A summer day

Yep, it's summer alright!  When I walked out the door this afternoon, it was 92 degrees.  And this being New York, the dewpoint was high, too.  But what I mean by summer day is not just the weather.  I also mean, what happens when you're not up to your eyeballs in activities, and even the state doesn't expect you to "do school"?  

I have been relishing this summer.  I don't have a strict starting or stopping date for homeschooling anyway, so I just have a couple of light expectations to give structure to the day, and we try to use our time well.  C.Z. practices violin and has a lesson once a week, and I expect her to read and write a little each day.  We've been watching some Teaching Company tapes when we feel like it, and she's been doing a lot of baking.  But for now, no camps, no outside jobs, and no organized activities.  We're living. 

(This spacing is the blog's idea, not mine.)

So, what happens when you're just living?  Well, this morning, I got up at 6:30, fixed Bob and myself some toast and coffee, and we talked about some news among the extended family.  I answered an e-mail asking for help while a mom is in the hospital, did a quick scan of the headlines, and discovered to my surprise that my .mac blog was working again. 

Soon C.Z. was up, and volunteering to make challah French toast.  She'd been making challah until 10:30 last night, and was excited to see how it had turned out.  But the kitchen was a mess!  So after the French toast, she took one loaf to a neighbor, and she got started cleaning the kitchen.  She cleaned it, and cleaned it.  I don't think she was thrilled about that part, but she knows it's a necessary part of being allowed to bake, so she tolerates it.  But Bob and I said no more late nights in the kitchen (she'd made kefir the night before), because it heats up the house and makes her tired the next day.  C.Z. wore her new T-shirt from Pearl Bakery today, which was appropriate.  (It looks just like the one in the link photo.)

I got Bob's clothes and lunch ready for work.  I was on call to help an elderly neighbor (this is another somewhat funny story in itself), but she didn't call.  I tried to have Bible reading/prayer/journaling time, but everyone was up and kept talking, so perhaps I waited too late.  

C.Z. finished the kitchen and started practicing.  Pretty soon I heard Kreisler's Tambourin Chinois, by ear. "Oh, did Mialtin assign that?" I asked casually, knowing perfectly well that he hadn't.  Deep sigh.  Back to etudes.  But there was some Mozart, too.

I vacuumed, cleaned up the kitchen some more, and started scrubbing tiles.  We have a tile counter which isn't in good shape, so it takes a lot of maintenance.  I scrubbed until well after lunch (Fage yogurt with blueberries).  While I was at it, I cleaned most of the other surfaces in the kitchen.  I'm trying not to use bleach.  I'm also trying not to use so many plastic baggies, but I kept finding dirty ones and having to throw them away.  Note to self:  Figure out a better way to store table scraps and sandwiches!  

C.Z. cleaned herself up and did some reading.  She's close to finishing The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.  She told me that Susan's daughter Melissa had been dismayed to realize she hadn't read any Redwall or any other Joan Aiken than Wolves of Willoughby Chase (which we both enjoyed), and since we had to go to the book store anyway, we made plans to remedy that.  

Incidentally, does the image below look suspicious to you?  Looks like a hip check to me!  (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry.  It's a vacation joke.  But C.Z. wants credit.)

I did some planning, made lists, went to the grocery, and we went off to CSA pickup.  First, however, we went to Bank Street, to get a friend a birthday present.  We also came out with this:

 

                                            

I sent C.Z. home with our CSA share (we tried ordering meat this time, too), and I stayed to volunteer.  For the next two hours, I filled crates, stacked them behind the building, helped people find their meat orders, and made friends with the other shareholders and people working in the building.  I talked to the man who ran the CSA location, a Columbia grad student in conservation biology who said he might be able introduce C.Z. to an ornithologist or two.  Nice guy!  During lulls, I found recipes in Local Flavors that used my share items.  The chef who works in the burrito kitchen (long story--there's a lot going on in the church building where the CSA pick up is) walked through and said, hey, Local Flavors was his company name, and he used it because it worked in Spanish, too.  But he still gave us some chips to munch on. I even met a runner whom we've been seeing around Central Park since C.Z. was three!  Turns out he's a running coach.  Well, we thought he looked serious.  I also figured out that my idea of "small handful of basil" and others' idea of "small handful of basil" varies by quite a bit.  That could explain why there was hardly any basil left when I showed up last week!  (Note to self:  Show up early if you want basil.) 

By the time I got home, it was late, and I was tired, hungry, and had blisters.  But I'd had fun!  C.Z. was doing her second practice, and had been making pizza dough (with a trip to the upstairs neighbors for a critique, apparently).  We both journaled for a while, and chopped up pizza ingredients in between sessions.  And C.Z. made a birthday card for her friend.  Here's the pizza, right before it went in the oven.  Dinnertime!  

So, that's what we do on a summer day!  Well, this one, anyway.