Catching up -- school days begin again!

My mom's empty classroom.  Photo: Elizabeth Urbach.

Hello everyone,

I haven't fallen off the face of the blogosphere, but wow!  It has been a long time since I've posted.  Several things have been going on in the meantime. My mom retired from her kindergarten teaching career and I helped her move out of her classroom; 20+ years in the same classroom = a surprising amount of stuff!  Weeks and countless hours of sorting, packing, throwing away, giving away, and hauling papers, books, DVDs and videos, pictures, posters, activities and worksheets that she used to supplement the curriculum, and all the toys, puzzles, and manipulatives that belong in a kindergarten classroom.

I also spent 6 weeks as a teacher's aide in the same school's summer school program, teaching Medieval
history to a class of mostly 3rd, 4th and 5th graders.  It was a lot of fun!

Rose, White & Blue Parade -- another fun way to spend the 4th of July!

The tea guild and GBACG members before the parade.  Photo: Laura Jimenez.

The South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild and the Greater Bay Area Costumers' Guild got together again to dress up and walk in San Jose's only 4th of July parade, the Rose, White & Blue Parade that travels through the historic Rose Garden neighborhood.  As with last year's parade, there was a lot of standing around and waiting -- even though we arrived at the staging area only 30 minutes before the parade was supposed to start (instead of 1 1/2 hours early as they suggested!).  We did have the opportunity to chat with some of the other parade participants, and had several people come up to us and ask to take pictures of and with us.  We were also approached by campaign workers to ask if we would be photographed holding various politicians' campaign posters, which we politely declined to do ...

the tea guild at GBACG members in the parade.  Photo: Laura Jimenez.

The parade route was lengthened this year, from 1.5 miles to 1.7 miles, and I don't know if we really noticed the difference because, just like last year, we all had sore feet by the end of the parade anyway!  The parade audience was great, though, and it is always fun to chat with them as we walk and wave.  We kept getting asked "How are your feet doing in those heels?" and "One lump or two?" (I was carrying our tea guild's banner).  The streets are so small that people can call out to you and you can hear and call back.  I wish we could have taken advantage of the glasses of cold beverages that were (somewhat jokingly) offered to us along the parade route, though!  On the way to a friend's house in the neighborhood (where we were invited to stop for some ice water and air conditioning) we started talking about next year's parade and how we should plan costumes that call for flat shoes!  So far, we've settled on Victorian and Edwardian bathing costumes (with ballet flats tied on with ribbons) and 1920s/1930s poolside and beach play suits and coverups (with espadrilles and sandals).  We'll see what we end up wearing when next year's parade rolls around!  

July!

"What dreadful hot weather we have!

It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance."
- Jane Austen 

July has arrived, and brought unusually high temperatures with it!  Parts of the garden are doing well -- the pumpkins and zucchini are sprawling all over their space -- but the tomatoes in the clay pots keep wilting if I don't water them every day.  Only one of my heads of lettuce is doing well, but I've already cut from it twice and it looks like it's about to go to seed.  It looks good for the cherry tomatoes and the other tomatoes in the ground, though and it looks like I'll get a good amount of basil, too.  Hopefully this next week of really high temperatures won't kill everything!

The tea guild is getting ready to walk in the Rose, White & Blue Parade through downtown San Jose on the 4th, so that should be fun.  It's the third year we've walked in the parade and we're glad to have been invited back!  We had a lot of fun waving to the crowd and being in the parade.  Here is one of the photos from last year:          

The parade starts at 10 a.m. and runs through the Rose Garden neighborhood in San Jose, so come out and see it!  We can always use some fans in the audience ...

Back from the parade!

Here we are, waiting ...

No, we didn't just get back today, it's taken me this long to get the photos up!  We had a great time walking in the parade and are planning to do it again next year.  Lots of people asked about the South Bay Ladies' Tea Guild and the Greater Bay Area Costumers' Guild as we walked through town, so hopefully we'll get a few more people to look us up and join in the fun!