High School: down the stretch for Thomas, false start for me

First day of class in Thomas's last semester of high school - I won't miss getting up at 6 and driving 40 miles in the pitch blackness. I THOUGHT today was also my first day of teaching high school kids in one of the university's experiments in outreach. So, having dropped off Thomas at his school, I drove another 40 minutes to Utica and showed up early at the converted elementary school that UM-Flint has annexed:

The fact that my car was the only one in the (freezing, windswept) parking lot gave me pause...

but at least there was a big banner welcoming UM students...

and a nice big logo on the window...

But, it turned out, the building was closed.  I drove to a nearby diner and via email discovered that, despite Utica High School starting today, classes didn't start till Wednesday.  Still, all was not a waste - I discovered ANOTHER library, this one in Sterling Heights, just 5 minutes away.

And it has ursine statuary, too.

On the way home I discovered a place called "International Foods" that sold all kinds of things (Quality Street chocolates and dried chickpeas at 99 cents a pound) next to an Indian food store that sold all other kinds of things (exotic dried snacks, cheap loose-leaf tea and all kinds of curry pastes), so on the whole a good experience.  Thomas seemed strangely cheerful for somebody who'd only had about 3 hours sleep and was back to school.  Could it be he doesn't hate his school as much as he claims?