Long Week's Journey into Weekend

Whew! It's been a long week! It started when I decided to spend the weekend at my parents', so I got up early Sabbath morning and drove the 1 1/2 hours north to Alfred, ME. There, I spent a relaxing couple of hours sitting in the backyard with my parents watching all the birds enjoying the feeders and fountains that are there for them.

Later in the afternoon we decided to take a drive to Kennebunkport where we happened to be driving by the Bush (#41) summer home at Walker Point when George (senior) decided to go out fishing on his boat. We watched has he and the secret service got things ready and then zoomed out to sea. Unfortunately, my camera batteries had chosen to "die" just minutes before he appeared, so I don't have anything of him, just the house...

Sunday morning, I left earlier than usual, after a good breakfast, and drove down to school to meet with our new math teacher and his wife to show them an apartment the school owns. They liked it and are going to move in next weekend. I spent the next several hours working in my classroom and office before finally going home at 4 so I could wrap presents and get ready to go to Lauren's at 5.

There, we had a family celebration of three birthdays --my mom, my nephew David, and my brother-in-law Jerry--and a good bye for Julie, who was leaving for college in a couple of days. We had a good time until people started leaving. Then there were a lot of hugs and tears. Julie is the first of 6 grandchildren to leave and it's pretty traumatic to everyone, including her...

Monday morning I was at school bright and early to get ready for our first formal pre-session meeting. I had bought "door prizes" for all those who arrived on time. Dare I say "naturally" it was the women who arrived early, and the men who arrived late. And the new English teacher, my second cousin Astrid, was the very first to arrive! She got a pack of pretty pens, which pleased her. The meeting went well. And then the rest of the day was spent meeting new students, organizing registration for the next day, and sundry other details. I wenrt over to Lauren's togo out to eat with the family. We went to Julie's favorite restaurant, The Duck Walk, a Thai place in Wakefield. The food was pretty good, but everyone was so sad! Lauren, Julie, and I were in tears much of the time and Jerry couldn't speak. David didn't like any of the food, so we all had a fairly awful time. I hate good byes!

Tuesday, I woke at 3 and simply could not go back to sleep, so I finally gave up and got up and worked around the house until about 6:30 when I went to school. We had registration from noon to 7, only as usual, people actually arrived at 7, so I didn't finish until 9:30. I was exhausted by the time I got home. One of my friends brought me something for supper, but I didnj't get to eat it until I got home. It was delicous all the same, though. I talked with Lauren and Julie several times throughout the day as they made their way south to Southern.

Wednesday and Thursday I was in South Lancaster for a conference inservice on the Fred Jones Classroom Management system I had learned when I was in Colorado Springs last month. I can't wait to put it all into practice. I sat at a table between Martha and Astrid. Our superintendent labeled us a "the troublemakers table," but we paid attention when we needed to =)

Today I worked at school for 6 hours then went shopping before coming home. One thing I had to get was a new wireless router. My other one went out a week ago, which has put a crimp in my blogging as I usually do it while I am watching TV or relaxing in front of the air conditioner in my reccliner. I've not been able to do that all this week...but now I'm back on-line and much happier =)

Tomorrow I will spend the day relaxing in my sister's beautiful backyard by her pool. No one is home, so it will be peaceful and quiet. It will be the last hurrah before school starts and I will need all the fortification I can get for the upcoming year.