When he got into high school, things started changing. With his better school performance and more maturity, he started sharing more with me, his school, his thoughts, the stories of his friends, the video games he likes…. He started understanding: behind my curiosity is my love, his sharing will make me happy.  His sharing, my involvement to his academy, his grades I saw in Power School, the school letters, and the occasional communication with teachers, with all of these together, I feel a solid hope beyond the peace I always have in my mind.

Following Q1 GPA 3.62 were GPA 3.71 for both Q2 and Q3.  The sustainable academic improvement brought me more confidence about him as I used to have when he was a little boy. I began learning the knowledge about college application. I realized, different from Chinese education concept that the academy is almost the only thing colleges care about, the good colleges in US want well-rounded students, which means GPA is the most important thing, but extracurricular, community service, essay, recommendation letters also play secondary important roles.  I shared my learning with him.  

He was in varsity swimming team in 9^th and 10^th grade which was my idea and he didn’t enjoy much.  He has been in ski club through the three middle school years. In 9^th grade, he desperately expected the ski clue activities, but they didn’t happen since the pandemic. He resumed ski club in 10^th grade. “on sports aspect, with swimming and ski, you look good. You need to do some community services, we should find something you can do and willing to do in this aspect.”he agreed with me.

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虽然官方上的夏季要到六月二十日，但传统上，美国人把Memorial Day 当成是夏季的开始。因为在这一日前，美国多地气温有时会达到80F以上。MEMORIAL DAY后, 在向着夏天迈进的过程中，虽然偶有返春的凉爽天气，但总的来说，白天气温不会跌落到50F以下，呈现出一种相对稳定的态势。

今年的情况也如此，MEMORIAL DAY前就出现了一两天的90F的高温天气。MEMORIAL DAY当日，天气也是配合。为了配合人们喜庆的心情，气温处在80F度。人们在感受到夏的热烈的同时，并没有酷暑难当的感觉。人们通过去沙难，烧烤聚会，户外郊游的方式，喜迎着这一非官方夏天的起始日。

今年花粉来的早，在MEMORIAL DAY前我就和朋友说起。”弥散在空气中的POLLEN就像是密集的粉尘。风起时，刮起的POLLEN像是沙尘暴，真可怖。想想，我们每个人吸入多少，浑身上来又落了多少POLLEN。 有一天，我走路回家，鞋子都变成了绿色。“ 对我的POLLEN体会，朋友也同意，跟着吐嘈了一番。去年有POLLEN，但记得那发生在六月，也没有这种风吹起时粉飞扬的强烈视感冲击，今年是怎么了？

有问题，找GOOGLE. 从一篇题为Climate change is making pollen season even worse across the country的科普文章上找到了答案。原来今年POLLEN SEASON来的比去年早，而且这现象并不只是NORTHEAST独有，SOUTHEAST 和MIDDLEWEST更糟糕。 这也是全球气候变化，碳排放增加，造成温室效应的结果。后来问了儿子这个问题，没想到他一下说对了。不过我还是分享了那篇文章里的其它内容。还把文章采用的图表和地图与文字相辅作为观点阐述的方法与他的生物作业做了类比。因为这种类比，他有兴趣地把头伸过来，看了看那些图表和地图。

Aross the country, pollen season is starting earlier and intensifying because of rising global temperatures and carbon dioxide concentrations. previous research showed that pollen season lengthened by 20 days over the past three decades across North America, While pollen concentrations increased by 21 percent. The most affected places were the U.S. Southeast and Midwest. 

好在MEMORIAL DAY后这两天，每天都有短时阵雨，加之气温也不高，都在70上下，所以POLLEN暂时消停了。

第一次见到这种造型奇特的小花，还是在野外。欣喜成分，赶快拍下。路过的人，也停下脚欣赏。大家纷纷称奇。回家一查，是LADY'S SLIPPER。到网上一看花开的样子，名字和造型真的太配了！

前几周，国内疫情引得把公园都关了。姐姐一向是防疫政策的支持者，因为这，头一次听她吐槽，说做得有些过了，户外戴口罩哪有什么风险。好在，关了两后就开了。园一开，她就迫不急待地往公园跑。回来，发来的花照。还附上说是飞燕草，说是国外引种的。这些年，国内公园引种了不少外国的植物物种，美化社区环境。但是总是不乏偷花贼。姐姐吐槽过几次，这次也不例外。说一枝紫花明显是被人折走了。

整理东西，把儿子初中ART课上的作品装框，挂起。

高中木工课上的木刻贴鱼作品

走进野外，享受大自然的馈赠