In which I fulfill my obligations

Behold the obligatory back-to-school photos!  I am so sorry Merry does not appear here--somehow we did not unearth the camera until the hour grew late!  Elspeth started a brand-new school this year--a gifted program at a school about 20 minutes away.  I just wrote to a friend, describing the change we see in her already--it's like a light has been turned to bright in her eyes--it was dim much of last year.  She seems so very happy and so are we, even with the extra homework.  I will miss picking her up from the nurse's office, where last year she so often drifted from malaise--no more unsick sick days for her!  The other day, she lowered her voice in sad confidential tones and told me: "I am no longer the best reader in my class."  I wanted to throw a party.  It's about time.

Bea is looking nervous and impish in these photos because this was the first day she fulfilled her dream of riding the school bus.  As Martin says, Bea is our biggest proponent of public transportation.  She has always been a fan of Richard Scarry and would love to live in a Busytown full of bizarre vehicles packed with animals with staring eyes, but she has to settle for Poulsbo and the school bus.

Merry is back in Merry-heaven, a place of schedules, deadlines, homework, and being taken seriously.  She is never more at home than with a binder of challenging work marked with post-its and very specifically labelled dividers.  How she is my oldest daughter is an act of God that keeps us all guessing.