Last Days of Summer Vacation...

..Which means that school starts tomorrow.  School.  REAL school.  Or as real as it can be 18 months into the pandemic.  (Yes, the pandemic is still on...thanks anti-vaxxers.  I really thought we could have cancelled the show this fall, but you have proven me wrong.)  Students are physically going back to school for a full day.  Of course they are wearing masks which is why it is not completely "normal" in my book...The way things are going I wonder if they will ever be "normal" again.  (Don't get me started on what is normal; because to be honest I've got absolutely no clue.)

Summer has flown by quickly (as it always does).  We did take one break as a family to Skytop (https://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2021/08/the-downside-of-vacation.html) which was lovely. 


(And I will put together a short report on it sometime...while we were there I "dictated" into the app and when I see what actually came out...maybe I should just post it as is to give you all a laugh of what Google actually thinks I am saying.)  But that was for less than a week...maybe someday we'll take a vacation that lasts for a week or more.  (A sad state of affairs:  the last time we did that was back in the summer of 2015.)

I 've taken the last couple of days off from work not because we were going anywhere, but because I still have vacation days that I need to use or lose...so I thought I  might enjoy a few days not doing anything work related.  Except you know that I can't do that...I have to check in because I am either insane or a control freak.  (Or perhaps a little bit of both.)  I only logged in yesterday for 30 minutes to weed through the 70+ emails that have popped in my box since Friday afternoon.  Not that there was that much that really needed my attention...

After the mess that Ida made last week (one of our roads is still not completely open yet and in the larger scheme of things we really didn't get hit as hard as other parts of the state) I was happy that Saturday was warm and sunny.  I really just wanted to sit out on my patio (still trying to get my money's worth out of it) and read a book (or two).  Instead friends we hadn't seen in...well I don't know how long...came by and we spent the afternoon sipping wine (or at least two of us did) and eating pizza (which all of us did).  A nice way to start off the long weekend.

Sunday turned out to be not great weather wise, but Monday was beautiful.  My son and I were lucky enough to spend some time that afternoon visiting my aunt who has a home on a lake nearby.  We've taken advantage of her hospitality several times this summer, but Monday might have been the loveliest day of all.  I mean can you beat this? 

It was warm enough to take a dip and watch the clouds float by from the water.  It was so nice to just spend time with my aunt and my son and be. Days like this need to be remembered as rare and precious as they are.

 

Then on Tuesday, I ran down to the NJ shore to check in with my parents.  Sometimes when I visit I don't get a chance to go to the beach, but yesterday was another sunny, beautiful one so even though I didn't have a lot of time, I did manage to run up to the beach for just over an hour.

 

I definitely picked the right day and time because several dolphins swam by.  We could learn a thing or two from them, as they joyfully headed south, breaking the surf with their fins.

 

Now here I am at the very last day of my "summer vacation."  Today is a day of running a few errands, reading on the patio and nagging my son to turn in his summer history assignment that is due today and that he's been SLOWLY working on.  (Way too slowly!  Warning!  Annoyed mom rant here:  He finally finished the project up yesterday after nagging and nagging.  I told him he needed to review it before submitting.  Has he done that yet?  No!  He spent the morning laying around NOT doing that.  Now he is out with his friends, which I don't mind, but I just want him to review this work and turn it in!  I suppose my time table is different than his and I shouldn't force it on him, but ingrained in my being is that work gets done first and then you can move onto the fun stuff, but...enough of the mom rant.)  Tomorrow it all ends...back to school and back to work.

 

Although it hasn't been a spectacular summer (and it's not officially over yet), it has been a nice one.  And for that I am truly grateful.

 


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