Thursday morning, our Pipevine Swallowtails started coming out of their cocoons. Two more came out Friday. A surprise one (I never saw the chrysalis) was out this morning. They seem a whole lot hardier than the Monarchs – none of them have fallen and bent their wings. We went to the sale at my daughter’s new school and she was a bit awed by the whole thing. Then we met up with friends at the Play Castle at Memorial City mall. After that, it was back home for a short rest and on to the Ice Cream Social, to meet her new teacher and see the classroom. My daughter, who started talking at 10 months and hasn’t stopped since, was nearly speechless. Originally, she was scheduled to be in the Vanguard overflow class, which would have a Vanguard curriculum, but not be all Vanguard kids; however, we found that she is now in the 100% Vanguard class. Afterwards, we went to eat at our favorite Thai place, Thai Choice. It is a family owned restaurant, and we go there often enough that the staff knows our kids by name. By this time, my little girl had recovered and proceeded to tell our server all about it. Every detail. My son loves Pad Thai, and he eats it exuberantly. Maybe they remember us at the restaurant because we always feel we need to leave the ‘messy baby’ tip. Friday afternoon, my father-in-law announced that he is getting married in April. It was a bit of a shock, as my mother-in-law’s funeral was less than a month ago. The bride-to-be is a very nice lady and I have nothing against her; it’s just that him scheduling the wedding in the same phone call as he scheduled a mass for his dead wife just seems…ghoulish.

My daughter has been saving her pocket money and she bought a Slip-N-Slide. I have been setting it up for the kids and then lounging under a tree with a book (I tried taking the computer, but there was too much glare) and a cool drink.  Yesterday, a very hungry fox squirrel  squatted about 3’ away from me to eat seeds. I talked to her a few times and she kept her eye on me, but didn’t seem too concerned. It was just us, two moms, hanging out in the shade. Almost like going to the play park.  After a while, the kids drifted over and we sat and watched as she shoveled whole seeds into her mouth and shells fell out  either side. Tax free weekend looms – I can finish the back-to-school shopping. I only need a few more uniform pieces. Hard to believe that my little girl will be headed off to kindergarten a week from Monday (sniff!). I have been reading Diana Tregarde Investigates, a collection of three books by Mercedes Lackey. So far, I’ve enjoyed it, and I’ve liked the character (very ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’).  The only problem is, I have really started noticing rhetorical devices, from taking that course, and I find it a bit distracting.

TS Edouard has come and gone. Left us some much needed rain, and it was only in the low nineties for a couple of days. We had a mama mockingbird teaching her baby to feed itself on our patio yesterday.  My swallowtails have all pupated and I’ve got a couple of monarchs that will be there soon. The swallowtails look either like space aliens or old leaves, depending on which side you view.  I’ve finished the first nine chapters of my assignment, and now I’m just going through it – have to get it in the mail tomorrow. I spent an hour or so poring over a Scottish slang dictionary last night, trying to find some words or phrases for my half-selkie character. As my husband said, “Bear in mind that they had to use subtitles for ‘Trainspotting.’” I found three that I thought I might be able to use, but I’m not so sure about one of them. I sent an email to my brother-in-law in Scotland to ask if “bletherskite” was really offensive, or just a little offensive.   Summer vacation is winding down – only two weeks and one day before school starts.  It’s one of those happy/sad things. In spite of multiple play dates and/or other adventures, the natives are getting restless. My daughter has started playing school (she keeps putting her little brother in time out because he won’t sit still and do his lessons). All of their activities will start up again. They’ll see friends again (at least six of the kids my daughter went to preschool with will be going to her school for kindergarten).  But we won’t be able to stand together and watch the baby birds learning be grown up birds. No more getting up when we feel like it and having French toast. Oh well, at least there are weekends.