End of June

Saturday morning. Sun already up. All week the mornings have been grey with the sun appearing midday or later. Typical of coastal California. Our evening tend to be quite perfect - sunny, warm, calm - so can't really complain about yucky mornings. I've just finished week 3 of summer vacation. Loving every minute of it.
School is becoming more and more distant. I did indeed have a terrific year. What a precious group of 3rd graders. So sweet, motivated, polite, but energetic. Next year will definitely not be as good. For one thing, we will be having larger classes - no less than 25 kids. No way I can provide the quality education possible with a smaller group. C'est dommage. but the budget problems are serious - a real crisis. Many teachers have been laid off, including many tenured teachers who have taught close to ten years. Hopefully most of the tenured folks will be hired back.

This week I got into my writing and actually did a fair amount of work. So that feels good. I always like to read books with strong writing and with content that is close to my subject matter. BLOOD ORANGE by Troy Blacklaws, an excellent memoir of a white South African, and Evelyn Waugh's BRIDESHEAD REVISITED are my current books of choice. In both cases the stories start out in places I know well - Muizenberg and Oxford. It's wonderful to read excellent descriptions of places familiar to me.

The last couple of days I was a bit saddened by the death of Michael Jackson. I liked his music, though not as passionately as my brother, Kalvin, did. I remember when I first moved to California MJ moved into his Neverland Ranch in the Santa Ynez Valley and on my first trip back to SA I told Kalvin that I lived near MJ. Kalvin was rolling on his bed in pain because of a toothache. He must have been around 14 or 15. As soon as he heard me talk about living not too far from MJ's ranch he sat up and instantly forgot about his toothache. He wanted all the details I could give him about MJ.

The day's chores beckon - pool, garden, food shopping, etc.