Summer time, and the living is easy

School's out for Summer or at least here in N. Michigan.  

 I stopped by the local park on Tuesday morning to pass out Popsicles  to the Third Grade students.  I go every year and meet them when they get off the bus.  It is just my way of treating them at the end of the school year.  It was a difficult year for the teachers.  They had large classes and some very unusual and 'quirky' students.  All of them are glad to have this year behind them.  I worked mostly in Molly's class (she is on the right) but I also helped the other teachers.  Tonya, on the right, is going to teach kindergarten next year.  There will be 2 new teachers in Third Grade next year.  They are going back to having 5 teachers at that grade level.  I think that will be better for the teachers and the students.  I enjoy my time working with the teachers and students.  I don't miss teaching and I often get to keep my skills active by teaching a subject or two for many of the teachers.  I do get to know some of those more unusual students sometimes since they are the ones that need the little extra attention or just need someone to work with them before their classroom teacher 'kills' them.  I know that feeling and am glad to take a child 'off their hands' for a short time so they have a little 'rest'.  Those 'quirky' children aren't so bad if you don't have to work with them all the time.

I usually stay at the park and chat with the students and teachers through lunch but I had to leave right away this year.  My quilt group was meeting for lunch and I needed to join them.  Next year I will be the leader of this group.  It is a fun and good group of women.  They do a lot of 'charity quilts' which means that the members make quilts that are donated to area charities.  Our main charity is Habitat for Humanity. We give a quilt to every member of a family in the new Habitat houses that are opened in the area.
Our group meets once a month for a meeting. There is usually a program in the morning and a meeting in the afternoon.  One of the most important part of the monthly meeting is the 'Show and Tell' time at the end of the business meeting.  This is just one of the members displaying her latest creation.  There are some beautiful quilts displayed at the meetings.  You may have noticed on my blog page that there is a link to this group if you wish to see more of the activities.

 Friday evening we DID manage to get the boat away from the slip for the evening.  This is Charlotte and her new boyfriend, David.  They joined the 'old folks' on an evening sail.  It was a beautiful night, a little chilly but       it was good to be out on the water anyway.  With sandwiches and all sorts of snacks we criss-crossed the bay and enjoyed the wonderful evening.

 Ringo came along, he is a good dog on the boat.

 The captain had a smile on his face,

I love to go sailing when Walt comes along.  I don't have to do anything except sit around and enjoy the scenery.

I have been working on some quilting projects but I can't show them online.  They are gifts for people that might read my blog although I'm not sure that I have many readers lately.  It is a good thing that I don't rely on readers and people that comment to 'feed' my need to continue to blog.  I do know that I will NOT be pursued by advertisers wishing to reach my readership but I will enjoy my 'quiet fame' among family members or any strange readers out there.
However few you are, I do appreciate you.