Sure is hot out there.

The greeting du jour, moaned by sweaty folks in grocery stores and pharmacies, office parking decks and swimming pools, dry cleaners and pet clinics, post office lines and playgrounds around Dunwoody. We're melting in this early summer heat wave, with a week or more to go before there's any relief.

Might as well have fun with it.

Never let them see you sweat.

It's wicked hot.

Alternative cooling system.

Stress sweat.

So, if we're sweating like a pig, we're actually cool and dry, right?

Don't sweat the details.

All that sweat equity we've put into our homes ... so not funny.

Don't sweat the small stuff. Or the behemoth SUV parking right against your passenger door.

Sweat lodge. Unairconditioned transportation for our kids when they head back to school in mid August.

Just because ...

Just because the federal government proclaims that no child should be left behind doesn't mean every child is capable of going to college.

One of my favorite cranky bloggers, The Other Dunwoody, today blasts education academia for its emphasis on pedagogy over content.  I agree just a bit ... I've encountered one too many teachers in the public school system who regurgitate the same tired lesson plans year after year because they fit the bureaucracy's paper trail and formulations. (Bless the teachers who figure out how to write to the form and then proceed to teach with professionalism and excellence far beyond the understanding of their administrative superiors ... and they've been the rule, not the exception, in Dunwoody schools.) A critical piece of legislation may finally get through the Georgia state morass allowing principals to fire incompetent and lackluster teachers on the basis of poor classroom skills and judgment rather than wade through years of documentation and supplication to highers up. Shuffling them to another school so they can be someone else's problem is currently the only solution available.

I also disagree, for one simple reason: the emphasis on college prep as the end all and be all of high school education leaves too many children behind, in remediation the moment they step into college, in debt because they can't keep that almighty Hope B average, and feeling less than stellar about a vocational track when they have every reason to be proud of those skills.

That isn't a teacher issue. It's another intrusive legislation from the Federal level down.

I believe in multiple tracks: college, technical, arts, so-called career, and more. If we are truly preparing every child for a life of financial independence and self-reliance, then we need to give them the tools to excel with whatever talent or passion they possess. Public (and private) education is failing the carpenters and electricians, early childhood educators and auto mechanics, multi-media electronic technicians and small business entrepreneurs, chefs and store owners, learning disabled and emotionally delayed who don't need a four-year college degree as much as they need the opportunity to explore basic skills that prepare them for a job or technical school, and then forge productive, well paying careers.

No B. A. or B. S. required.

Hot times.

It's hot.

Really hot.

Superheated, humid, heavy air presses down on us, straining air conditioning systems and gardens.  Summer has shifted from February cold to August hot in just a few weeks.

Weather forecasters predict more hurricanes than usual.  A price war on seedless watermelons has broken out among Publix, Fresh Market, Wal Mart and Trader Joe's (though it's a bit surreal that $3.98 is a really low price for a watermelon).  Normally cold pool water is sun-warming much more quickly so early morning swim team practice actually feels refreshing. Pony tails stuffed through a visor have become the style du jour as hair volume wilts in the heat. Hot tempered travelers are touchier than ever (a fight just broke out on an overseas flight when one passenger fully reclined his seat). And HVAC companies can't keep up with the frantic calls from people whose A/C has broken down in the unexpected heat wave ("Your wait time to talk to a representative is .... twenty minutes.")

Summer is a Southerner's tough love season.

Particularly when it begins a month early.

What's next?

My daughter and I share the "what's next" gene. We collect experiences, grazing through crafts, volunteer work, books, travel, and ideas. Some experiences stay with us; others get checked off and tucked away in memory. Experiences are so much more engaging than things.

Yet I think there comes a point when it's easy to get overwhelmed with all the opportunities for learning. Which is better ... master a few things or a little skill in a lot of things? Our multimedia-driven culture exposes us every day to new-new-new. We worry that we won't keep up and that, by not staying on top of the next technologically-driven social media trend/workplace IT tool/graduate degree/cultural phenomenon, we'll fall behind socially, professionally, and personally.

Catalog the things you've learned to do, from the mundane to the career-mandated.  In just one generation, our expectations and experiences have taken a quantum leap from the need-to-know and want-to-know of our grandparents' era.

