow night in person. I have decided next time to buy only one ticket for myself for the competition since I couldn't get anyone to go with me to rounds two and three. For the same money I can get really good seats!

Getto mom at the ballet

Okay, the ballet was going as usual. Dancer performs, then there is a minute or so wait for the judges to mark the points. Next dancer is announced and so on. I think I have already commented that some parents were bringing toddlers to the competition. Well, Evelyn Hart, one of the hosts, was filling up the wait time talking about how hard the dancers' coaches work and how we should give them a round of applause, when getto mom shouted, "He's just a baby, alright!" Then, "I'm not leaving. I bought a ticket," and some other stuff I couldn't quite understand. Then security came out from backstage. All was quiet but how embarrassing. If I had been the next dancer, I would have wondered if another outburst was coming in the middle of my dance. There should be an age limit for those in the audience. Get a babysitter, people.

IBC is in town

The International Ballet Competition is in town for the next two weeks. The opening night was great. The first half was the usual greetings from every official in town and some from out of town. Then Rasta Thomas and the Bad Boys of Dance took stage and really livened things up. There was a packed house, including some crazy folks who brought a whiney toddler. What were they thinking? Even with that distraction just down the row, the dancers were fantastic. In the next to last dance the Bad Boys danced with blow-up dolls. It was Hi-lar-i-ous! Martin was glad he had come.

About to get busier

Yes, it is summer. School is out and we finally got our contracts for next year. Because of budget problems we will work four fewer days next year. Not a bad thing, if you ask me. So, why the title of this post? School is out but summer school started Friday with no prep days. There are field trips to arrange, lessons to prepare, and lost kids to find. Of course, one kindergartner was lost the first day. The bus driver left him at his cousin's house, down the street from his house. His father called me. I called the bus dispatcher, then called the father back. His mom went to look and found him down the street. Yea!
Next problem-will the blackberries be ready by Wednesday? If not, should we switch the movie with the farm or just forget about picking berries? I can't decide. The kids will really enjoy being outside and eating the berries but switching the trips will make my life more complicated.
Ballet competition begins next Saturday. That will make next week busy with afternoon and evening sessions for four days. Cousin will be in town for those days and I will still have to get things together for summer school. Throw in visiting parents at two different locations and it will be a busy week.
Once again my room at school is not really packed up so I need to go there after summer school until it is in better shape. The kids also asked for more games and art materials. Then there are two quilts that need to be finished. Reservations for our trip to Prince Edward Island need to be made. The EEIS newsletter needs to be edited and the officer form for JARC needs to be filled out and sent in. It is only two months late!
Summer should be a time to sit back and relax. What am I doing?