Zoom school

 

Of all the grandchildren, only Hannah has in person school. There are 5 kids in her pre school class

She is excited about her first day of school

The west coast fires caused the ash to diffuse the sun such as we can look directly at it. Some mornings it is a huge red ball

toad lily

first mums

On my long Sunday bike rides, I go by this David statue which is often dressed for the occasion

Have 4 frogs in my pond now

Allie's work station. Usually the dog is on her feet

First day of Covid home school Shanna keeps them in one room. They wear headphones to not disturb the others

We had them all over for Labor day, the day before 'school' began

tomatoes

They changed Blogger yet again. So annoying.

86% of the Michigan school districts opted to have in person classrooms. Despite numerous precautions, many of them had to close down. The three different school districts my grandchildren go to have only on-line learning. The colleges that opened are now Covid hotbeds, especially large state schools. All you need is less than 10% irresponsible people and the virus goes haywire.

Again, how badly has this been managed? He opted not to tell us because he didn't want the country to panic. So if a house  is on fire, do you not tell the residents to get out because it would upset them? Such illogic. And he continues to have his self adulation rallies unmasked..they do sign a waiver not to hold him responsible. Could they sign one saying they will not go to the hospital if ill?

Virtual learning is especially hard for Maya. Naomi has to monitor every movement. They have to click on various links, many of  which do not work so Naomi is constantly trouble shooting. Some of the kids thought they could just use their parent's computers. No, the Chromebooks are especially loaded with the necessary programs. I did watch Maya's virtual gym class in which the teacher shouted out instructions for the kids to do various calisthenics and yoga poses. And we have internet and computers? What happens in other places?

Again this would have been over if we weren't 'led' by an idiot.

Aside from our hazy skies, we can breathe. Not so much on the West Coast. And then there is the Gulf coast ravaged yet again by floods.

I've been biking with only a rear derailleur for 2 years. Doesn't matter much with the mild hills around here though going up some of the big hills up north last summer was a challenge. But for the past week, I rode with both derailleurs broken. A single high gear. I definitely got a work out muscling up the hills here. Finally my official repair appointment was Tuesday. A zillion dollars later, everything is working now.

Days of sunflowers and roses

 

The full moon rising at our Kentucky Derby party

Traditional mint julep. Our hostess grew the mint

Some of us on the deck enjoying pre race drinks

For those not in the US, the Derby is known as the Run for the Roses. Someone gave each of us in an official Derby glass Also a  peach bourbon shot.

My friend's farm and pond. She has acres and acres

She shared some of her produce with us. These tomatoes are huge

My contribution: a chocolate black walnut  bourbon pie I also did my nails up in orange, gold and black

We had color coded fascinators, masks and jewelry though she couldn't find orange jewelry for me so I wore my own

my frog pond these days is surrounded by huge cleomes

Some of the apple orchards are open

A friend and I drove out to a flower farm. Nearby was an old German cemetery and stone church. Years ago I had gone to a wedding there

The church was surrounded by pretty gardens

A pretty church

most of the flowers at the farm were sunflowers. The other flowers I have myself and mine look nicer as I water them. Rather expensive to pick a bouquet but they let us walk around

Still acres of sunflowers are pretty and the sky was especially blue

My grand dog  Kaya looking regal

A smiling Hannah

Some how my moon flower has migrated to the other side of the house. I suspect squirrels bury the seed pods. These are poisonous to humans but to squirrels? Who knows These are annuals here but I have been told they reseed

Now instead of one blossom every other day, I get about six. The plant is huge

We've been getting nice sunrises and sunsets As you can see I have my own sunflowers

My nasturtiums are red, orange and yellow. These are the red 

Coney Island boardwalk someone else took. Not much social distancing but they have special lights now on the Parachute drop

The Derby field. We selected 3 horses a piece. If one of the 3 won, we get $15. I had selected my horse a few months back, NY Traffic. At that time, it had the worst odds but they kept improving since that time until he was in the top 4. And in the race, it looked for a while, he'd win. But fast starter, slow finisher

The Chosen Sisters with our color coordinated fascinators and masks

So sorry about the  pictures as they are all out of order. Hate this new blogger. It has been a busy week although alot of the busyness revolved going back and forth to the bike shop. Three flat tires! They were nice about it. They had failed to notice a tiny wire that would puncture new tubes. But then it happened again before I even rode it. Are they using rim tape? Who knows? But they decided my tire itself was hiding something and sold me a new one at cost. I only paid for one inner tube. It still has to go back in 2 weeks for some serious work but I can ride now that I have brakes and inflated tires. I've gone almost 90 miles in the few days since I got it back.

The Farmer's market is near the bike store so while it was being repaired the last time, I bought a burgundy dinner plate hibiscus and vegetables that as it turns out I didn't need to get as my friends have given me so much

Most of the towns now have their downtowns shut to traffic and streets turned into dining rooms. This will work for a while until the temps drop. Now if the maskholes would just wear their masks...

But we met Josh in nearby Northville to have dinner and then watch Hannah at her outdoor dance class. They had to stand on squares ten feet apart.

Naomi's restaurant is very dependent on the football traffic, which won't exist this year and the students, who will be offline. So she is surprised the place is still busy. One school starts, in 2 days, she will have to be home to supervise zoom sessions for Maya. She can work weekends when Maya is with her father.

A friend and I went to visit a flower farm out on roads that I used to bike on years ago. It was fairly close to the hairdresser I used to go to until she was having some life crisis and would cancel my appointments at the last minute. Although I have plenty of reasons to be mad at her, she shouldn't have any to be with me so I was surprised when I noticed i was "defriended'. I could see why some of her posts could get her into trouble with a divorcing husband so I assume she just deactivated her account but no, just me as I can find her account on Naomi's phone. Well I used to like her.

Washtenaw county had a huge influx of Germans from Swabia in the mid nineteenth century, many who were farmers on the west side of our county. Lots of Lutheran churches though the one we saw has been repurposed as a United Church of Christ. Most of the graves had German names on them except for the earliest which were English. Swabian is pronounced differently than High German. So the very common last name Bach is pronounced Baaaa, not with the hard K. Years ago, a good friend was married in that church, which was the last time I saw it. Sadly he died eleven years ago in  a bike accident.

It was fun to wander through the flower fields. Lots of btterflies. And then my friend cooked a delicious dinner out on her patio.

Fall is coming. A huge flock of blackbirds amassed where I was biking through this morning ready to migrate. I actually wore a long sleeved shirt. We will have a family Labor Day bbq tomorrow and then the kids will go back to school ( all virtually)

Summer is over

sigh

r