Going too fast

The summer is going too fast.  The temperature this morning here was 48 degrees.

Some garden news to start off.  It's been a tough year, with the rain and pests.  Our harvest remains minimal, and we remain jealous of Andrew's and Jeffrey's tomatoes down in DC.  Our plants here are rotting, and those that have made it through are getting devoured by slugs, and we have now found we are host to the famed Asian jumping worm.  Mary pulled out a whole nest of them the other day from her flower garden.  They're enough to give you nightmares.  And I didn't even mention the deer, but Janet gave me a tip on deer repellent, which we were unable to use because of your week at the Jersey shore.

Did someone say Jersey shore?  I've been hearing about it for years, and even though we lived five years in the state as children (and Peter and Janet now for many more years), the only time I remember going there was a cold, spring vacation day when Pop had the big idea to take the family there, and Andrew stepped in dog poop. 

Nevertheless, we now know why people consider it so nice.  Long, unending beaches, manageable waves, warm water.  We rented a nice big house in Brigantine, which is on a spit of land just north of Atlantic City.  A block and half from the beach meant that we could come and go as we please and not have to coordinate rides or struggle with parking.  And we did go to the beach, as often as possible, even the day it rained.  Thomas gets the gold star for spending hours and hours in and out of the waves and the sand and then collapsing at night.  But Baby John and Simon were right there behind him, and of course parents.  Grandmother may have come in second to Thomas for time in the water.  Grandfather somehow disappeared every day shortly after lunch.

The house was full of activity, or should I say chaos?  Games and tv, toys and books, cheerios and apple slices and sippy cups.  There was a big kitchen island that was, within minutes of arrival, the repository for all things edible, drinkable and otherwise.  Leonor found a "shark park" nearby home to a ship and castle and a slew of other entertaining obstacles and swings and slides, and that became part of the daily routine, followed by smoothies and/or ice cream. 

Simon went from a couple of tenuous steps walking to a marathon of tenuous steps, and Baby John was cruising around, only to really take his first independent steps after returning to Brazil!  Other memories included Thomas' stories conflating Captain Ahab and Starbuck, with Gilligan and the millionaire and Captain Hook.  All fun.  Margaret had given Annie a surfing lesson for her birthday, and Sankar joined them.  The first day, they could barely get the hang of it; the second time they went out, they were pros, standing up and riding the waves repeatedly and endlessly.  I suspect more than one of them wants to quit working and become a surf bum.

And amidst all the chaos, sat Sankar with his headphones at the table getting his work done.  Quite an office. 

The week prior, we were happy hosts to the Brazil gang up here, that included toughing out some rainy days.  The sun finally emerged, and we were able to put out the small wading pool, and we even went swimming in the lake with fearless Thomas.  Joe and Leonor were able to get out a few times, as two grandparents, mostly Mary, were happy to hang with our homey little friends.

On Mary's birthday, everybody returned home from the shore, and Joe and Leonor have a trip to forget, I think.  But we were so glad they made the trek north.

Today, Annie and Sankar are supposed to start their trek back to the bay area, taking a month to wander through New Orleans, Austin and Santa Fe for a week of remote work at each place before moving on.

Timmy came east, and was able to stay here and attend to all of the kitty's many needs, mostly consisting of opening and closing the doors to let him in and out several thousand times a day.  He headed back shortly after our return to relocate to Montana.

Another traveler who was living the dream was Natalie, Heather's daughter, who is a college student and bought a used "retro-camper" for a trip around the country.  She stopped in Florida to see her grandparents and then on to points west, south and north.   

It looks like Tina has found yet another conveyance, as we see many pictures of her on the water in kayaks and canoes, along with Donald, who's getting so big!

Out in Dundee, Andrew and Lur helped Daniel move to a new place in the big city, as his roommate, his childhood friend Satchel, is moving to Detroit.

Birthday wishes to close out – Mary, Thomas and Everett. 

Love from up here!

THE YEAR UNLIKE ANY OTHER…

(This is Janet's account of the past year of teaching in the time of Covid.  The photo is a drawing by a PDS student that appeared in the school newspaper and is on their website.  Thanks, Janet for this and for persevering. )

 

Princeton Day School closed for spring break on March 6, 2020. We had warnings that the school might not reopen after the break, so students were told to clear out their lockers and take home anything they would need if we had to go remote.

And in fact, we did. We were remote until September 2020. It was a very difficult time for all. We started out working with Google Meets. Getting attendance in the morning was a nightmare. If the students did show up to homeroom, they usually turned off their cameras. I would tell them I knew what they were doing… turning on Google Meets, turning off their camera, and going back to sleep. A couple of them admitted that I was correct.

There is no doubt that even though this is a private school that endeavored to keep up to date with New Jersey and CDC regulations while making every effort to create a learning experience, a lot of learning was lost. It was a tremendously difficult and frustrating time for both teachers and students.

Summer programs are PDS's big money maker. They offer all types of programs, in class academics, outdoor activities, outdoor sports. They are always overbooked. Well, not the summer of 2020. Teachers were asked to come up with programs that could be offered virtually. I worked with my library colleague, Sheila on a couple of books clubs for younger kids. Not the greatest experience I have ever had. But! We did it.

School opened in September 2020, right after Labor Day, as usual. Because the pandemic seemed to be lessening and following CDC regulations, PDS opened to hybrid learning. Those that wanted to attend school, came. Those that wanted to stay remote, did. No more Google Meets. Now we had Zoom. Not only did we have Zoom, each room had a DTEN, a very large screen. Each morning we opened up our homeroom Zoom and were able to see our advisees at home, while they could see all of us in the classroom.

