It was the first day of school for our kids today. They always go back the Tuesday after Labor Day. It was a much nicer day today than it was over the long weekend. The weekend was cold, rainy and just plain miserable. Today there was a brisk wind, but a nice day all in all. This afternoon was warmer than I'm comfortable with.
Brandon was looking forward to getting back with his friends and was really quite excited about what grade ten would hold in store for him. Jordan was less enthusiastic. He is in grade eight and just wants to be out of elementary school.
About 4pm, the boys' dad called me to see if I had heard from Brandon. I hadn't. Seeing that he was dismissed from school at 3pm, I was quite concerned because he wasn't home. He should have been bussed just three doors down and in the house by 3:30. I tried to phone the school, the Board of Education and the bus company. No one answered at any of these places even though they are to stay open until 4:30. I was getting quite frustrated and decided to go looking for Brandon in case he missed the bus and was walking home. It is about 5 miles from the school to his place and the last time he walked it too him and his friends about 3 hours. I certainly didn't want him walking alone all that way, but couldn't see him doing that. He carries a cellphone in case of emergency and knew he would call someone if he had missed the bus.
Just before I went out the door, I phoned Jordan and he told me that Brandon was about 15 miles out of town...on the school bus. I couldn't believe it. I told him to have Brandon call as soon as he arrived home. When he did, Brandon told me that the bus driver was within about ten blocks of his house to drop other students but forgot to drop the kids from his neighborhood at their stop. He drove all that way out of town before he realized what he had done. Around 4:15, Brandon called home and told his dad where he was. All in all, there were seven teens missing from that one neighborhood for over an hour and no one in the education system to take the parent's phone calls. I'm thinking the bus driver should have radioed the company, admitted his mistake and asked them to call the parents to let them know where their kids were. It was a scary situation for a few minutes and I'm angry that the system is letting the kids and the parents down.
Just venting a little. So thankful that Brandon and the other teens were safe and sound, even if they were on a bus for an hour longer than they should have been. Counting our blessings.
Meet Mr. Ivy Boulder. He has so many wrinkles, bumps and lumps on his face that you can't help but smile when you see him.
Mr. Ivy seemed to be a bit lonely, so I gave him a wife. She would be great to add to a garden or patio for autumn and right on to Halloween. She has maple leaves for a hat, which is adorned with berries... artificial flowers for ears and a little bird has made it's home in the nest of leaves.