Lascours Lockdown, Day 137

Wednesday, July 29th. IMM D10.
The girls are getting excited for our weekend in Ardèche, counting down the days. This morning, they got their stuff ready to pack. Then, we played two rounds of Cabo with our own deluxe edition that I got them as a joint birthday gift. About ten-thirty, they went next door, so I settled in front of the computer for a bit of work. There was a message in my inbox from the university president. They are still planning for everyone to be back on site in September. They've organized extra cleaning of facilities and everyone will of course have to wear masks. Hand sanitizer will be available on all teachers' desks. However, due to the higher number of high school graduates this year, there will be a larger freshman class in the fall. Aix-Marseille University will have 400 more freshman than usual. This in addition to the other levels which we already knew would see student enrollment doubled due to much higher pass rates this past semester. Classrooms and hallways are going to be packed! I can't say I'm looking forward to that and I can't imagine it will be sanitary in spite of their intentions . . .
Our Picard order was delivered late morning. Now our freezer is fully stocked once again with ice cream and popsicles in delicious flavors such as salted butter caramel, hazelnut toffee crunch and macchiato!
This afternoon, I finished reading The Book Collector, then read (or reread?) Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wall-Paper." While the girls did piano, I placed orders online for their school supplies. Earlier in the day, I placed orders for more name labels. Maëva said: "Mommy, when is September 1st? I'm so excited for school to start. I think I just love school so much." or something to that effect. She remembers me saying I always enjoyed getting my school supplies ready for the first day and reminded me that we have that in common.
While the girls and Sylvain went to the pool, I started reading Andersen's "The Little Mermaid." After pool, I fled the living room when they started playing Super Mario Odyssey on the Switch and did some sorting of old papers in my office.
Our 7-day moving average for daily new cases is now in the 900s. However, whereas active case numbers keep going up, the percentage of those that are listed as critical or serious has been consistently trending down.