New Patio Furniture
Rain
One of our local landmarks, Table Rock park, has been on fire for over a week now. Over 10.000 acres have burned.
And today it finally rained.
Saturday in the Yard
Friday Evening Walk
Through the Blossoms
Cherry trees are blooming in the courtyard between the seventh- and eighth-grade halls. The other day, I walked the kids that way to lunch: it’s out of our way, but I thought I might enjoy some fresh air. Perhaps they would, too.
“Mr. Scott, can we walk through the blossoms to lunch again?”
Now, we do it every day. At their request.
Senior Night Track Meet
Fishing
Monday Return
Monday after break is always a bit of a mystery. No one really knows how the kids react; for that matter, nobody really knows all the adults are going to act. Some of the kids are reluctant to go back to school. and it shows in the apathy some of the adults are more reluctant to go back and it shows in their snarkiness having spring break. This relatively late in the year is also tricky. We’re into our final quarter, but with benchmark testing, in the beer, testing, access testing, probably some math testing for some students field trips, field days, half days, and like we really only have about seven weeks or so of school after having a week off it’s difficult to get motivated for seven more weeks. It feels like an afterthought
For me, with this being my last year at Hughes, it hits a little differently. Some of the kids were routing; some of the kids were focused; most of the kids were somewhere in between. The day slipped by relatively uneventfully and I returned home a quarter as of course 45 days long. I closed my car door and said aloud, “44.” 44 more days in Greenville County schools 44 more days these kids. 44 more days to wrap up 17 years. So both a little sad about it and quite excited at the same time.
It was, of course, the first of many last, and I’m glad that I am aware at this point that this is the last time I’ll be doing some of these things. The honors kids are finishing up little roaming and Juliet papers for all. I know that may be the last time that I run through the particular assignment with a group of students. After next year, I will have the option of going back to English, but if things go as well as I’m hoping, I don’t know that I’ll want to. In English 8, we will soon be starting The Diary of Anne Frank, and that would be the last time we run that unit. We read the play, and we act out most of the first act in class. While I’m not sure how much they learned about English and how they learned a lot about the holocaust a lot about the horrors of living under Nazi occupation, and since they are the same age, they learn a bit about themselves as well. It’s always been one of my favorite units to teach.
So today was a bit of a mixed bag. It was fun and exciting: it was so exhausting.
This final quarter is also another last for our family, and this is much more significant: this is the last quarter Lena will be living with us during the school year. That ending has come all too soon. It’s a parental cliche to wonder where the time went, but when you’re living at it it’s not a cliche anymore.
Sunday
Meet
First and Second Steps Done
There are some projects that just seem to grow as you get into them.
Our kitchen remodel almost ten years ago (has it been that long?) was just such a project. We unexpectedly had to rebuild an entire part of the exterior wall when we discovered the door header stopped midway through the door. We had to build two supports in the crawlspace to deal with a sagging floor in the dining area. It just grew and grew and grew.
Our latest landscaping adventure was not such a project. I knew just how much work would be involved. I knew there would likely be no real surprises. But I also knew just how much backache-producing work it would involve. First, we had to get rid of those holly bushes. That took a good long time: hollies very aggressively cling to their perch on life, and they will resprout from the slightest bit of root left behind. So getting rid of the main holly trunks was only part of the process: E and I also spent a day digging out roots. And we didn’t even get them all. Several large roots went so deep into the ground that we knew we could never get them out, so we made fresh cuts, drilled holes into them, and slathered root killer on them. All that was step one.
Step two: build a new landscaping border around the area. This took a couple of days and a couple of trips to Home Depot, but today, we finished it.
Tonight, we went back to get the components for part three — at least some of them.
More Spring Progress
Scholarship Information
Charleston Spring
We spent yesterday and today in Charleston — a favorite destination when we have a bit of time, a bit of money, and an itch to travel. Only three hours away, it’s a perfect weekend destination.
And even when it’s too cold to go into the water, we have to spend some time on the beach.
We gave the new camera a bit of a workout. It’s a steep learning curve: there are a lot more possibilities than our older cameras (focus modes, for instance), and it’s taking us a while to get used to everything.
Still, the size, the image quality — I think it was a good choice for us as are kids grow up. I won’t be needing to take any more volleyball pictures, and for soccer, I’ll still likely reach for the Nikon given the lens options we have.
Still, for our trip to Greece and Poland this summer, only one camera and one lens.
We took a couple of walks,
I took some pictures of the waves,
and then we headed downtown. The kids wanted to do a little shopping; K and I just split up with them and helped out. Afterward, there was only one place to go before heading back:
Hyman’s — probably the most famous seafood place in Charleston. I almost always order the same thing: there’s only one variant. I’ll always have mussels; I always take the deviled crab; after that, the third is the only variant. Today, I had the salmon croquette. All delicious.
K ate light — too mush sushi the night before.
The Boy, being the Boy, decided to try something new: crawfish. He wasn’t thrilled. He ate them, but decided it was too much work for too little return.
Dinner
And of course I have my eyes closed…
Landscaping Saturday
Groundbreaking
The new school I will be teaching at next year doesn’t even physically exist yet. For most of next year, we’ll be operating out of a high school. Today, though, was the groundbreaking for the new facility.
Our Beautiful K
Morning Coffee
Monday
