Homework cannot be posted by teachers, but the resident grandchildren are working away, so they must still be able to write down assignments. The system, additionally, cannot yet deduct fees and assessments from the children's accounts. It's all the same money, now or then; I don't care. Even if I had it out to interest I would earn a mere penny.
Getting the children back in school does make the beginning of September feel more like meteorological fall than my lamenting of its seasonal opposite last spring.
I sat on the front deck in the sun this afternoon and had a long overdue chat with Ann in Wisconsin. The phone said forty five minutes when we were done. I sat there so long I accomplished my spring project of acting like a statue with a camera. I watched three cardinals and a woodpecker dominate the bird feeder, eating away for half an hour, with various chickadees vying for a lesser spot on the feeder, and sparrows and doves cleaning up the seed on the ground.
Sadly, I did not have the camera, and I wasn't about to say to Ann, well, bye, I need to use the phone to take pictures. I see that is a completely feasible project, and I'll try it again, with my camera.
I do have some interesting pictures. Laura's sunflowers, about two weeks apart. They are maturing in a row, and the first one has such a heavy head--but not ready for birds, yet.
Out in the backyard, a most interesting discovery yesterday:
The fungus in the watermelon rind hole
Disappeared!
Its remains probably are there on the lower lip.
No one made a trip down the ravine for scientific observation and analysis.
Saddest of all endings to summer--no one brought watermelon to the picnic.
There's still a little time left of warm weather..maybe one more picnic? with watermelon?
ReplyDeleteThere may be a watermelon only picnic scheduled!
DeleteOh dear, schools and computers. We have a similar computer issue with CC's university in Georgia. They have a check for her and want me to drive 400 miles to pick it up as they have merged with another school. This prevents use of the USPS? I for the life of me cannot understand this. It illustrates, for me anyway, that larger institutions are not necessarily more efficient.
ReplyDeleteIf you and I know how to get this done, what's with the people with the authority?
DeleteSummer over when no one brings watermelon to the picnic and your fungus will come back, mine often do but I haven't seen the bright orange one for a while.
ReplyDeleteNothing better than a long chat to a friend next time you will remember to take the camera.
Merle........
I'm taking a lesson--next time we'll be aiming for the fungus.
DeleteI'm taking a lesson--next time we'll be aiming for the fungus.
DeleteThese sunflowers are getting very tall. Here today was the first students were back to school.
ReplyDeleteLovely photos, Joanne. I don't understand school these days. See, when I was a little girl, and right up to high school, school began after Labour Day! The school term/year ended on June 23rd. Nowadays the children finish school earlier and go back earlier.
ReplyDeleteWatermelon season is not over, so there is always hope.
ReplyDeleteSeptember and The Sound of Silence - ahh, nothing better.
One thing about living in so many different places is that fruits and veggies are available at "odd" times of the year. When I was growing up, watermelon was available from around the 4th of July until the end of the summer. Vine ripe tomatoes and sweet corn... summer only. No such thing as hydroponic or greenhouse grown stuff then. Oranges... Christmas treat. Now a lot of those things are available year-round in the local supermarkets... and living the way we do, we might find it grown fresh at our local farmer's market in January. This kind of takes away the excitement of the first tomato, the first watermelon or the first green beans of the season. Maybe folks just get too used to having what they want and it's no longer a special treat.
ReplyDeleteThe sunflowers are gorgeous. My grandgirls, the twins that is, started high school this year. They are slowly getting adjusted. No watermelon on Labor Day? We bought four this year. Seems to me that when I was a kid there didn't seem to be any bad watermelons. I think they pick them so early now that getting a good ripe one is rare.
ReplyDeleteSo melancholy and yet so restful, thinking of you on an early fall afternoon, chatting on the phone, watching the birds... don't you just love this time of year?
ReplyDeleteI think you need to cut up a watermelon and have a last fling of the rinds. Those sunflower heads look heavy.
ReplyDeleteI do think the watermelon only picnic sounds great. And I am in love with those sunflowers.
ReplyDeleteLovely blog.
ReplyDeleteBest regards !
Those are some nice photos :-)
ReplyDeleteHari Om
ReplyDeleteI am in agreement with The Odd Essay - seasonality is becoming a historical memory! oh well..... now I wonder, did the fungus get eaten after all - a passing deer maybe? Those sunflowers are enviable!
..and I look forward to piccies of birds!! &*> YAM xx
The sunflowers are wonderful, wonder why the first is so droopy when the others stand tall? Perhaps he feels the weight of being the eldest.
ReplyDeleteJust how did the world turn without computers?
ReplyDeleteJane x
Your pictures are always so beautiful! And yes, back to school is the official start to fall even if our thermometer hit 90 today.
ReplyDeleteLove your photos, each triggers a memory or poem.
ReplyDeleteUpgrading, downloading, buffering. Computers can try our patience. But when they do get to work they can sure get a lot done...kinda like kids. Love those monster sunflowers. I'll bet the birds will too.
ReplyDeleteoh watermelon sound delicious, perhaps the sunflower needs some propping up
ReplyDeleteWonderful sunflowers & how lovely to enjoy a long phone call & enjoy the birds.
ReplyDeleteWhat? No watermelon at the picnic? I guess everybody thought somebody else was bringing it. A watermelon rind hole?
ReplyDeletenow I feel very guilty about not coming to the picnic and bringing you know what..
ReplyDelete