September Musings

So much has gone on since I last blogged....in the knitting world, I still haven't finished that SWS sock in Geranium, although, I'll admit, I am now just doing the mindless round and round of the foot (ALMOST THERE!!). I have now officially crested the under 1000 ahead of me in line for Ravelry.com - and to make it better, there are 694 ahead of me....I hope I will see my invite in the next 2 weeks! WHOO HOOO! Also knitting related, I will be teaching yet another new knitter tomorrow...increasing the ranks one person at a time!

In the rest of life, and yes, the reason I have not been knitting much is the return to school by a certain 6 year old. Happy? sure! Busy? You bet....between socializing with all the people I haven't been able to spend much kid-free time with all summer, lunches, shopping and yes, HOUSE CLEANING...I've been too busy to knit....this week will be different....I want to get that sock out of my life for now.

I want to say that I am very disappointed in my daughter's school however on a few fronts. First, yesterday, September 11, no mention, no moment of silence, no appreciation of the moment - it's a falling down on the job for these educators. This is profound history, and a moment in recent history that should be known by all children of schooling age. Secondly, after a lengthy series of events, the School District held and "emergency" meeting to pass an "emergency" pay raise for the teachers. This "emergency" came about because for the last 2 years, the teachers and the School Board could not reach an agreement, most notably in time for the March District Meeting. The teacher's raise meeting came about in late August, with no flexibility for any vote but yes or no. I voted "no" I clapped in support for the people who stood to speak up and say "vote no". I did this not because I don't think "some" of the teachers deserve a raise, I voted no, because August is not the time to bring up these matters of finance, this issue needs to come up at the Annual Meeting. I do support the teachers, and support the school as a whole, but enough is enough. All of that having been said, I now am marked and treated as a traitor because I wasn't a supporter. The fact is, I support the teachers getting raises - AT the Annual Meeting in March. But if they continue to act as spoiled children, I may not be so inclined....

Lastly, 2007 has been a terrible year for me and the people I know. I traveled to SC to see my Uncle in July, he died 3 weeks later. After I returned from SC, I found that just before I left, one of my (3) closest friends from high school's Mother in Law had died suddenly. A month later, one of my brother's mother in law died (who also happened to be an old family friend, her late husband grew up with my Dad), then 2 firefighters from a Roxbury station were killed in a fire (my other brother is a Captain at another Roxbury firehouse), THEN....another one of my close friends from high school's father in law died in a freak boating accident....Bad news is all around me....as for my newer, local friends, one friend's Mother died in February, and her sister just died in August (unexpectedly), and another friend's father died last weekend....I am ALL SET with bad news......what a year, it all started last December when another local friend's father died suddenly...It's so hard to see the people I care about hurt. I'll be so glad to put this one behind me, behind us all. 2008 had better be a year of babies and weddings and ponies and rainbows or I'm not leaving the house.