Last day of school

Today was the last day of school for the local schools and the students from St. Augustine's spent much of it at Brookside park playing. I could not resist the temptation to go down and ask some of them why they were not back in the classroom working calculus problems (or at least taking another meaningless test).

 Starting tomorrow they can get to work helping their mothers and fathers. They can do things like weed the garden. This year I have had dozens of little walnut trees coming up in my garden and all over the yard. The squirrels carried them from the other end of the block and bury them last fall and now they are a nuisance. (Black Walnuts are toxic to tomatoes and some other garden plants.)

 Or they can play outside and enjoy nature. Maybe they will pay attention to some of the flowers blooming, like this coreopsis.

 Or this blue flag, a native iris that was very common in our area before extensive draining. Both the blue flag and coreopsis are blooming in the retention pond by the water treatment plant next to Iroquois Park.

School has extended so late this year that it is getting out after harvest--hay harvest. The picture below as taken about a week ago north of the new primary school.

The pool opens tomorrow. Summer will finally arrive in Rensselaer.