Summer Holidays

Our school days have been very short for about a month now. In about an hour or so, the girls are done their work. Bub is at it a little longer and I'm very impressed with how diligently he will stick at his work. The kids worked hard this year. I'm pleased. They have really displayed an ability to work independently as well as together.

On Friday we had Bub's graduation from grade eight. Can you believe that we didn't take a single photo? We went out for supper with my parents and had a nice time together at a restaurant on the lake. We kept waiting for Bub's valedictorian address, but he seems to have forgotten it at home :o).

We unofficially declared it summer holiday time after Bub's graduation supper, but the kids know they all still have a little work to do each day that won't be finished up until the end of June. (Then we will have the impromptu lessons that they always get through the summer months. I can't help it. I love to learn, and I want them to love to learn too). While they spend an hour or so practicing penmanship, writing skills, and mathematics, I'll enjoy a cup of coffee, trot through the gardens, pull a few weeds, clean a bathroom, whatever tickles my fancy.

If the weather continues the way it has, we'll frequently head off to the lake shortly after lunch for a swim in the icy waters. The kids already swam in the lake on Victoria Day Monday (May 24). I think that's the earliest they've ever been in the lake. It was limb numbing yet, but they didn't seem to mind.

We broke down and ordered a new pool. It will hopefully be arriving today. We wanted to hold off until we could put in a decent above ground, but some other happenings (I'll talk about that in another post) have made us decide to hold off on that for another couple of years.

Friends of ours gave us their porch swing. We have all been enjoying it immensely. Last night, the Engineer and I sat out there until we could barely see what we were doing. (He was reading and I was knitting). We have sat out more times so far this year than we did the entire summer last year (or the summer before for that matter), and it's not even officially summer yet.

We decided to try a vegetable garden again this year. The raised bed we made last year houses my herbs this year. We are going to make three foot wide gardens with grass in between that can be mowed. Unusual to the area we live in is that we have quite sandy soil. Our neighbours a mile down the road have heavy clay soil. The clay is the norm for our county -- except for a large vein  of sandy loam that runs on an angle through our county. We just happen to be on it. It makes our soil easy to work with, but is also highly attractive to weeds. Weeding the vegetable garden has been a losing battle for years. Every year we try to come up with something new, but with no success.

Speaking of weeding, I worked for about ten hours (with lots of help from my mom) on our massive perennial bed. I have now divided, weeded, and mulched the whole bed. It looks wonderful. I even moved my hybrid tea roses into the bed. Some currently are not fairing too well, so we'll see what happens to them. This is their second move in five years, so if they die on me, I wouldn't blame them.

A thunderstorm is rolling in. It's 32C here today with a humidex to match, so it's good to hear the thunder. It will bring a bit of relief and water my transplants. The children are all sitting on the porch listening to the thunder's mighty sound. Perhaps it's time to save this for a bit and log out. And here comes the big fat juicy drops of rain!