Mid-August Style. . .

 

Lots happening here at the moment in the Grand Duchy.  The Young Master begins the 8th grade next Wednesday, so I took him to school yesterday for the scheduled brief kick-off, to receive his locker assignment, meet his teachers, find their rooms, and drop off a few donated school supplies (whiteboard markers, dry erasers, and a few other small things).  

I hung back during our visit and let Paul show me around.  He was amazing to watch during these interactions, even carrying on a lengthy conversation in grammatically correct German with Frau B. (using the formal pronoun Sie), a German librarian (married to an American), who stationed the welcome table near the main entrance.  Usually, our son is reluctant to flex his linguistic prowess, at least with me, but not yesterday.  

And not to be outdone, he exchanged a few correct sentences in French with Madame F., the French teacher, as we left.  Not sure where he picked up that!

The first signs of adulthood, or an indicator that our son might have a career in the Foreign Service one day?  Time will tell.

Otherwise, our own semester kicks off a week from this coming Monday, so yours truly is scrambling through the usual meetings, revising a couple of course syllabi, organizing related professional activities and related things in advance of my hybrid courses for the fall.  I'll touch base in the physical classroom with my students Mondays, and small student learning teams of four or five members will collaborate on their own time for the rest of the week.  Next generation skills and all of that.

The Grand Duchess' vegetable garden is beginning to yield lots of fresh things.  We're already swimming in tomatoes as you'll observe.  And the lawn, for the first time in eight summers of ongoing work, has come into its own this summer.  

Mowing twice a week to thicken up the grass, organic fertilizer occasionally, this year anti-grub and fungus treatments (these are really the key I think), along with re-configuring various beds, putting in tree circles, routine edging, and the like over several years.  Neither perfect, nor exactly ever finished, but it's looking very park-like and manicured around here at the moment.  You know.  Suburban. . . dad.

But back to yesterday morning.

At the breakfast table, the Young Master asked if I was going to dress nicely for our visit to his school.  I answered in the affirmative.  

"Why?" I asked, to which he replied, 

"Well, I want you to look good."

Not sure about that on reviewing yesterday's attire although I was the ONLY adult that I saw in more than jeans, shorts, or leggings  and a t-shirt.  My ensemble was, from a distance, not bad, but perhaps a bit busy up close.  

Ah well.  No one recoiled in horror, so I wasn't exactly hideous I guess.  And you can't hit a home run all of the time anyway.  A solid white pocket square, on further reflection, or a navy blazer would have calmed down everything.  Live and learn as the saying goes.

-- Heinz-Ulrich