Flu Hysteria

Although there has only been 1 confirmed case in Austin of La Influenza de Porcina (swine flu), our elementary school has been on HIGH ALERT! First, they canceled last Friday's Nature Walk for Anna's class. This makes no sense, since it is OUTSIDE and doesn't involve confined spaces mixing lots of children. They postponed Field Day, the Book Fair, and the 2nd grade music program (I was a little sad about this, but with so many tone-deaf kids, Anthony was not). They cancelled the 2nd grade trip to see the movie "The Earth" -- this one I could sort of get behind, although our family is not curtailing similar outings ourselves.

Then, in today's backpacks was a notice that a student came down with influenza. It hasn't been confirmed to be Swine Flu, but as a precaution they are closing the school for TWO WHOLE DAYS to minimize contagion and clean the campus.

I think they are totally over-reacting. Fortunately, Anthony's inspection for tomorrow got postponed, and I am off on Wednesday, so we have child care covered. I am sure there are many working parents in a bind tonight.

I will comfort myself with these:

Although much of the Texas Peach crop was destroyed by hail, these rosy beauties from San Marcos escaped that sad fate. They are a little tart but they are most welcome. Plus, I cannot resist getting a large basket of seconds - fruit that is so ripe it bruises on the way to market, or has been blemished in infancy by wasp stings. These tarnished gems seem so much more precious to me! And this is half of my Saturday haul (we ate the rest). Time for a cobbler or crisp...