Creeping Summer - Reasons 2B Cheerful

Lemon Scented Geranium grown from a cutting.

1
Parents evening
We had our parent-teacher-student meeting this week. Here the children come with their parents. For us it's good that DD hears what the teachers have to say about her (or to her as is the case here). As a teacher it's sometimes annoying when you want to be honest with the parents of a child who has problems.

We got glowing reports about DD's character and academic progress. We are neither a genius nor a duffer. We are managing to do all the work, in our second language, with good enough grades (and excellent in English and Maths). More importantly, to me, DD is neat, organised and precise in her work, She's a good and caring friend, well liked in the class, and she loves school. Result!

2
Fireworks and fly past preview
Last night they had the dress rehearsal for the ceremony on Mt. Herzl that takes us from Memorial Day (for fallen soldiers and victims of terror) into Independence Day. It's not until Monday night but we stood on the balcony last night and saw the fireworks. Then this morning they practiced the fly past of air force jets. I could also see this from my balcony. All that's left for me to do on Tuesday is the obligatory Independence Day picnic.

3
Back to school
The school in which I was miserable for three months during the winter, said they want me to come back next year. Of course I found myself saying yes. They very cleverly wait to ask until the sun is shining, my dungeon classroom has warmed up a bit, and on a day when all the classes are rehearsing for the celebrations next week so I was totally relaxed and enjoying myself doing not much. Of course I said yes on a day like that.

4
No screens Shabbat
In a bid to cut down on screen time I instigated a no screens on Shabbat rule. You're not supposed to use electricity on Shabbat at all but we do because I tend to interpret my own rules straight from God rather than go through the Rabbis. The Good Book says God rested on the seventh day and the 10 commandments say remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. So we don't work on Shabbat but screen time is leisure, not work.

However, DD was spending too much time on the computer and it was becoming an obsession rather than a leisure activity. As the people we know have all sorts of strange rules and customs for Shabbat, DD was upset about it but accepted it as a reasonable rule (after begging me 100 times to reconsider).

My only reservation was that if DD couldn't be on a computer, neither could I. But actually it's been great. We play games on Friday night after supper, read - she to me and me to her. She even picked up a chapter book and started reading it herself last week - a first. And I'm always happy to read.

Apart from the new willingness to read, DD is also more willing to go out and be sociable on Shabbat. It's really a win-win-win-win move.

5
Blooming marvelous
The lemon scented geranium that started out as a cutting brought to me from my cousin's house in London, is now blooming. And the mint that was a tiny sprig from the greenhouse at school is thriving. The lemon pips I stuck into some soil are also growing.

I have big plans to move some plants around for a whole window box of mint for tea and salads. And another for parsley. I'm also on the lookout for more cuttings. Unfortunately a spider plant cutting given to us by a friend is not thriving. It's an inside plant but we have no room inside for plants so it's suffering on the sun-scorched balcony. (I hope there's no RSPCP.)

That's it from me as we slide down the slippery slope of lethargy into a full blown Middle Eastern Summer. Even though we still have two months left of school I'm feeling the slowness descend.

There are more Reasons 2B Cheerful over at Becky's Lakes Single Mum.