Creamsicle Rose and the Tornado

I deadheaded our roses on Monday. Most of the blossoms I cut were withered or collapsing, or even just a bare rose hip, but this one still had a little life in it so I put it on the windowsill for a day or two. It's one of just two flowers that came on one of our more particular rose plants. Doesn't it look like a Creamsicle?

It's funny that in yesterday's post I was complaining about being so busy at work -- because yesterday then turned out to be dead. The seniors have graduated, the high school underclassmen are mostly done, and many of the middle schoolers were away on day trips. My prayers were answered! I got a quiet day to just chill at my desk, re-shelve books and get organized.

Today is just a half-day, in the morning. The high school and middle school staffs then go off to their end-of-the-year parties and since I don't technically work for either, I'm going to come home. (We have an all-school luncheon on Friday, and I'll be at that.)

Remember the tornado? Well, that situation is finally resolved. It's taken awhile because for all the challenged books -- there were eight of them -- we had to convene review panels, read the books, have meetings to come up with recommendations and submit those to the head of school. She then sought legal and professional advice and made a final determination, and on Monday we finally got an answer on the fate of the books. Seven of the eight go back to the shelves, with access essentially unchanged. One will remain in the library catalog but for now will be housed in the high-school counselor's office, rather than on library shelves. If a student of suitable age wants it, either the librarian can retrieve it or the student can go get it themselves.

It's not a perfect solution. But it's not terrible. At least we're keeping everything.

The school has never publicly named the titles, so I don't want to do so either, but they include commonly challenged books you've read about in the states, with many mentioned in the original article about the whole kerfuffle. As I've said before, I cannot vouch for the assertions made in that article. (This issue, incidentally -- removing books from school libraries -- doesn't seem to ignite parents in the UK to the same degree as those in the US, which is interesting. As I've probably said before, it's my perception that religion motivates conservative politics in the states more than it does here.)

Here's Olga, patiently waiting to be let inside after one of our walks. I'm posting this picture to show you the blooming valerian along our front steps. It got a bit trampled by the workers who were here rebuilding the bathroom -- I suppose they couldn't very well worry about flowers when they were lugging bathtubs up and down the steps. But valerian is tough and the flowers persisted.

And here's a bonus shot of Olga with our volunteer snapdragon!

Did you hear about Treat Williams dying in a motorcycle crash? Such a shame. I loved him in "Hair," which was one of my favorite movies when I was infatuated with hippie culture as a teenager, and I saw him on Broadway in "Follies" when I lived in New York. I found it poignant that he tweeted about the wonderful smell of freshly-mowed grass on the same day he died. Gather ye rosebuds!