perspective

i am coming off my last days of summer
and into a week of training
to get ready for the school year ahead.
the kids come back on tuesday.

for now, i am trying to relax and breathe
focusing on positive energy
and my wonderful summer behind me
so i don't panic too, too much.
even teachers get the jitters
when its back to school.
my school has already brought me in
and i have felt super supported
so its all about focusing on that.
and focusing on a week from now when i know it will all be okay.

my mom went home after a delicious, fun, busy, chatty visit.
and my mailbox was full of packages (thanks nina and amazon)
and so i am listening to my sounds of summer c.d.'s from nina
and setting up my classroom
and getting ready for a week-end of getting ready.

beads and blinds: spc

after lunch out today
we ventured to an antique flea market right in town.
i found some beads that i liked
and some beads that i didn't
and they were all sold together for $5.
i couldn't go wrong.
and what a pretty pattern they make here
as i watch the garden out the window
and enjoy another, my final, summer day.

from the kitchen of...

mom is here
and it has been a week-end full of food.
my sister gave me a book of recipes for jarring
so this has been our project.

if you are lucky, you may be the recipient of these deliciously and caringly prepared treats.
it has been a lot of
chopping
measuring
pureeing
measuring
adding
stirring
boiling
jarring
and boiling again.


and then, of course, there are the yummy meals that we have to eat now.
fresh basil in all forms, salads, creamy pestos, roasted veggie lasagna.
feeding my belly,
feeding my soul.

spc and happenings

a portrait of our feet.
mom is in town and after we got our pedicures, i knew it would make a patterned self portrait.
our toes.
of course the puppy had to be a part, too.


in other news,

• mom came in on tuesday and we had dinner at mt very favorite restaurant on the way home from the airport, lisa's small plates. it is so fun to eat there, and they have my favorite dessert, creme brulee.

• my projects are coming together. mom and i are enjoying each other and working on gifts that we hope to put together for christmas. drinking coffee. planning and preparing.
  

• my classroom is getting set. i put mom to work and we are cutting and coloring, organizing and planning. i am meeting all the teachers again and learning to navigate the corridors. its exciting and fun, but i am grieving the loss of summer.

• d and r had us over a delicious dinner from the grill last night. it was great food, great conversation, great dog wrestling, and a great time. talks and laughter. their new house is looking wonderful as they are settling in and making it their own.
  

• the days ahead will hopefully be full of visiting and cooking and eating and shopping and more classroom preparation and cutting and more cooking and more eating and visiting.

i'll keep you posted.

quiet

it is awfully quiet here.
we are back to a two dog home.
the apartment is clean,
the floors are washed,
the dogs had baths and their nails clipped,
and the crates are out so we have lots of floor space again.
i think easton will be a bit lonely without his new friends.
but we helped D and R move into their new house today
and they have a nice big yard so that we can visit
and the dogs can visit
and wrestle, easton style, full body holds.

busy

my school countdown is definitely on
and my new year school jitters are beginning to effect the length of my fingernails.
i am nervous an excited
and of course trying to cram in the rest of my to do list for summer in my last days.


i have accomplished many goals and finished projects
but many more are underway
and i would like to have them finished and tucked away as fall approaches.
while my mom is here next week, i am even hoping to two-person-assembly-line some christmas gifts.


so today will be full of:
dogs and walking
coffee and milk
elliptical trainers and weight machines
classroom storage and organization
shopping for last minute this and thats
reading and cleaning
phone calls and notes
projects and sewing
or whatever combination of above tasks i can squeeze in.

spc: patterns #2

still in bed.
savoring my last weeks of summer.

see more patterned self portraits here (including mine from last week).

about me

Nina and Erina have both tagged me in this little game of "about me"...

We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
*Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
*People who are tagged write their own blog post about their eight things and include these rules.
*At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged and they should read your blog.

Here goes:

1. I love nature.
I love it. I love where I live and the fact that every day I see deer and their fawn in our fields. I love that there are hawks and eagles and osprey overhead, crabs and jellyfish in the brackish water, and muskrats in the pond. Toads hop all over. Foxes prance about. I get to enjoy it all.

2. I re-joined a gym.
I rejoined yesterday. I was feeling the need and with my new, improved, shorter commute, I decided that I can reallocate that hour and commit to working out again. I am already loving the return on the elliptical and looking forward to yoga again soon.

3. Classroom underway.
I am getting there. I am one of the few obsessed and nervous teachers that has been traipsing through the empty halls at school to make sure that things are ready at the beginning of the year. My bulletin boards are in process, my desks arranged, closets sorted, cupboards organized.

4. I am obsessed with To do lists.
I love them. I love making them, checking off completed items, updating them with a highlighter, finishing them and then moving on to a new list.

