(Sunday Paper, Year V, Issue 35)

The last week in August is a very distinct week for me.

I’ve written about this before over the years.

Dating back to my time as a teacher, but continuing through my time as a parent, there is a certain back-to-school feel to this week - whether it’s the actual beginning of school, as it’s been for my daughters the past few years, or returning to the building for meetings, as it was for me for so many years.

There’s none of that this year, though there are familiar elements of some of those things.

Here are a few of the distinct feelings/memories that I associate with the final week of August:

-Back-to-school shopping

-Wet weekends featuring the rainy remnants of the hurricanes making their way up the east coast

-College football getting underway

It’s that first one that we experienced this week. I took the girls to Target to get a few things so they’re ready for the school year, which for them starts on-line.

It’s weird, because we don’t have the usual list - it was just us picking out a few things that we thought would be helpful to them as they started school on the computer…and perhaps will still be useful to them if they eventually move into the classroom.

But it was also weird because usually if we go to Target or Staples at this time of year it’s a zoo. There are tons of people doing the same thing. (Which, truth be told, is why usually we would go closer to mid-August than late August.) Under normal circumstances, we usually run into someone we know in the back-to-school aisle at one of these stores.

But not this week.

Target was quiet, and the back-to-school area was even quieter.

The hurricane remnants will still make their way up the coast.

College football - ill-advisedly, I might add - looks like it’s going to happen in some form.

And the back-to-school feeling is still there.

It’s all familiar, like any other year.

But it certainly is very, very different.

Notes

*Compost update: I feel like we’ve developed a good rhythm so far. Usually the bag I put in the indoor bin on Friday lasts until Monday or so, and then I trade that out for a bag that goes until Thursday night. I line the outdoor bin with a paper bag, and everything so far has been fairly clean and it’s going well. I am happy to trade strategies if you’re a composter…and if you are interested in signing up for the service in Framingham, we’re happy to share the info. Let me know if you need it.

*One other composting note: I am coming to grips with the fact that at some point one of the bags will burst and there will be a composting mess on the kitchen floor or in the garage or outside. The more I think about it the easier it will be to accept when it happens.

*If you missed it earlier this week, I posted the picture below on the John Sucich Facebook page - it’s a sign made by Morningside Designs that now hangs above our front door. You can find the link to their Facebook page on mine….

*…which, if you don’t already like the Facebook page, you can find (and Like) here, and of course you can follow me on Twitter here.