Sunbeams

Sunbeams, originally uploaded by Corbie.

I can imagine that people who weren't aware that an eclipse was happening might have been a little alarmed when the moon gradually turned to blood in the middle of the night last night. I, aware that an eclipse was scheduled, set my alarm and went out to watch it for awhile. Kind of eerie, actually - but eerie in a good way. Of course, I'm of the opinion that eerie is usually good. I shared the night with a garden spider who was busily making its web nearby, then went back to bed so I could get up a few hours later to help with the removal of kids from the house so they could go to their first day of school. Hard to believe that Sophie is in the first grade, Nate in third, and Alex in fifth. Willow had her first day yesterday. By most accounts the first day experiences were good, with only Nathan expressing the opinion that the kids in his class were, "annoying."

Yesterday was technically my first day of school too, and Jen's first day at the office. It seems though, that my financial aid forms are still floating around in the deep end of some bureaucratic swimming pool, preventing the final step of legitimacy from happening, and Jen is actually working at a cottage owned by her boss instead of the actual office. So.... almost!

My faculty adviser/contact person had arranged to meet with me this morning around the corner at the coffee shop. Of course, today of all days there was a handwritten note on the door stating that it wouldn't be opening until almost noon. We met at our house instead. She seems nice enough, but I'm definitely going to be working hard and sleeping little over the coming months. In addition to the assigned course work, I'm studying for the upcoming CSET test in early November. Right now I'm reading the social studies/history section in the big CSET study guide. It's sort of like relearning everything I was supposed to learn/learned but forgot in all of my classes from kindergarten through the eighth grade. It's actually more interesting than it sounds though. Just time consuming.

Over last weekend I didn't get much studying done because Jen's brother J finally married his girlfriend S in a lovely little ceremony up in the hills. Of course this meant that lots of out of town relatives were on hand too, including Jen and J's dad and stepmom, various uncles and cousins, friends, and lots of people whom I've never met. In other words, lots of restaurant dining and sitting around tables and talking. It was nice to see the far away relatives-in-law again, but I tend to get overwhelmed in crowds, I'm afraid - especially the rehearsal dinner with forty or so people all eating together. The wedding was a definite highpoint though. Jen and I even got to dance a bit. So did the kids, who all comported themselves with style (if not always grace) on the dance floor. They're already better dancers than I am.

The picture above is of the sun slicing through smoke from cooking food, over the unsuspecting heads of wedding guests.

That's it for now - posts may become more infrequent than usual as we all slip into our new routines around here. Next week is science camp set-up week (for which I might occasionally have to have at least Willow with me), followed by the beginning of the science camp school year, during which I'll be working as night host. We'll see how that goes...