The Cool Breeze of Summer

It has been cool for the past couple of days, a lovely present. After a weekend that was hot and humid, the weather fell into the low to mid 70's during the day and we have had a couple of those wonderful summer rainstorms as well. Great for the garden plants which I often forget to water until they are drooping.

The other tooth came out at camp yesterday and now she has that great gap in her mouth. She is proud of her new teeth growing in and looks so darn cute with the little gap in her smile.

Summertime pacing seems to have set in and I have been lax in getting in touch with her tutor. We will be having her tutored this summer, so she retains all the stuff she learned in first grade and keeps her skills up. Another reason why year-round school would be better. But we are in the traditional system and so I hope the extra attention (which she is none too happy about) will help. Jamie just ordered her some books on snakes (eight to be precise) which should help with her reading. She loves her snakes.

Camp has a secondary benefit, which is that she gets really tired by the end of the day. So that means getting to sleep in the evenings is easier. And that means I get to have a bit more down time to myself, which is great too. I am reading a terrific book by Jodi Picoult called "Her Sister's Keeper" and I find myself wanting to get into it each night, until I cannot keep my eyes open. I love reading like that. And I want to do more! Thank goodness vacation time is coming.

We are three weeks from leaving for the cruise and that is so exciting. I made a packing list which I hope I can stick to, so I don't overpack. My tendency is to pack for all occasions and I want to hold back so I don't have a ton of stuff to lug onto the ship. I think this cruise is more of a casual thing, so not a cocktail dress up kind of evening. Oh sure, some will do that, but these days that someone is not me!

I have been at work all day, but it is nearly 3:30 and the energy left my body at least an hour ago. So I am simply hanging out for a bit, then I will leave. The whole re-entry thing has been hard, getting my brain to wrap around what I should be doing here. Lately, I have been trying to imagine what it would be like her "if it worked according to my master plan". That is actually a good exercise because it is opening me up to the possible again. It is all too easy to become discouraged. To feel like I have "been there, tried that" and it all is crap and doesn't work. But like the change in the weather this week, the climate here in the library is also changing and perhaps there is an opportunity to make it work better. I certainly hope so, since this is a terrific place and everyone who has reason to be involved with the Library knows it. It is just not what they think of first when they give money.