mid august - the beginning of school approaching

Thank you to the parents who have been communicating with me about the tuition and invoicing. It has been helpful as I am preparing for the beginning of school and for meeting many of you for the first time. I have appreciated those of you who have wended your way to my downstairs basement office. I welcome visitors, children and adults alike.

During the last week of August, we are beginning a biennial (once every two years) financial audit. There will be external accountants in the business office verifying all financial reporting aspects of the school. This is required by our funders, and it is also good business practice for a non-profit, to ascertain to the Board of Directors that the accounting books are being handled appropriately and accurately.

Last Friday, the camp children had a delightful math merchants festival, hawking their wares and providing goodies for the end of the week, learning about exchanging their hard work and products for cash and learning what is involved in setting up a store. This coming week, I am looking forward to finding out about the experiences of the children as they learn about wildlife.

In my life at home, I have been putting up preserves -- tomatoes and peach jam last week, blueberry jam this week, along with blanching and freezing some vegetables, relishing the abundance that surrounds us during the summer. I have been a member of the Ann Arbor Community Farm for a long time, am now benefiting from the delicious creations of Harvest Kitchen; I began recently learning wonderful new (old) skills at Preserving Traditions. Would that I spent a little more time in my own quite neglected garden! Nonetheless, I did dig up a few potatoes that I had planted earlier this year, to share with my granddaughter, Emma and my grandson, Nigel. The heat has been exhausting; I'm anticipating the cool of the end-of-summer evenings that heralds the coming fall.