marks

i waited for greg today to run home so we could go together to pick up the boys.  it was william's request this morning and it worked out that greg could leave a little earlier than usual so we could make it work with henry waking up from his nap.  i sat outside.  a day nice enough that on our ride over to the school i could leave my mittens in my bike basket (though i needed them for the ride home-- that's denmark's weather for you.  you really cannot expect that even 15 minutes won't make a difference).  

outside of our home, on the bricks just outside our door, are the etchings of students.  this was once a school, and in fact, when we tell people we live at "the old school," most people know what we're talking about.  the man who came to fix the bathroom fan told us his grandfather had gone to this school and that he, himself, had started here, before they put up a new one and moved all the students.  one of our neighbors also attended school here as a girl.  i think she lives in part of her old gymnasium.  

the etchings on our walls are names. no pictures. just one student after another, setting their names in clay bricks... 

on our temporary little corner of denmark... 

here... a closer-up of my trusty bicycle... 

later, when we pick william up, he displays a rat trap he has built... 

making his own mark on his school

goodnight!