text, images, design CC copyright, Att, Non-Comm, No D, 2005-2009, With love, ...from the garden.

It's back to school in our neighbourhood! In two hours from now parents and their children will be shuffling in to the school next door, not too many, it's a small grade school with substantially less than 300 students and plans were to close it soon. The plans went on hold at the last change of our provincial government but it's doubtful the plan will stay on hold for much longer than 2 years. It's a cool building a wee bit older than my house next door - mine was built around 1898! Most old school buildings in urban areas have been converted to other uses here in Ontario. Upgrading these old buildings to provide better ventilation and air conditioning is costly, though necessary to provide a comfortable environment for children and teachers with the warmer springs and early summers we now experience. It will be interesting to see what happens with the building, but for at least the next 10 months it's halls will be graced by youngsters eager to learn and to run out to play with their friends at recess.

All the commotion may unsettle the goldfinches this morning! They won't be used to this at all, though the adult finches know the story well and will teach the young birds how to cope. For me it means fewer chances to be able to grab a photograph. The birds take off from the front yard birch tree as soon as there's people walking on the sidewalk nearby. It will add an extra level of challenge to my ability to get a nice view of them and a good sharp photo often takes a bit of time to set up. Excellent practice for me!

And while I'm watching for the birds this morning and waiting for the daylight to brighten I'll get to watch eager young students heading in with all their new back to school goodies and their parents who are likely glad to see some structure return to their children's world once again! A few years from now my daughter will enjoy the first day of school again - when my grand daughter will enter the school system and another generation in our family will begin the whole process. Such fun to look forward to as there's so much more than ABC's to be learned in school. Social skills and coping skills will hopefully be learned too with each year building on the previous year's skills.

Living next door to an urban grade school has a few disadvantages, the main one; the noise levels rise many decibals at recess and lunch breaks! Someone not used to the unbridled energy of 6 - 8 year olds would surely flinch with each scream and squeal. It becomes second nature here to learn to ignore it - though it goes against anything I'd normally do. The squeals and screams are just part of the fun kids have when playing freely. Some of the sounds that rise up from the playgrounds are bone chilling, as if someone's been hurt or is in dire need of assistance. Being a mom and grandmother those are sounds I am used to but even I needed a year or two to adjust after we'd moved in. Frightened sounding screams would send me running to the nearest window only to discover children playing tag or some other game with sheer delight and exhuberance. Ah, the child in all of us can relate to that!

Happy school days to all!