Solstice

The solstice was yesterday.  I spent most of the day inside, at work during the day and at rehearsal for Cinderella in the evening.  would normally consider this unfortunate, but yesterday it was in the low 90′s and humid– the kind of whether that saps my energy.  Plus the sun is so intense this time of year.  I walk home from work with the sun beating down on me and am convinced I can feel it giving me skin cancer.  I’m totally serious about that, I sort of cringe all the way home and am rather stressed by it.  I guess I’m a bit of a hypochondriac.

Madeline’s graduation party went well!  All her artwork looked fantastic up on the walls, it was really impressive and people enjoyed looking at it.  It was a warm day and we did run out of iced tea… we had over 30 people come and most stayed the whole time.  It was a lovely party and I’m glad we had it.  The house-cleaning frenzy before the party was exhausting, but we’ve enjoyed having a cleaner house (except for the spare room, where a lot of stuff got chucked!  We’ll work on that later…)

Madeline and I are both involved withCinderella up at our theatre guild, she’s in the show, I’m stage managing along with friend Denise.  I am enjoying it– it’s a truly wonderful cast, extremely talented and also a generous and hard-working cast.  No egos, no prima donnas or prima donalds as we like to call them.  We have 3 shows this weekend, and 4 next weekend, and that will be over.  I don’t plan on getting involved in any more shows for a while.

I found out 2 days ago, via a letter, that the PTA program I’m starting in the fall is on probation with the organization it gets it accreditation from.  The cause is low graduation rates, which they have been working on and the letter said they expect to get their full status back, but it is still worrying.  Not sure what I will do about it.  It’s been the one ow spot int he past few weeks, but it’s a pretty serious one.  Sigh.

June already!

Where did May go?  Such a busy, busy month.  Busy with work, and end of year stuff.  A lovely month full of blooming plants and allergies that kicked my butt.

Madeline finished up her schoolwork and is officially done with high school!  We will have a party for her in a week.  I had not originally planned to have a party– her brother was content with a dinner with family.  I grew up in a time and place when graduating from high school, while commendable, was not considered something that needed to be celebrated extravagantly.  I was surprised when we moved to this area to see the goings-on at graduation time: huge tents on the lawn; rented tables and chairs; catered meals ranging from pulled pork sandwiches with cheesy potatoes to gourmet hors d’oeuvre; guest lists in the hundreds.  Madeline’s party will be nothing like that.  We will have cake and probably some snack types foods– cheese tray and fruit tray and the like.  For beverages we thought we’d have a selection of iced teas.  The special part will be her artwork– we’ll remove all the pictures/painting on our walls and hang up her work!  We’re excited about that.  We’ll have some of our closest friends, and her paternal grandparents will be here too.  Should be fun, though I need to get moving on cleaning the house…

I’ve gotten her final homeschool transcript completed, signed by her dad and I, and mailed off.  Yesterday she received her housing assignment from college– it’s starting to seem real!  She already heard from one of her room-mates (she’ll share an apartment with 3 other girls).

Jacob finished his semester early in May, and did well, he should make Dean’s list again.  He went to Nationals with his flight team; they didn’t do particularly well as a team but he did all right individually, and he had a very good time.  He’s back in Dubuque for the summer, and has found a good sublet through mid-August, moved in today.  He just wasn’t happy in his last place, so I hope this suits for the summer, and I hope he finds something good for the fall.  He has one part-time job and will look for a second one, he’s also taking a 6-week summer class.

As of today I will no longer receive child support for Madeline.  That’s the way the law works in Wisconsin.  So money will be tighter from now on, but I’ve been prepared.  Both kids got good financial aid packages from their colleges; I did not, nor did I get any sort of scholarship, which surprised me.  I’m a little bitter about that, since I know I had a good application, but I remind myself that at least I still have the means to go to school– many don’t.

So here we are, in June, with my flower boxes planted and blooming on the porch, and my herbs growing in pots and in the side garden.  The daisies are blooming as well, and event the day lilies– they are both a bit early this year.  Mourning Doves have nested in the crab tree by the porch and the little ones watch me as I mow the lawn.  The  sunny days end in a long, lovely twilight, and I relish the peace whenever I have the chance.

Rites of Passage

It’s May, a month of sunshine and flowers and birds, and also a month of endings and beginnings.

Daughter Madeline had two rites of passage this weekend.  Yesterday at church we had the May crowning, as we always do on Mother’s Day.  May is a month when Catholics remember and honor Mary, the mother of Jesus, in a special way.  It’s customary to have the children process with flowers to place before a statue of Mary, and then one of the older girls (usually one who is a senior in high school) places a circlet of flowers on the head of the statue.  This year my daughter was the one to do it.  It’s a lovely thing, to see all the little ones march in with their flowers, and I was proud to see my daughter place the flowers on the statue.  She’d watched the older girls do it over the years and was excited to take her turn.

She also had her last piano recital.  She played the original version of Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” and did a beautiful job.  Her piano teacher always honors graduating seniors with a talk called “This is your piano life” and it is always fun to hear what she has to say.  She really gets to know her student and it’s obvious that she really enjoys her job.  I liked hearing what she had to say about Madeline, it’s good as a parent to hear another person’s perspective.

So, I think she has 3 more weeks of her class at the public school, and that will be done.  More changes are coming in her life, but she is ready for them and it’s a beautiful thing.