My baby's back!

Finally! After 3 weeks and 2 loaner cars (a Chevy Impala and a Honda Civic) I get my car back. Yay!

Frederick the polar bear

It got up to 75 degrees (F, of course) today, so we went to the beach, and Frederick could not be restrained from actually SWIMMING. The water was ICY - I consented to paddle in my swimsuit (and actually got a sunburnt neck) but there was no way in hell I was going to let that water get above my knees. He swam for a good 20 minutes, however, and wasn't even shivering. I think the idea of people swimming had not even occurred to Those In Charge, because not only were there no beach guards, they've even pulled up the little buoys which were in place all Summer to stop people going out too far. (And they were serious - Thomas, Jimmy and I witnessed a poor slob hauled off in handcuffs for going out past them!)
Afterwards, we played in the playground and Frederick showed off his balancing skills.

Balmy weather

Just when I thought it was time to light a fire every night, we got another heatwave. Fortunately, it's still cool at night, so we don't have to re-install all the air conditioners, but it means that walks are pleasant, even evening ones. First, to For-Mar, where there are strange goings-on:



Apparently they're going to build a new bridge. The old one vanished about six years ago, and I thought we'd never see another, because it was rumoured to be too expensive. But apparently Obama's stimulus money is trickling down...


Now on to Bluebell Beach. Frederick had to be talked out of swimming. It was balmy, but not THAT balmy.

Click for the full panorama effect!

An old friend.

Star Wars!

As regular readers might know, Thomas is part of two separate music groups this year: Wind Ensemble (where he plays bassoon) and Philharmonia (percussion). He prefers the former, which is more of an honor, particularly as he is the youngest one there, but has committed to the latter. One plus of Philharmonia is their programme this year, that includes...

An Autumn Sunday in Flint

Autumn is finally upon us! Which means that Frederick's and my weekend-ly walk from our house to my office, which takes us across various parts of the campus of Mott Community College and past the College Cultural Center (which includes the Flint Institutes of Art [where Jami has learned pottery, weaving, mosaicking et. al.] and Music [where Thomas has learned percussion, piano and bassoon] and one of the only planetariums [planetaria?] in the state) will be at its most pleasant. Particularly as it has stopped bucketing with rain.

Companion on our trip this week was Frederick's new froggy pal.


Here he hops happily along the edges of one of the parking garages of Mott Community College.

Here's the old Central High School, closed last year. That big chimney used to be part of a welding lab, but that was closed long ago.

From the top of the other MCC parking garage you can see the FIA and planetarium.

It seems that every other week in Flint we have a classic car show of some sort. I had no idea this would be happening - they must advertise them on The Fogey Channel on television or something.

Neither is true of Frederick, actually. But we love him just the same.

Would You Deny Him an Education?

I have been seeing my doctor every Tuesday evening since June 1st for weight loss business (more about that some other time) and every week she asks how things are going and, among other things, takes my blood pressure. After the first week of school, she remarked that my blood pressure had gone up noticeably from what it was during the summer. This past week she said, as she got out the cuff, "This week MUST have been better." Well, it wasn't, and neither was my blood pressure. (The arteries don't lie--this was a shitty week.) This past Friday Simon and I started the day with a meeting with Frederick's teacher, the school principal and Emily. (When we asked where Frederick would be during all this and, more importantly, who would be with him, they said, "Oh. We hadn't thought of that." Thank God for Thomas.) The meeting was allegedly a chance for us to meet and discuss "how things were going for Frederick," as well as to pass around suggestions. Frederick's teacher's only suggestion was that, since she wasn't certain what level he was with math, it made sense to her to have him go home when they get to the math part of the day (which is at 1:00). Or, perhaps, having him go home right after lunch might be EVEN BETTER since sometimes he didn't seem to "get much" out of gym class, either. (This is in reference to one day when the gym teacher organized a kick ball game with all kids aged 4 through 10.) I asked if the other small kids in his class "got much" out of that gym class. She admitted that they probably did not. But were they expected to simply leave? Was that a sign that they were uneducatable? No, of course not.

Given that we have NO OPTIONS for Frederick, this is what we must work with. Emily, Simon and I discussed everything at length after school when Frederick happily came home to lark about the house and yard. We've all decided that the only sensible way to deal with this is for Emily to take in to school all the curriculum materials she and Frederick have been working with all summer and then merge with the classmates for art, French, music, snack time, lunch and recess outside. As for academics, it seems that Frederick and Emily are on their own. Here Frederick enjoys a bowl of strawberries while lying in his parents' bed on a not-so-sunny (Sunday) afternoon. He's happy to be home.

Didn't There Used to be an Air Conditioner There?

Yesterday it was pouring with rain. I was sitting in the living room (relaxing--that decision to indulge in a few minutes of selfishness is probably what set this train of events into motion) when I heard a heavy splat of water hit the living room window screen that faces out onto our driveway. This not unusual noise is typically caused by water gushing from the window air conditioner unit in Frederick's room when Simon empties it so that it will run more quietly. But Simon was not at home--so what could have caused it? Seconds later, I saw the air conditioner that WAS in Frederick's window fly down past the living room window and then, a scant second later, heard a distinctive "thunk." I jumped up to look out the water-spattered window and, yes indeed, there was now a very smashed air conditioner scattered across our driveway. I ran upstairs and there was Frederick standing in his room, looking very sheepish, with no air conditioner in his window (though the window was very neatly closed). Here is his window, sans air conditioner:Because the nights have been cooler I had mentioned earlier that day that we could remove the unit from Thomas' bedroom window and put it into storage--Thomas likes his room much warmer than Frederick does and hasn't had the air conditioner in his room on at night in about a month. But Frederick sleeps better if his room is icy, and we don't typically remove his unit until well into October--did he overhear our conversation about Thomas' air conditioner and take matters into his own hands? We'll never know.

Dennis the Menace socks