Cheer up

We're down to the second last day of summer vacation for Cathy. Oh, she's been in the school on and off since last Friday, but it's been more to help organize the library and tidy up her classroom a bit. She's been able to pick and choose her hours. If she didn't feel like going in until 2 p.m., no one was going to say anything to her.

But Wednesday marks the first official day when she has to be at the school by a specific time and can't leave until a specific time. She doesn't get the kids until Tuesday.

So there is a lingering air of sadness in the Chateau today. Least kids get depressed at the notion of going back to school, take some comfort that teachers aren't in a much better head space during the last days of summer either.

I've tried cheering Cathy up a bit. I found this great story yesterday about an Italian priest wanting to create a beauty contest for nuns. Cathy had the habit of grabbing me and pointing out different kinds of nuns when we were in Italy (think "Punch Buggy" but with nuns). And lord knows there were enough varieties. Not just in shape, size and age, but they kept wearing different habits. If we had thought of it earlier I imagine we would have kept a photo record of them.

But now I'm hearing the priest who was planning the contest is calling it off after getting a lot of grief from his superiors. And nasty emails. Oh well.

So I'm still poking around and trying to find things to cheer her up a bit. If you can think of anything, by all means, post it here. A Happy Cathy is a good thing.

Oh, and this isn't to cheer Cathy up, but more for those addicted to US politics. And even then, only for the hardcore. If you ever wanted to understand what the two campaigns are talking about when it comes to taxes, especially Obama's, then this is likely as clear as you're going to find. It is long, but completely worth it if you not only want to understand his tax policy, but also to read something rare - excellent policy based journalism during an election campaign. I should frame it. This might be the last time I read something like this for awhile.

I haven't been watching the Democratic convention mainly because that many talking heads would likely break Cathy's sanity. But I will try and catch Obama's speech on Thursday. I'm curious to see if he can pull it off, despite all the high expectations.

Last Five
1. Leaving so soon - Keane
2. Just the way you are (live) - Billy Joel and Elton John
3. Everything must go! - The Weakerthans
4. Paranoid monkey blues - Mark Bragg*
5. Live the life you're dreaming of - Sloan