Today is my first day of school. I set the alarm for 5 am so I could make the spin class and sort through my ‘first day’ anxieties. I awoke to winter wonderland and buried myself back into the bed for a few hours.
Time collapses on itself. I’m 43 years old, but I still get the same butterflies of excitement and anxious wondering about first days than I had going to second grade at my new school from my new home in Tallahassee Florida days after I turned 7 years old. What will everyone else be wearing? Will behave ‘right’? Will they like me? Will I be smart, clever, nice, pretty, fillintheblankhere enough?
I found myself primping and taking time (I mean, quite a bit of time) to consider which sweater I should don for my hike through the snow to look nice, but not too nice and had pulled out some makeup to hide the everlasting effects of chemical cancer peel when my phone rang. It was the school calling just before I headed out the door.
“Caroline? This is Greta from the school. We’re here in the office trying to make a decision and we’ve made one. We are cancelling school until Monday. If there is a drastic weather change, then we’ll call you tonight and start tomorrow. Otherwise, we’ll start orientation at 9 am on Monday….”
Talk about all dressed up with no place to go! So, the extra time off I’d been wishing for – I have received! I should buy a lottery ticket.
So, friends, I will not write you about my first day of school or about the people I’ll sit on the floor with for the next six months. I’ll keep watching Sunrise Earth and show you some pictures of our home here in Prescott. Who knew that in the mountains they would cancel school at the first sight of white?
This is a picture from ‘Louie’s porch’ outside our bedroom. We live across from the Mountain Artists Guild — similar to Artspace in Raleigh, which our front porch looks upon ‘back home’. On 4th Fridays they have a gallery walk, similar to ours on 1st Fridays. There are about 20 art/craft galleries in downtown Prescott, and we hope they will be open tomorrow!
Allen and I had cooked up a scheme to have a Southern Cocktail party with lemonade and mint juleps and invite classmates and new friends over for the 4th Friday tomorrow night. We’ll have to figure out some different excuse now – or wait a month.
We welcome suggested recipes for our Southern Cocktail Party, by the way!
Here is the side shot from Louie’s porch:
As you can see, Louie enjoys his morning neighborhood patrol. There is a school 2 blocks ‘up’ the street and we can hear the children playing during recess.
Two more pictures of our living quarters (perhaps you see why we are enjoying the wide wide world OUTside these days? Allen in our ‘study’ corner reading Stephen’s essays and catching up on email, and the view of our back yard via our ‘dining room’ where we mostly store fruit on a plate because I forgot to pack any bowls!
I can hear snow shovels outside. Seems our landlord is clearing a path and salting our porch! Our mailman knows us on sight and the local Indian Restaurant owner also knows us almost by name (he remembers the last time we were there, and we will be regulars for Wednesday’s Vegan Buffet)
I’d better get outside – the dust is starting to soupify and there is definitely a snowman to make!
Then, Barbara Kingsolver. The Lacuna. I suppose she’s worth dressing up for.
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