Origin Stories

At the school bus stop this morning, some boys were discussing origins. One, a first grader and a child of a recent East African immigrant, pointed out to another boy, also the child of a recent East African immigrant, that they’d both come from Africa. The second boy, H, sort of rolled his eyes, “I know I came from Africa.” The first boy, whose name I don’t know, so I’ll call him M, then turned to a third grader who is African-American and dark skinned and attempted a similar claim, which the third grader, T, denied. Before things got out …

I spent three hours at the p-patch this weekend, doing community garden weeding (weeding in places that aren’t in my plot). There have been a couple plots that have been neglected for a year or more, and these needed to be cleaned up so that they could be reassigned to new (hopefully better, more involved) gardeners. The other factor is the enormous pile of compost that our p-patch received this year. It’s all got to get up to the various plots before it gets in the way of the Habitat for Humanity people who have generously let up take up …

We planted some fruit trees in our neighborhood a week or so ago. Dry day, but brisk and breezy and not at all friendly to the reporter who showed up in a too-thin, mostly-decorative jacket. She shivered while asking questions, poor thing. Anyway, the results are here, complete with a (much abbreviated) quote from me and a photo with Caitlyn in the background. She’s the blond behind the girl who is the focal point of the photo. With any luck, the trees will survive our inexpert, all-volunteer planting job, their first winter, and the attentions of our neighborhood kids. It’ll …

This has not been an easy couple of days. Our neighborhood homeowners’ association is due to transition away from developer to homeowner control, something that people have been wanting for more than a year. But, in order to do this, we need to elect an all-homeowner board. I’ve been very flattered that so many of my neighbors think I would make a good board member. I’m floored by the number of people who just randomly say, if you run, I’ll vote for you. The last time I ran for anything, I was in junior high, and I lost the election …

I’m attempting physical fitness by riding Ian’s bike through the neighborhood. Tonight, one of the neighborhood kids spotted me and called out, “Hi, Caitlyn’s Mom!” Awwww… It must be home.

Sing with me: “It’s a small world, after all…” Ian’s mother and uncle took high school chemistry and physics from the same teacher, at the same school, I did, though about 20 years before me. And well, P. Q. Boomer is still at it, according to this article, which Ian’s father forwarded to me. Boomer is a performer. Too bad he didn’t start his own circus or something. As a teacher, I’d say, not so much. It’s always amusing to read these profile articles full of fond memories, but I’d really like a slightly more balanced approach. Not all the …