So, we moved this past week. Reversing the trend of retirees leaving California — we actually moved to California. Novato to be exact. You probably haven’t heard of it since it ‘s a small town, with a population of ~56,000 people. It's located in the very north end of Marin County, and just south of the Marin-Sonoma county line.
San Francisco doesn’t even show up on this map, which is kind of funny. If it did, it would be ~30 miles due south, down California Hwy 101, after crossing the Golden Gate Bridge.
Now you know where it is. There’s not much else to say about it, except it’s a nice, small town, within easy reach of both San Francisco and the Sonoma-Napa wine country. Marin County has long had fairly restrictive building requirements, so the surrounding hills are mostly left in their natural state, which is grass and oak trees. They green up in the winter, turn a pretty red/golden color in late Spring/early Summer. Summer turns them mostly brown, except for the green of the oak trees. The goal is to escape them turning black due to fire.
We were fortunate to be able to move back here, since the house we’re in has been rented for the past 10 years. I didn’t think it was wise to sell during the recession, and that has worked out well for us. All the stress and anxiety of the past 5 months have been worth it, especially when my husband said yesterday that he already felt relief in not having to worry about the upcoming rainy season we would have had, had we stayed in Beaverton.
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Ok, enough about me. Did you know it’s National School Lunch Week, this week? I didn’t until I saw a tweet about it a few days ago. I know that not all of these meals look all that nutritious or appetizing, but for children that are hungry and dependent on these meals, something warm and with calories can make an incredibly HUGE difference in their lives. For most of us, we are privileged to be choosy about the food we eat, so it’s easy for us to mock what is served in schools. We have to stop ourselves and remind ourselves of the importance of this program.
Also, a BIG shout out to former First Lady, Michele Obama for championing the importance of improving the meals that children receive at school, as part of her efforts to encourage a healthy lifestyle for everyone.
According to the School Nutrition Association website,
The National School Lunch Program serves 30 million children every school day.
schoolnutrition.org/...
This year’s promotional theme is “Lots 2 love” Although I don’t have any school age children, I love that millions of children around this country receive up to two meals free each school day. I love that by having meals at school, children are better able to focus on their lessons. I love that in lots of schools all children are served free meals, regardless of their ability to pay; and that takes away the stigma of being from a low income family and thus being eligible for free/reduced meals. I love paying federal taxes to support these meals for children. I love that free lunches are served in many communities even during the summer.
Feel free to share your favorite school lunch story in the comments.