Morning rain and the end of the school year

Raining today.  We need it after the scorching day yesterday.  Kids were in a remarkably good mood today, probably because this is really the last day of school.  Tomorrow will be awards ceremonies and a clap out parade for the fifth graders moving on to middle school.  I don't remember any celebrations for us back in the sixties.  Eli remarked today that his middle school will be getting smart boards .  What's that the old guy asked.  He says they are kind of like a white board that you can do more stuff on like YouTube videos, show movies or play games.  Thats a far cry from the dusty chalkboards of my school days.  There was a designated student that took the erasers outside and clapped them together to remove all the accumulated dust.  There were others that had a sponge and a pail to wipe off and clean the boards.  There was always a chalky and slightly sour smell that went along with the job.

It's the next day.  There are kid things planned with the end of the school year  and we are meeting up with friends we haven't seen since the pandemic commenced for dinner.  Really looking forward to this event.  Summer is officially starting.  Need to think up things for them to do during our weeks of watching. All of my barbershop pals are disappointed that my scar is not too prominent.  They all had scenarios painted out that I was in a knife fight and the only the tip of the ten inch blade got me.  But alas, it is not the case.

Stranger Things  is as scary as before with more monstrous villains.  All the kids have grown as actors and are now teenagers in the 1980's.  Robert Eglund (Freddie Krueger) plays the role of a tormented soul really well and is not recognizable. Catch it on Netflix if you can.

And it's the next day again.  There was a wonderful celebration at Oak Ridge Elementary yesterday for the fifth graders heading to middle school.  This place is a nurturing learning environment for the students.  I too am graduating this year, actually my second graduation from this school, first as a parent and second as a grandparent.  For this go round, I got to know some of the educators and became quite fond of them.  Mrs. Lois Mann was the kindergarten teacher for Katey and Jon and then for Elijah and Marie.  She is one year younger than me and still going strong and is the absolute treasure of the school.  Jason Parrot the principal gave his business card to each student moving on encouraging them to contact him for any purpose even to tell him they were doing ok.  I thought this quite remarkable.    We went to lunch with Carla and her mom and the kids to Renshaw's  in Clawson and had a splendid time. Shown today is Marie with the two grandmas.

I want to write about the January 5th Hearings but I am still processing my thoughts and opinions.  Cannot come up with the correct words to express myself on this topic yet.

That's it 

all for now

stay safe and enjoy this lovely day