My heart hurts

Looking at pictures from the hurricane...It is so unjust. Why must the most vulnerable always bear the greatest suffering?

Bureaucrats 1, me 0

Warning: grouchy complaining to follow
For the most part, our little family tries to go through life avoiding joining organized groups of anything: clubs, sports teams, churches-- specifically because it requires relinquishing autonomy and having to accept choices with which we may disagree strongly. However, some interaction is inevitable and I am currently banging my head against the computer desk, raging against a machine designed wholly to facilitate the movement of paper between central office and branch outpost and to make my life harder. The Seattle public schools
Now, we do our part. I vote for every school bond. We pay our property taxes with a smile knowing that we will reap what we sow and she will get a good education provided by the funding we offer up twice a year. I kept her in city schools as our peers bought in the suburbs believing that there was nothing wrong with our school district that a little parent involvement couldn't fix. Hence the sense of betrayal.
I went to register her for school as soon as we got back from NC, only to discover that the registration office was closed until mid-August. I was annoyed that I had driven all the way out there only to be turned away so unceremoniously (isn't this kind of thing exactly what the "news section" on their website is for?). But, I returned the day after arriving home from France (bloody-eyed and jetlagged) to register her for the new year.
We live 15 blocks from the middle school she has always assumed she would go to, well within the walk zone. Part of the appeal of our house is that it is 4 blocks from the elementary school, 15 from the middle school, and a mile from the high school. Unfortunately, the middle school is full. Unfortunately, every middle school in the northern half of Seattle is full. Unfortunately, every middle school in the northern part of the southern half of Seattle is full. Unfortunately, our choices are between a school 10 miles away and 13 miles away. I chose the ten.
But wait, there's more-
Unfortunately, due to a missing $20 million, the district no longer busses middle and high school student who chose schools out of "zone," they ride public transit. Unfortunately, both of our options are out of "zone." Unfortunately the school day starts at 7:35 so she has to catch a 6:15 bus to get there in time and wait around, downtown, before the sun comes up, for a transfer. I didn't like doing that when I was a freshman in college, let alone to a middle school kid.
This can't possibly be safe or healthy.
Rat bastards.

Home again, again.

Paris was lovely and nostalgia has already set it. I apologize right now for peppering all my conversations for the next six months with, "well, when I was in Paris last..." I'm sorry; I can't help it.
Highlights: Chartres, the Cluny museum, the objets d'art section of the Louvre (especially the tapestries), having our portraits done, skipping down the stairs along the quays with ice cream and giggling, the Django Reinhartdt band playing on the bridge, teaching her how to wear makeup, pain suisse.
We delved far more deeply into the medieval history of France on this trip, leading up to the Renaissance, which was very satisfying. I was reminded that it was the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans that triggered the Renaissance and suddenly found evidence of Byzantine design in everything dating later than 1500. Also, at Chartres, preparations were being made for Assumption Day. It was cool and cloudy when we arrived, and the cool interior, organ music, offeratory candles and darkness helped to really cement the idea of spiritual mysticism that inspired the art from this time period. It was lovely.
It was also nice to know our way around and what we wanted to see and do a little better. The only thing that displeased me was that we didn't have such a dreamy view from our hotel room. Because we would be out walking for 6-8 hours each day, we tended to head in early to rest. The lack of view meant that we watched more TV than I would have liked, but as she pointed out, it was French TV.
The only downsides to our trip were an unpleasant run in with a couple of street hustlers who tried to intimidate us into giving them money and the bad poke in the eye that I received on the way home.
I think I may be done with Paris as a complete destination. While I would always be content to visit, I think I am ready to branch out into the French countryside and travel to other places. My old friend assures me that this is the same trajectory that her own traveling life has followed and suggests the next trip be Mont St. Michel, Normandy, Bayeux and the Loire valley. I think that sounds just right. Four years?

We're off to France

And the weather looks like it won't be hot this time. So far we are committed to the Cluny Museum, Paris mosque, sailboats at the Jardin de Luxembourg and I promised her great-grandmother that we would go to the top of the Eiffel tower. Here's to luggage that comes home with us!