Welcome back to that same old place that you laughed about!

 Hey dudes and dudettes!  It appears we have a plan to proceed with in September.  From what I understand, teachers will be at school on September 8 to get things ready.  On September 10, you guys will come and find out about the safety procedures and how the school year will unfold.  Then "regular school" (which will be a bit different from what we've come to expect in the past) will begin on September 14.  Yes, it will be different from what we are used to, but if we are patient and positive, we will figure out how to muddle through it together.  I know that most of us benefit from routine and it will feel strange at first, but before you know it, it will feel like this is the way it has always been.

I am a bit anxious myself about how it will play out, but we have another week and a bit to relax and get outside and breathe deeply and listen to the birds (always a comfort).  The best thing you can do is enjoy your last week of holidays as much as you can.  Do something you really like to do.  Eat a bowl of blackberries that you picked yourself (they're nice with ice cream).  Finish the short story you've been working on.  Watch a movie that makes you laugh.   Read a book that's a real page-turner.  Go for a long walk with your dog (or, if your dog is Daisy and very slow, a series of short walks, with breaks in between!)  Get out the frisbee and throw it around with a buddy.  Then, you will come back to school all refreshed and ready for the challenges that await us.

I have been thinking about what we will be able to do for a play this fall.  I don't think they will be encouraging us to get together in a big group to rehearse and perform so I had this idea that might be exciting and fun and will still give us a chance to put something together as a performance.  There is this book called Spoon River Anthology by a poet named Edgar Lee Masters.  It tells the story of the people who lived in the fictional town of Spoon River, with each person in the Spoon River cemetery having a short monologue about his or her life.  It is really lovely and touching and I think we could make a very moving and thoughtful presentation with it.  I would also like to reach out to any alumni who might be interested.  There are about 200 short poems in the whole book, so there are lots of characters to choose from.  If you are an alumni and are interested, shoot me an email (hopefully before September 25) to let me know you'd like to take part (there is a link to my email on the school website).  If you are still going to SLSS, we will "get together" (maybe virtually, if necessary) once school is up and running.  If you are in touch with any alums, let them know what we're up to!  See you all soon.

Not in our stars, but in ourselves

 Hope you're enjoying the second month of summer holidays.  The minister of education says that we will likely start school gradually, with teachers and other staff back on September 8 and then kids arriving later that week, but it is all still quite vague, so you need to stay tuned.  I imagine it is quite a scheduling challenge for our admin team and I am sure they are working on it now to figure out the logistics of getting everyone back in class safely.  I wonder if you saw the photos the student took in Georgia of kids crammed into a hallway between classes.  (They start school in August there, apparently.)  It did not look good and I imagine that the powers that be don't want us to have to face that here in September.

Tonight, if it's not cloudy, you have the chance (which comes yearly) to see the Perseid Meteor Shower (with over 50 shooting stars per hour blasting through the sky).  The best viewing is apparently several hours before dawn (like 2 a.m.) and you should try to get away from city lights if you can.  There is a star gazing event at Aldergrove Regional Park on Thursday evening.  We have gone in the past and it is a nice spot with a great view of the whole sky.  You can take a blanket and a picnic and there is a lantern walk and story-telling and it is away from the brightest lights of the city.  Check out the park's website for details. 

Here is a link to 17 apps that help you identify birds and bugs and natural phenomena you might see if you go for a hike or do any activities in the great outdoors:  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/travel/outdoors-app  (from my buddies at the New York Times).

"It's funny how many different kinds of things you can make a halfway decent life out of if you believe in them and work at them." from Wallace Stegner's "A Shooting Star"

 I finished the book I mentioned yesterday, the one with the directionless protagonist.  She learned a lot of lessons by the end, but I'm not sure if she has resolved her many issues.  At least, she seemed to be able to identify that she is the problem and that is a big step.

Here's another poem by Barbara Kingsolver.  It presents me with some questions, but I like the sentiment.

Rent a house near the beach, or a cabin
but: Do not take your walking shoes.
Don’t take any clothes you’d wear
anyplace anyone would see you.
Don’t take your rechargeables.
Take Scrabble if you have to,
but not a dictionary and no
pencils for keeping score.
Don’t take a cookbook
or anything to cook.
A fishing pole, ok
but not the line,
hook, sinker,
leave it all.
Find out
what’s
left.

• How to Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons) by Barbara Kingsolver is published by Faber (£14.99).

Indeed, there will be time to wonder/"Do I dare?" "Do I dare?" (from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot)

 You have probably heard that the Minister of Education wants schools back full time in September.  A friend of mine asked me if I was "freaked out" and I am not.  I think we have done very well in BC so far and I have confidence that whatever happens in September will be okay.  It is important for all of us to prepare as best as we can -- I have several masks (which I wear when I go out, of course) and I am planning for classes in September.  I'm really excited to be teaching one block of English (which I used to do all the time) and have been reading all the material to get ready.  Prepare for a full return to school with a couple of notebooks, a water bottle, some pens and pencils and whatever else you usually need (a positive attitude is important!).  If things take a turn for the worst (fingers crossed that they don't), you'll be ready for whatever happens!

I am sitting in my living room right now (it is early because, of course, Daisy likes to get her morning walk in at 5:15 so she can have a nice long nap when she gets back).  I have a bird feeder on my front balcony and I also put peanuts out for the squirrels.  I know they can fend for themselves in the summer, but we have a couple of neighbourhood cats who make it difficult (I have told their owners to keep their cats inside, but they give me the helpless shrug as if the cats have more power than they do!) so I like to provide a safe place for the little creatures to eat.  Anyhow, there is a fine figure of a squirrel out there right now really putting paid to the nuts and it is such a pleasure to watch her pick up a nut in her little hands (their paws are very much like hands) and nibble away at it and then move on to the next one.  

I have been enjoying my summer and binge-reading.  Presently, I am embroiled in a book (Space-opoly square -- "read a book with a title that relates to space") called A Shooting Star by Wallace Stegner (who spent some of his formative years in Eastend, Saskatchewan and who taught other famous writers like Ken Kesey, Thomas McGuane and Larry McMurtry).  It is about this wealthy woman who has no direction in her life.  I am enjoying the book but I hate the protagonist.  She blames everyone else for her troubles and keeps whining about how she wants to have a purpose but that no one will help her find it, no one is paying attention to her needs, blah, blah, blah.  There are certainly people like this, so it is realistic, but I always think the answer is to find yourself a good job.  (Good work is so helpful to making a person feel worthwhile and purposeful.)  My mother, a very wise woman, said (among other wise things), "don't expect someone else to make you happy!"  You have to find happiness in yourself.  Another person isn't responsible for you being happy and can't MAKE you happy.