First week of August Gone

I think, living in Florida, that August is the cruelest month.  It's generally hot and humid. There are brief respites especially when we have a sudden rain in the afternoon to break the back of the heat of the day. But then, getting older means that joints are more likely to become predictors of those rain storms by their aching. I'll be glad when it's over, this August. Maybe next year I can think far enough ahead to be somewhere else in August.

This particular week I spent three mornings at KinderCamp in the land of  "criss-cross, applesauce" (I talked about this here) and "bubbles and tails" a local elementary school.  KinderCamp strives to introduce 5-year-olds to the wonderful world of Kindergarten. The first two days I took a little of the pressure off the teachers by reassuring a few crying children that this would not only not last forever, but that books held some secret fun and by wasting time crying, we might be missing something interesting. By my return on Thursday almost everyone was finished with the crying thing.

I was reassured that I don't want a full-time job in a school. It's too much for me at this stage. I'll stick to volunteering when I have time.

I volunteered for an editing job for a pattern designer, and she is going to trust me with looking over her work.  She designs bags and purses and that sort of thing.  She may give me a pattern for free as payment. It appears that this sort of thing is the norm among the "indie" designers, especially those patterning for children's clothes and for bags. Usually they call for "pattern testers" and I have responded to a couple of those. I have not been chosen.  However, with this particular one I offered to vet her work since English is not her first language and she appears to have a real desire to produce a quality, highly usable product.  I admire that.

It's 4:30 pm and dark as twilight as today's afternoon rain pours down.