"Fall" Semester and Family,

The first day of school went swimmingly. It was great to get back in the swing of things. Oh, and Maggie had fun too!

Maggie has a new teacher this year, Mr. G, and her boyfriend Juan has moved up to the next class, but other than that everything will be the same for her. She dozed a bit during the school day, but was beyond excited when she got home. We will have to work on that schedule.

Part of her tiredness yesterday stemmed from a family gathering we had on Sunday evening. Maggie's cousin Casey was in town from Denver. We haven't seen her in three or four years, so we rounded up as many family members as we could and had dinner. Of course not everyone could make it. Some people were away or working or otherwise engaged, but that doesn't matter.One nice thing about my family, we can fill a room no matter how many people are unavailable.  I believe there were 14 people here and it was an energetic gathering. Here's a random sample. Casey with one aunt,( me) one uncle and Grandma.

        Maggie and Casey were "Kissin cousins"

The party broke up pretty early because folks had to travel home and it was Sunday night. Monday morning comes early.My brother Pat and his wife Julie both teach high school in the SFUSD, so it was a school night

for all three of these hooligans.

Finally in what I hope was not a metaphor for the new school year, I had a less than graceful face plant yesterday in the middle of an intersection. A divot in the roadway turned my ankle and try as I would to keep my balance I went down like a lump. I'm certain it was highly comical for anyone watching. If I was 17 and did that I would have died of embarrassment, but physically I would have been no worse for the wear. Instead at my advanced age I could not care less about the embarrassment factor, but I ache all over. Another reason aging is not for the young.

Have a great day out there. Look three ways before crossing the streets - two ways for traffic and one for potholes!