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So, that was "vacation." Summer technically stretches out till September 22 but for all of us immersed in the School Culture, it's as good as over.

As soon as work got out, I taught for another three weeks, then hopped on a plane for a weeklong AVID workshop in Sacramento. I did have a few days off here and there, and did enjoy some travel which included a beautiful four-day jaunt around the Bay Area and surrounding locales - so I really can't complain. I don't feel rested, but I do feel ready for the year.

Tami's wedding and seeing Vickie in Cali were definitely highlights of the summer "break" (does continuing to put quotation marks around "vacation" and "break" seem whiny? oh well) ... Also, finally visiting my aging uncle as well as my aunt and cousins in San Francisco made the whole California trip worthwhile. Other changes: we (I) moved my geriatric cat, the girl I've had since I was a fifth-grader myself, into the apartment. Kona and Callie have another sibling, and Callie is less than thrilled. Kona and I, we go with "the more the merrier." Cub accepted her arrival with some reservations: "Where do I draw the line?!" he fretted, when I first brought up wanting to move her to our place. As in, where does he draw the line with our ever-growing zoo? While we hashed that one out we came to the conclusion that he is Ricky to my Lucy but he'll put up with my lightning bolt ideas as long as I can 'splain them well enough (and really, I always can). Besides, nobody puts kitty in the corner.

As I type this I'm trying to figure out what to wear, whether to pick up CBTL before going in, whether to throw a slow-cooker dinner together before leaving. (Still sketchy on leaving the crock pot on, unattended, all day. No matter how many awesome slow-cooker stoup recipes Food Network comes up with.)

The once-again-modified calendar means reverting to longer summers and shorter interim breaks. Whatever the case, I'm taking the next real break fully off.

Here's to a great coming year, starting with today. While I still strive to beat down Handicapper General (nclb) mentality in the learning environment I create, I must admit I'm kind of anxious to see the kids' Spring scores. Excited in the way I always tore into my own SATs, or Praxis, or whatever. Because no matter how much we tell ourselves that our kids' scores are not a sound measure of their abilities or ours, it's always perversely reassuring to see towering bars, nice, big numbers, and the letters A - Y - P marching across the top of an official document. But that's just me and my residual love of school in a time where scores validated your very existence. One day I'll get over it.

Off to work!