Another wet winter carnival is upon us...

Wet. Sloppy. Snow showers, with rain in the forecast. Another Winter Carnival has arrived. 

Climate change has brought practical changes even to this rather innocuous tradition-- there will be no snow sculptures (we have bare ground in a lot of places), no sled races, no snow shoe events. The games are mostly indoors (except the egg toss, amen, that makes a mess). 

So, today, I'll go to school wearing my required class color (blue), and sit in the gym for hours, watching kids compete. There are no real "honors"-- except the bragging rights. It is a good way to blow off steam, have fun, and launch into vacation. It's too bad some families use this as an excuse to head out of town early, though-- there are kids who will miss this, year after year, and that's not their fault. I suppose, though, in the larger sense, a day that is non-academic is not a lot to miss. But if these events are supposed to build community among the students, it's hard to do that when they are not there.

At any rate, I'll be leaving at my scheduled time, too. I'm ready for a week of differently-structured time. Yes, it's a vacation week, but per usual, we have no plans. None. I end up filling the week with chores and projects, and then wonder why I am still so tired. Maybe that's the key: don't do those things. Well, I do have a short closet reorganization on my to-do list, but that's just because I get lazy and end up wearing the same outfits over and over, while other, perfectly good clothes just hang in the back of the closet. 

Maybe I can figure out at least one day of out of the ordinary fun. We'll see.

Have a good day, and stay dry!

C