School Adjustments

"Mom, are you still home?" Little Girl asked.  She was calling me about 20 minutes after having left to walk the five houses down and around the corner to catch the bus to school.

Yes, i told her, aren't you on the bus yet?

"The bus doesn't seem to be coming, and I'm going to be late, so I wanted you to know I'm coming back so you can take me."

That worked out just fine yesterday morning, but on days when i've already left for work, it's going to be a problem.

It turned out that her regular bus driver had become ill, and the substitute was given directions from the assistant principal that did not include our neighborhood at all.  He's new, as are most of the student counselors, so we are cutting him some slack.  They are all a bit overwhelmed.

Last year, that would have meant passing by 4 young people who needed a ride to school from our neighborhood.  This year, the other three have graduated and Little Girl is the only one.  So it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.

(Yes, there are other high school students in our neighborhood.  Most of them attend private schools or go to one of the other public schools that specialize in art or technology or something.  They have different buses.)

She went in to the office and spoke to them, and they called the sub driver, who now knows to come through our subdivision.

As long as it's so hot, though, i'm going to try to pick her up after school each day, and not make her get on the bus.  Mornings aren't so bad, she's the last one picked up and it only takes seven to ten minutes to get there, depending on the traffic lights, and it's not too hot yet.  Afternoons are a totally different matter, as she's the last one dropped off and the temperatures are sweltering.  Sweetie is off work by the time she gets out, so even if i'm working, he can get her.  This way, also, we can drop her friend Alli off at her workplace on the days she has a shift after school.  It's on our way, and no one should have to walk in 100+ temps like we've been having.

Ah, the first weeks of school can be an adjustment, can't they?

Today is:

Alcatraz Day -- the first prisoners arrived this day in 1934

Carnival Tuesday -- Granada

Day of Honor for Oddudua -- Santeria religion (cognate of the Roman Catholic St. Clare of Assisi; credited with the creation of humans)

Defense Forces Day -- Zimbabwe

Dog Days end -- yes, supposedly, in this heat

Feast of St. Attracta -- Irish Catholic Saint (founded a hospice and convents, and supposedly slayed a dragon; Patron of Achonry, Ireland; Men of Lugna)

Fox Hill Day -- Nassau, Bahamas (final day of their Emancipation celebrations)

Independence Day -- Chad(1960)

Ingersoll Day

International Sundance -- Manitoba, Canada (an extraordinary gathering of Elders from many Native traditions around the world, to perform the sacred Sundance of the Lakota people and sacred ceremonies of the other traditions represented; through Saturday)

Machias Wild Blueberry Festival -- Machias, ME, US (blueberries and fun, in the place that has lobster, too; through Saturday)

National Raspberry Bombe Day or Raspberry Tart Day -- whichever one you like best, or both, if that's the way you roll

Play in the Sand Day -- as per many internet sites; yeah, like at the beach, nothing like sand in your shorts, i get enough of that on vacation, thank you

Presidential Joke Day**

Son and Daughter Day -- the day to give your son(s) or daughter(s) the gift of time

St. Clare of Assisi's Day -- (Foundress of the Order of Poor Ladies [Poor Clares] Franciscan nuns; Patron of embroiderers, eyes, gilders/gold workers/goldsmiths, good weather, laundry workers, needle workers, telegraphs, telephones, and television writers; Assisi, Italy; Santa Clara Indian Pueblo; against eye disease)***; related observance
    Fiesta de Santa Clara -- Santa Clara Pueblo, NM, US (Native American celebration of St. Clare of Assisi, their Patron saint, with a corn dance and prayers for rain)

St. Philomela's Day (Patron of babies, children, desperate causes, forgotten causes, impossible causes, lost causes, orphans, poor people, priests, prisoners, sick people, students, test takers, toddlers, young people; against barrenness, bodily ills, infertility, mental illness, sickness, sterility)

World's Fair of Money -- Chicago, IL, US (the greatest money show on Earth, including dealers, exhibits from around the world, family activities and educational programs; through Saturday)


Birthdays Today:

Will Friedle, 1976
Ashley Jensen, 1969
Viola Davis, 1965
Joe Jackson, 1955
Hulk Hogan, 1953
Stephen Wozniak, 1950
Marilyn vos Savant, 1946
Joanna Coles, 1944
Anna Massey, 1937
Arlene Dahl, 1928
Mike Douglas, 1925 (Note: he also died on this date in 2006)
Alex Haley, 1921
Carrie Minetta Jacobs-Bond, 1862
David Rice Atchison, 1807
Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, 1667 (Last of the Medicis)


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Nightmare on Elm Street 5: Dream Child(Film), 1989
"Die Harmonie der Welt /The Harmony of the World"(Opera), 1957


Today in History:

First day of the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar, used my the Maya and other pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, BC3114
Traditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation, BC2492
Battle of Artemisium, naval battle of the Greco-Persian War, fought at the same time as the Battle of Thermopylae of the same war; Leonidas, King of Sparta, dies in the land battle, BC480*
Papandayan Java volcanic eruption kills 3,000, 1772
Charles Lawrence gives expulsion orders to remove the Acadians from Nova Scotia beginning the Great Upheaval, 1755
The world's first roller rink opens in Newport, RI, 1866
The first civilian prisoners arrive at Alcatraz, 1934
Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a frequency hopping, spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones and Wi-Fi, 1942
A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, en route from Tokyo to Honolulu, killing one teenager and injuring 15 passengers, 1984
NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history, 2003
A new species of a giant carnivorous plant, Nepethes attenboroughii, is discovered in the central Phillipines highlands, 2009
Jamaican runner Usain Bolt wins his third gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012


*some historians give different dates

**because presidents have a sense of humor, too, as shown this day in 1984 when Reagan thought the microphone was off and joked about Russia being outlawed

***why tv? because when she became too ill to attend mass at the end of her life, a miraculous image of the service would display on the wall of her room