Feeling the Heat

Today was the last day with students, and holy hell was it hot. It got up to 94, but with the air quality and humidity it was a heat index of 101. Then take into account our 1960s brick school buildings that soak up the heat and do not release it, and it was a very sweaty day. 

This time is always bittersweet, because we are saying goodbye to students, but we are also ushering in summer... next week. The kids were a mix of energy, both positive and angry/sad coming out sideways. And hot. Everyone was hot. (And sweaty. And stinky.)

Elementary students are still in school this week, so because the heat is just supposed to continue through at least Thursday (and those brick oven buildings will hold the heat longer), they moved to a half day schedule. I was in the hall with another teacher and said, "I'm so glad they are doing this for the littles," and she replied, "yeah, well, it's a childcare nightmare." 

Oh... hadn't thought about that. Totally off my radar. 

I have been acutely aware of the wonders of my childless status as it's been hot or stressful or very busy, and I can go home and just...sploot on the couch. Or floor. I can take a shower and then a nap. I can say I need decompression time and go puzzle for an hour without anyone talking to me. If I had kids, I would not be able to do any of those things. (But then again, if I had kids, we'd be having Father's Day barbecue for Bryce this past weekend, and enjoying all the joys of children, too, so I take that with a grain of salt.) My colleagues who have kids (some 2 or 3) have that second shift. 

I do love being able to leave school and come home to quiet and the possibility of taking care of myself. I would have loved having children, but that didn't work out so I embrace the benefits I do have. 

Tomorrow, no students, just work time but some air conditioned spaces where we can go to get work done. I will NOT be cleaning up my room in this heat! It's supposed to be cooler next week, and we have Monday and Tuesday, so I think room things will be fine waiting until then. Then the rah rah end of the year celebration, wrapping up, and...another school year, DONE.

This is one thing I love about teaching -- I live with my students (at school, and in my headspace) all year, and then we have to say goodbye... but then the cycle starts again in September. It's always turning over. And today I saw a student who is a cousin to one of my current students... who graduated 2 years ago and still came to visit! Sometimes they come back. Saturday I'm attending another student's graduation party, from the year everything shut down. So it's not necessarily always goodbye goodbye. I love those reminders.

I hope wherever you are it's not too hot (the rest of the week is supposed to be heat index of 107, ew). Only a handful of days until the sweet freedom of summer! 

Hidden Treasure

There are five, FIVE! days of school with students left. It's a bittersweet time, because I'll miss my students, but also...summer is coming. And with summer, time in the garden.

My ankle/foot is out of the boot, and I was feeling ambitious enough this weekend to do some real, heavy-duty gardening. I aggressively pruned back an invasive tree (autumn olive, sounds lovely but is a BEAST), weeded an area that had become Soil of Death, and then tilled and amended the soil with a boatload of Bumper Crop soil builder. THEN I planted things in the new, hopefully less lethal, dirt. 

There was much digging and raking and sawing and lopping and dragging things down the hill to the area where we put yard waste. In our area, teeming with invasive trees, plants, shrubs, and vines, there is a serious need for this waste pile area. I was so grateful that my new knee was performing amazingly, and my ankle was holding up, and my right knee that is headed for replacement was actually not too terrible. Until later, when every part of my body was pissed at me. 

I brought wheelbarrows of pruned branches and yanked vines down to the waste area, and I found this: 

See it? Let's zoom in...

WHAT? A crop of absolutely gorgeous and either wild or drifted from elsewhere foxgloves! Beautiful spotted beauties, among the junk. 

I have no idea where they came from. I have some foxgloves in the Birdbath Garden, the aforementioned Garden of Death, but they are a perennial version, Arctic Fox Arctic Rose: 

Not the same at all in color or shape. 

Where did these lovelies come from? And how did they end up in a very bizarre, hidden, out-of-the-way area? 

It was a moment where I was dumping detritus, and BOOM! Gorgeous hidden treasure. Something beautiful in a junky area, totally unexpected. It's a great reminder that even when things are mucky and weedy and gross, there can be good things hiding in there, too. 

Everything will fill in and get nice and bushy, and you can totally see amended soil vs crap soil. I am constantly fighting the encroaching wilds in my little garden areas. All these plants are pollinator havens, though!