All good things come to an end.

And sometimes a whole bunch of them end all at once. I mentioned an entry or two back that I have let go of several volunteer commitments recently, and most have ended this month. I no longer am: on the Board of Management at my church (that ended the last day of April) on the Religious Education Committee at church (that ended last Sunday, though I've a few lingering things to take care of before being totally done) a Youth Group adviser at church (my last meeting was tonight, though there's a fun activity this coming Saturday) a Brownie Girl Scout leader (our year end ceremony was Friday, though we have a field trip Tuesday). But... I will be a Daisy Girl Scout leader in the fall, so it's not ALL over. Besides all that, Rowan gets out of school this coming Thursday (the public schools got out this past Thursday, she's a little annoyed about this). And our church has winded down for the year (we only have regular services September through June). So, I suddenly find I have nothing to plan or gear up for! It's so weird. Well, that's not quite true, I have a ton (really, probably a literal ton, and I *hate* when people use the world "literally" as emphasis in a figurative manner, trust me, I may not be exaggerating) ton of paperwork, supplies, and such from Girl Scouts, school, and various sundry crap to put away. And there's all sorts of stuff to do with Rowan this summer. She wants to earn her Girl Scout Bronze Award, so we need to get some stuff out of the way over the summer so she can do the project before the end of 5th grade so she can get it during the troop year (she could finish it over next summer or up to Sept. 30th of 6th grade, but it wouldn't be the same). She has an idea for a project that I'm not entirely sure is practical for her even though it's a totally amazing project idea that she came up with all on her own (she wants to plant and grow fresh produce to donate to local food pantries), but I also just put together a huge list of project ideas that I'm going to have her read over to see if anything else calls to her. If not, we'll be learning a lot about planting and growing food together (after, of course, she makes sure the pantries can take the fresh produce!). Anyhow, today was Father's Day, and it was pretty low key. Rowan made a little card for Gary (her cards are somewhat unusual, most kids fold paper, draw pictures, write short messages... Rowan uses full sheets of paper and just writes all sorts of messages all over them, long poems, songs, lists, etc.), we ate a late lunch or early dinner at one of Gary's favorite restaurants (Cactus Pete's - I don't quite see why he's so into it, but it's his day...), and we went over to Quinsigamond State Park (did you know Diamonding is a word? Apparently that's what my spell checker thinks I meant instead of Quinsigamond! Or Zsigmondy's - whatever the heck that is!) Rowan got more bike riding practice in; she'd just learned to ride a two-wheeler well before it was time to put the bike away for the winter last year, but as they say - remember how... it's like riding a bicycle. But today she was also finally getting the concept of pushing off instead of having someone run alongside her and give her a shove (there are days...). We also brought our "bag of balls" (which is more fun than a bucket of dead chipmunks!), and all three of us played a variety of games from a pretty lame version of soccer (we're all pretty bad, we were using a small ball, and apparently picking up the goalie in a bear hug to let a teammate score is not allowed?) to using one of those sets of Velco ball and catcher sets. We were having a grand time until it started to rain. (And we were surprised to have to pay to park. I know they ahve signs saying it's $5 to park, but I've visited a variety of state parks with similar signs over the past year or two, and this is the second time we had to pay - the first being at Mt. Greylock way out in western MA). Oh, and in bizarre school news, I just saw Rowan's summer reading list on the school website, and they list two books for fifth graders and "encourage" kids to read at least one, and they can do an optional project for extra credit in the fall if they do. Um. The heck? Not that Rowan will lack for reading list or none, but that's the lamest thing I've ever heard. Well, perhaps only second to the "required" summer reading that they've had each year and only once actually talked about in class (and that was so far into the year that she had to reread the book anyhow!). Well, it's now tomorrow, so I'd best get some sleep before another week attacks! But first, speaking of endings... this is Rowan on her last day with her Clarinet, and barring any totally unexpected changes of heart, we don't expect any future Clarinet photos with her!