Ready to Answer to the Man

This was easier than I thought it would be, which always makes me nervous, but I went through our curriculum for this year and wrote up an overview for what we accomplished. In the past, this has taken me weeks, due in large part to my incompetence and procrastination, but this time around, I just focused and forced myself to get it done.

Now all we have to do write up a curriculum for the coming school year. Let’s hope I get it done before the Winter arrives. Thanks for reading, and thanks to Benito LeGrande for the pic.

Good Local Market

We had a really nice time at the local market, and I think people are starting to return to the scene, albeit a little slowly. SI has done a nice job of bringing in needed food vendors to replace the guys who have bailed out, i.e., us. My guilt is not enough to return to making dumplings, don’t get me wrong, but I do feel bad. Don’t get me started down that path.

There are some nice food options at the market, and they even brought in a Thai food stand. It’s nice, and I felt obliged to support as many vendors as possible. It actually works out beautifully because I can work a little at the library while A&N get crazy and play with the other kids. Then I can pick up dinner and dessert, thus helping out the vendors while making our lives more enjoyable. The standard meal is quiche with fresh bread, salad made at home, followed by some cake or cookies. I also got some pad thai and spring rolls.

Also, the Mediterranean food stand has a grill and is now serving hot food, including hot dogs and burgers. Awesome. I got a hot dog just to support them, and I know N will be excited because he’s a hot dog lover.

Things may be looking up. Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Alex Bruda for the pic.

Back to School

I can't believe that the schools are back in session, and Summer seems to be over. Fall is here, and that means getting our own school stuff taken care of. We have to submit the year end evaluations to the state, and that means going over what we’ve done and making it presentable to DE.

It’s always a bit of a scramble to go back over a year’s worth of material, but I will say this, it sure keeps you integrally involved in what your kids are learning. No parental apathy on this end.

Now this may very well be wishful thinking, but I’d like to get this done in the next week or two so that we can get on with our lives, but I’ve strived for such lofty ambitions before and failed miserably, so I won’t say a thing.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Tiffany Szerpicki for the pic.

Thirteenth Market, More Good Neighbors, and Slower Still

We had our thirteenth market, which I still think is slowing down, though we’ve had good weather for the past few weeks. Thanks for that. I mentioned to S that things seemed slow, and she got defensive and said she’d investigate. I regretted bringing it up because it’s not that much slower, and if anything, it makes the market more manageable, but there are not huge numbers of customers flocking to the FM. Other people have seconded this thought, so I’m not alone.

Either way, I do think things will pick up in the coming weeks, because the transition to Fall is occurring, and the Summer crowd is leaving or has left. Once the full time students return, the market usually picks up.

Also, we got more good vibes from some other vendors. There is a farm that sells loads of fresh berries and apples, and we bought some of their apples to make our dumplings. I mentioned this to them, and he brought over a bushel of apples he can’t sell because they have a bruise or are too small. I was a little surprised because I’ve purchased bags from the store that have both, but his standards are clearly higher than the chain supermarkets.

Now we have loads of apples. We even gave him some of our apple dumplings and he kept saying it wasn’t necessary, but it’s the least we could do. Besides, he might like them.

The next few weeks should be interesting. Until then, thanks for reading.

Teacher, Teacher

In addition to all of the fun things we have going on in our lives, we have to get our end of the year school stuff done as soon as possible. I had this grandiose vision of getting it done by Labor Day, but that’s not going to happen. However, I do think we can get it done around Labor Day, so it won’t be painfully late like last year. It really pissed off the people in Montpelier, but what are you going to do? We’re trying our best over here.

For now, we have to write up a summary and then arrange a time to meet with DE. Then, we have to create a curriculum for next year. What a bummer, but nobody said life as a parent was easy.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Patrick Nijhuis for the pic.

Karate Goes On

I got a call on the night of karate from Master H that he was stranded up where he lives because of the hurricane and couldn’t get out. He mentioned that there was going to be a test, and that he gave his blessing for it to go on as scheduled. I missed last week, so I had no clue what he was talking about.

A also mentioned that she didn’t want to go to karate, which kind of made my heart sink, but I didn’t want to force her. I feel bad in a way because all of her friends have dropped out, and she’s the last kid standing. I also feel bad because I don’t practice enough with her, but that will change once dumplings end (hopefully for good).

Either way, we went to class, all the same. The kids called R and asked her to pick them up during the class, so it was going to be dad riding solo on this one. I had a sinking feeling that nobody was going to show up, but when we got there, DC and LS were there, so class was on. I got a call from PC who said they couldn’t make it, so it was going to be quiet.

The funny thing is, though the class was small, just the three of us, it was two serious students and sensei C, so we had a great class. I am grateful to DC for coming because he is hardcore, and not only takes it very seriously, but is a great teacher and does a really thorough job. We ran through some drills that I felt would be good practice in becoming a killing machine.

Best of all, the next day A said she wanted to practice katas, which took me by surprise. I sort of figured that she was done with karate and was moving on, but she no, she wanted to continue, she just didn’t feel like going to that class. This, of course, pleased me to no end, because I like the idea of the kids being proficient at defending themselves and inflicting bodily harm when the occasion calls for it.

In the meantime, we need to practice our lethal techniques. Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to jose assenco for the pic.

Hurricane Aftermath

The big news around here is obviously the horrible hurricane. What a disaster, it really messed up people’s lives, and it’s going to be awhile before things get back to normal. It’s crazy because the day afterIrene, the weather was beautiful and sunny, sort of masking the difficultiesthat people were dealing with.

On our end, we were worried, and took the proper precautionary measures by putting everything in the barn, but we didn’t get hit too bad. No flooding in our neck of the woods, but there was definitely flooding in town. The small brook near the library breached it’s banks and literally filled up the field that we play UF on. It was quite a site.

We were slated to go to a birthday party on Sunday over in Bridgewater, but our friends live literally right along the river, so they were affected. They live right up the road from Woodstock, which got hit hard, so they were inthe path of the water. I spoke with several people in Quechee, and they really got socked. I feel really bad, because their lives have been turned completely upside down.

As I mentioned, on the morning of the hurricane, we woke upwith no power, but when it came back on, we didn’t lose it again for the duration. At some point in the afternoon, the rain subsided, and we actually went outside for a walk. We were curious to see what the brook was doing, and sure enough, it was raging. Several people live along the brook, and we hoped they were okay. Over by the fire station, the road was closed, and you could see how the water was gathering steam and getting out of control.

The winds weren’t as bad they predicted, and we’re grateful for that, because it’s the wind that can get scary when you live in the woods. By the next morning, the weather had calmed down, and we were able to get backto living a normal life, sort of.

Also, I just wanted to say to my mom and brother thanks for ignoring us during this natural disaster. It’s nice to know that your family cares, or not.

We hope all of our friends, neighbors, and fellow New Englanders are all okay. Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Kevin Finneran for the pic.