School's Out for Summer!

Yippee! I pulled away from school at 12:05 PM today, ready to start my summer break! 

I had a full afternoon of errands and plans as I pulled away from school, including a trip to the strawberry patch to pick some fresh berries. As I was driving west, I was watching this large black cloud grow more and more threatening. I was driving behind a car that was having trouble going the speed limit, and my frustration level was growing as I knew that big, black cloud was going to interfere with my picking. When I finally got to the strawberry farm, I opened the car door to be enveloped by the smell of fresh strawberries! I started picking and as I filled my first quart the thunder and lightning rolled in and some big raindrops started falling. One minute later all h&$# broke loose,  with the wind howling, torrential rains were falling and the thunder and lightning was immediate. All the pickers ran for cover under the open air pay station. Then the hail came! The white streaks in this photo are the hail falling.
Marble sized or bigger hail pounded the metal roof of the shelter, while the thunder and lightning continued to put on a show.

After about 10 minutes, the edge of the storm moved south and east and I was able to pay for my quart of berries and return to my car. The berry patch was closed for the day after that storm. Unfortunately, in  order to get home I had to drive south and east, right back into the heart of the storm. I cannot remember the last time I had to drive through such heavy rain. It was slow going. 

I came home, mildly surprised to see that our side yard was not flooded. What was flooding was the gutters along the edge of the garage and there were several inches of water waiting to flow into the garage when I opened the garage door. The gutters were overflowing with water and not because they needed to be cleaned out, but because they could not handle the volume of water that was falling from the sky. 

I carried my berries and school stuff into the house, called Jim, and looked out into the backyard and suddenly the yard had filled with water.
So much for the town fixing our drainage problem. The good news is that once the rain stopped, the flooding quickly drained away. 

So that is the way my summer vacation started!

Jim and I went downtown tonight to get some dinner at the Taste of Rochester event on Main Street. Just as we got near one of the stages as one of the bands was starting their set, I heard my phone ring. It was my brother Bob wishing me a Happy Summer! As a very newly retired teacher, he clearly remembers the joy that comes with summer vacation. Thanks for the call, Bob! Jim and I each found something we'd like for dinner and we sat on a curb and ate our dinner and people-watched. 

I may have mentioned that the PE staff had to relocate our office area to a new space at school. For the past 5 years the PE staff has shared a classroom with some other staff to use as an office area. This year that space was needed as a classroom so we all had to move. The PE staff was moved (thanks to the custodial staff) to the former conference room. It is a much smaller area, but is air-conditioned and is right near the main office, so lots of people stop by to say "hi!" Here is a photo of our old office space, followed by our new space.

Jim, Maryanne, and Zach are supposed to go to camp today. I hope they made it. We look forward to seeing them for a few days around the Fourth of July.

Tomorrow we have some options for entertainment. We will probably walk over to the Farmer's Market at the mall, looking for salad greens and strawberries. I also hope to get a bike ride in as Saturday is supposed to be the better of the 2 weekend days. 

Jeannie left a comment wondering if I was talking about our Tennessee kin when I made my Appalachia comment in reference to Corey's chipped tooth. No, the last time I saw you'all, you'all had all your teeth!!

I called Sally today and spoke to her as she followed Bob through the rain, up over a mountain pass in Colorado on their way to Telluride. I was happy to read in their blog that they made it and found indoor accommodations instead of camping, even if the camping was going to be free!

Hope all is well.