PDS, as I said, is a private school. To work within this pandemic and its restrictions, they dotted every "i" and crossed every "t." The school divisions were in "bubbles." In the middle school where I work, each grade had its own entrance. Grades could only mix on the playground for recess. Lunches were outside in different places. If they had to be inside, they were in homerooms. Each classroom has a DTEN, as I said, no desk for the teacher, and tables that were bisected with plexiglass, enabling four students to sit at each table. Masks were required except when eating and no one was allowed to talk while eating (which I pointed out was rude manners to begin with). Social distancing was enforced. Middle school students were not allowed upstairs in the upper school, or in the lower school. We library people had to do double duty as the lower school had no librarian. One of the assistants was present in the lower school classroom, while a librarian taught the class remotely. I teamed up with Nadia, the library assistant, and together we taught one Pre-K class and three K classes. Well, actually, I didn't teach, Roary did. Roary is the library lion. He is also a puppet. I just did his voice. I often had to go to lower school library to deliver books or to help out. I could not take the short way through the upper school. I either had to walk outside or go under (the Middle School is one level below the Upper School). No one was allowed in the library to browse the books and I desperately missed all the student contact I had in years gone by. Four teachers taught classes in the library. My part of the circulation desk had plexiglass running along the exterior of the desk. I still had to keep my mask on if anyone was in the room.

Every three weeks or so, students who no longer wanted to be remote, would return to school. By the end of the school year, there were not a lot of remote students. I had two advisees who returned toward the end of the year. Remote learning will not be allowed this upcoming school year.

It was exhausting. We had to be constantly on guard to make sure masks were on and social distancing was observed. We had to spray every table after every class. It was so sad to watch kids who love to interact with each other, love to play contact games with each other, love to fool around be constantly told to stop. Some teachers were very emphatic with the kids, I found myself apologizing to them. They all tried very hard to comply with all the new rules.

To add on to everything, George Floyd was murdered. The head of school advised us to all look at "Black at (name of school)" on Instagram. The stories were heartbreaking. PDS and Lawrenceville stories were filled with racism and just plain meanness. Our head took it to heart and called in a consultant. We spent the entire year in bi-monthly department Zoom meetings. A teacher was named DEI (Diversity, Equality, Inclusion) Coordinator. He, in turn, asked all of us to be on different task forces to explore and analyzed behavior at the school. It was a very full year.

I usually do work in the library during the summer, but this summer the Middle and Lower school libraries are being renovated to add a STEAM center to each. The "A" stands for Arts.

I know how lucky we all are at PDS. We are in a private school that has the money to make the school safe. It hurts to see schools struggling, losing students, not able to cope. I so wish it could be different.

Not sure what this year will bring, but having survived last school year, I am ready for anything. I hope.

 

July is flying by

Lots of news in the first weeks of full-on summer, but the arrival of the Brazil folks tops the report this week.  Joe came back for a week of work in Washington and then met up with Leonor and the boys a week later io Newark to drive them up to ….. Pittsfield!  I think the trip highlight was a tour of the cockpit that Thomas managed to charm out of the pilot. 

Joe stayed with Margaret and Andrew in DC and met for the first time his nephew, and Jeff and Melodie came over for an evening get-together.  At some point along the way, Simon got to meet their dog and there are precious photos of Simon with Hopper.

We packed it in this week.  There was baseball, swimming, 'man overboard' in the hammock, cake making, trip to a farm and ice cream, story time, throwing rocks, baby pool splashing, tractor driving, napping, of course, and shopping.  It was almost a washout as the first few days were full of heavy downpours.  We even had to turn the heat on for basement sleeping. Then the sun came out, just like at Camp Granada.

The shopping part reminded us of when we used to come home and help the local economy by loading up on items we couldn't find or were just too expensive.  Let's just say that I hope you all own Apple stock.

Out in Illinois, Andrew and Lur got back from a glorious, relaxing week at Green Lake, where they met up with a former Ripon professor.  Claire joined them for a couple of days, and then again for Andrew's birthday.  She is spending her summer on macrame projects.  Her roommate is moving out, but rather than seek a new place herself, she is content to keep her current abode for the time being.

Speaking of moving, I saw on some social media platform that Johanna is moving, this time to a Harlem address.  Correct?  I have been known to get social media posts wrong, as I congratulated Janet on her retirement when in fact she was commenting on a colleague retiring.  Now I know how some fake news gets started.  Right here on my keyboard. 

Also, I am wondering if I ever mentioned that Johanna will be starting a masters degree program at Northwestern in the fall, in communications.  Congrats.

Speaking of courses, Annie has started a leadership training/coaching class which will take up several weekends over the next few months.  She also celebrated her birthday, and we did as well, with a Zoom call, and then a birthday cake here, made by Mary and Thomas.  Annie and Sankar had a fun weekend camping in Tennessee.

There were a couple of birthdays coming up – Mary, Everett and Thomas.  We have celebrated those in the Poconos in the past, and hopefully in the future again.  Speaking of which, this was the weekend we would have been in the Poconos.  I checked the weather there today, and it calls for rain tonight.

More on the travel front, John and Marilyn took a road trip to Tennessee and ran into the crowds eager to get out from pandemic, that we have all been hearing about. They had to cut short their vacation.

We ran into the same crowds in Boston when Mary had her one year follow up medical visits.  All is well.

Other excitement this week had to do with championship soccer in Europe and South America.  What a way to end a game – penalty shots.  It just doesn't seem right.

Today, we are all packing up and heading for a week at the Jersey shore, down by Atlantic city.  We'll be able to see what drew Uncle Bob and Aunt Ruth there for so many years.  Forecast has no rain.

Hope you all are well, love from up here.