A May Day Mixture of thoughts

I got a surprise this morning: snow. Not very much but still, snow on the first of May. I shouldn't be too surprised, the last freeze date of the season is some time in June. This is something that I'll have to deal with in the vegie garden - to be. The snow didn't seem to harm anything and I didn't get any pictures before it melted but I think the fact that there was cloud cover with snow I think means that we didn't get a killing frost. I've got my eye on the apricot blossoms.

Oldest daughter and I have been having good conversations. She came home from chemistry class (public school, conservative small town) talking about the proliferation of plastic bags that don't break down into anything but toxins, about the ingredients in plastic cups, (artificially) scented candles, toxins in plastic wrap, and a whole lot of other things. Unfortunately only the kids in advanced science classes get to have these discussions. The class assignment was to go home and look at the fibers in their sweaters (meaning they had to get picked up off the floor) and she was proud to report wool, cotton and cashmere. We talked about the fact that we've been trying to live this way for a while and I'd love to be able to buy organic clothing but haven't been able to afford it.

Later that night she was inspired to map out a quilt pattern on graph paper and began to go through old clothes to see what fabrics could be cut up to go into the quilt she wants to take with her next year.

Next year... ugh, Next Year, thanks to the Bush Administration's "No child Left Behind", Ni-chan has to leave home to finish high school. The funding for advanced classes has been cut for basic public schools (we have one high school in the county) so that lower students have to be brought up and the better students brought down. We have found a host family living a wealthy neighborhood in the the city so that particular school can offer AP classes. She could have graduated and gone to college (she has the credits) but she didn't feel ready. I did that myself (being a whole lot less mature than this kid) and know that being able to do the work and being mature enough to live in the dorms and all that goes with college living are really different things. So instead she can stay in high school and take AP classes and get college credit to help on the tuition bill.

Chibi was in a sulky mood and so spent the evening behind a closed door, nose in book, except for when it was time to come to the family dinner table.

By the way, everyone liked the Makaruni Pasta with Baby Bella Mushroom Sauce recipe. Mr. Greenjeans isn't fond of cooked mushrooms but was being a good sport about it. He ended up raving about how wonderful the dinner was even mentioned it again this morning. (He'd worked hard all day and had a good appitite - the best seasoning of all).