My personal inventory: technical writing, basic sewing, needlepoint, cooking, knitting, vegetable gardening, refinishing furniture, housebreaking a dog, how to pack up and move a household in just a week, scrapbooking, managing websites with DreamWeaver, Vacation Bible School management, copywriting, strategic message communications, volunteer recruitment, Girl Scout troop leadership, the full continuum of child rearing, PowerPoint presentations, video scripting, how to pitch a tent, Microsoft Word/Excel/Publisher, Odyssey of the Mind coaching, painting walls and trim, how furniture is made from the moment the tree hits the ground, teaching phonics to preschoolers, change a tire, speechwriting, blogging, iPhone, English instruction for high school, running a nonprofit organization, Facebook, how to document a disability for public education accommodations, rudimentary PhotoShop, how to write an annual report for nonprofits and financial industries, search engines, political campaign marketing, door hardware installation, bicycle chain repair, Constant Contact email communications, streaming movies, earthy Japanese curse words (a remnant of my teen years in Okinawa), troubleshoot internet connections, charter school development, carpet manufacturing, hospital wayfinding design, SEO, online library reservations ...

Okay, that's enough.

But it can't be. To stay competitive as a freelance writer, I have to stay connected at all times with my clients' industries, demographic research for disparate audiences, cultural trends, and what's going on both locally and internationally. We don't live or work in a bubble anymore, limited by budget and travel modes to the wider world. Instead, the internet brings the world to our desktops and laptops in a constant cacophony of information.

Mental rest comes in doing things my grandparents considered necessities: home crafts, gardening, making do.  I hope to take the Master Gardener program through the DeKalb Extension Service. The next series begins January 2012. (There are information sessions in September for anyone who's interested. See the end of this post.)

What's next? It's always something.

It’s time to start recruiting for next year’s Master Gardener classes!!

Encourage your friends, neighbors, colleagues to send in their contact information to be added to the mailing list.  Letters (or emails) will be sent out in August with details of our September information sessions, and anyone who wants to apply must come to one of those sessions.  The dates are Sept. 2, Sept. 7, and Sept.8, all from 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon in the Training Kitchen at the main Extension Office.

Details of the program can be found on our website www.ugaextension.com/dekalb/ and I will be happy to talk to anyone who wants to know more - Averil - 404-298-4071

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Curbing the appeal

Before ...

And after ...

The moment of truth came when the tree crew reached the trunk:  a spongy center through the center limb and the beginnings of rot in the trunk. So it truly had to come down.  I miss that tree and the way it sheltered our home. And now I have an entirely different micro-climate in the front yard.  We'll install plant new perennials and shrubs along the foundation and a tree next fall and winter. The hydrangeas will move to the side yard, which is still shady.  And we'll close the wood shutters quite a bit this summer to offset the increased heat from the sun.

Oh, well.

Oh, baby!

Knitting continues to happen all around Dunwoody. From the Atlanta Knitting Guild that meets monthly at St. Patrick's Episcopal Church on North Peachtree and my favorite knitting circle at St. Luke's Presbyterian Church to knit-ins at Starbucks and Barnes & Noble, a sometimes surprising (to others) cross-section of knitters gathers to enjoy their craft. Some of my favorite knits come from twenty-somethings who consider knitting part and parcel of the whole self reliance/sustainable movement. (One posted on her blog that she refuses to wear anything she hasn't sewn or knitted herself. Her clothing creations are unbelievably beautiful and detailed ... fashionistas would be very, very envious.)

I've been knitting for babies lately ... organic cotton frocks, richly hued hats and sweaters in all-season cotton, soft blankets, and felted jester boots. It's fun to play with color and texture in creating these gifts and custom orders. I prefer natural fibers for most of my knitting, though sometimes I have to compromise with cotton. By itself, cotton has a tendency to stretch and sag; with a little manmade fiber or wool twisted into the yarn, it can stand up to wear and tear. I've found some amazing organic cotton yarns that hold their own, so I'm busily acquiring hanks of the yarn whenever I find them.

Felted jester booties for a toddler ... when I knit these with wool yarn, they're twice as large as they are when they come out of the hot water felting bath.

Organic cotton ... I love this pattern so much I'm making several more in various combinations of natural beige, cream, and tan

Those little leaves at the waist continue around the back.

A round blanket to wrap around a darling baby. Soft cotton yarn will be easy to wash.

I love Elizabeth Zimmerman's magical Baby Surprise Jacket pattern. I'm pleasantly surprised every time I knit one and love how it fits on babies and toddlers.

I'd still like to knit a custom lace shawl for a follower ... it may take awhile, but when that 100th follower signs up, I'll choose a winner at random, let them choose a color, and knit like crazy to create a lovely shawl.

Dunwoody knitting continues ...