5. Stores give me the creeps.
I have a childlike fear of going to stores with other people and being left behind. Maybe its leftover from the days of Punky Brewster, but whenever I am in a store, I feel incredible anxiety if I lose sight of who I am with.

6. My blood is tasty.
Or so say the bugs. I get eaten all summer long.

7. I am listening to new music.
I have been working with rhapsody to develop some new playlists to listen to while sewing or cleaning or cooking. So far, I have a new folk-ish one and a reggae dancehall playlist, too. Imagine me, scooting about the apartment, to a deep bass beat.

8. I know the secret to rainy day fun.
Todd and I discovered it today. It involves big buckets of soapy bubbles, hoses, cars, washing the cars, and being drenched overhead by big drops of rain. It involves spraying each other and not caring because you are already soaked.

Okay, my turn.
I am tagging Todd again, although he may be a spoil-sport.
I am tagging Becky and Tracy because they need some new posts.
I am tagging Nicole and Blondie.
Its not 8, but it'll do.

at home again

i feel so blessed with my little life.
how nice it is to have the reunion after being away on a trip.
how nice to spend QT with todd and eat delicious meals from the garden.
how nice to work in the garden.
today was the perfect day for it...
hot, not humid, a slight breeze, sun pouring down.
the beans all got washed out
but
the squash and the pumpkins and tomatoes and basil and cucumbers and cantaloupe abound.

spc: patterns

so, the theme is patterns and this summer dress fit the bill.
it was a hot afternoon (weather dot com currently reports 97, feels like 115)
and the the dogs were watching me from the kennels
a fly was buzzing about and bit my arm about ten times in the course of my picture taking.
i am still itchy.

dogsitting

well, if you can see them all in this picture, we have four dogs living with us right now. of course, easton and mollie are right at home... and now they have maura and sandy to contend with too.
mollie likes to think that she's the boss and try to put maura in her place once in a while, but other than that, they are getting along splendidly.

its a bit like releasing the beasts at a circus each time i let them out of their kennels or crates, and they love to jump all over each other. as you can see from the photo, sandy is her own independent women, too. she doesn't follow the crowd... she likes to do her own thing.


maura, on the other hand, loves to be near everyone. she is always right on sandy's tail... and then there's easton, who needs to be a part of all of the action.


but sandy and easton get their moments, too... when the other girls are put away.
they roll around and chew on each other and have a grand old time.
i can't imagine ever having four dogs, but for two weeks, we are having a great time.

sweet memories

one wonderful things that happened during my visit to the boston area was that A and E gave me a three-year belated copy of the wedding pictures that they had from my big day. it has been so much fun to look through the photos and relive the fun.

for those that were there, and those who were not, here's a few of my favorite reminders.
the details, carefully chosen, the cake, the flowers, the teacups and teapots full of flowers, the petals spread, the flowers saved from my ceremony, displayed with other artifacts at the reception (held two months later), the dessert table, the games, the huge yard full of family and friends.





did i mention friends?
here i am with E, looking as beautiful as she does now as a glowing new mom.
and me, in my mom's 'vintage' wedding dress. i never imagined i would wear my mom's dress, but it was just so perfect, so me.


and then there's the college comrades.


and my lovely friend R, who herself is now planning her big day for later this year. (i can't wait!)


glorious E and C, and then E with K. i was so happy to see so many of these fine friends on my recent trip.


and there was the dancing... the contra dancing with a three piece band and caller and the photographer brave enough to get right in the middle of all the action.


this was our day, our day in every way. i loved every bit of it and love reliving the memories.

i'm back

a recap of my visit. my finest moments.
visiting with my parents, eating fresh summer foods, corn on the cob, dinners out with my dad, nudging him awake at the movies, bookstore visits, fabric for new crafts, adventuring to the blue ben with my mom (my most favorite diner) to have homemade donuts and coffee and yummy breakfast eggs, and antiques stores full of so much stuff it takes hours to meander all the way through.

visiting with k and j, preparing a delicious meal of marinated salmon, crispy potatoes, yummy garden squash, and catching the grill on fire. talking for hours, just catching up.



then came a wondrous visit to see nina (and family) and kevin and to enjoy friends... family.
the first night i was there, while john was off camping, nina was off to the hospital to help in the birth of a beautiful new boy--- which left kevin and i to play house with some of my most favorite little ones. this first day of fun and shopping and lunch out, was followed by days of tired, glorious, exhausted, wonderful fun.
there were meals on the grill, cup after cup of coffee, bead stores and crafting, hippies and smoky tattoo parlors.



there were shnuggles on the couch, musical alphabet videos, ponies and panties. there were cars and trucks and one dumped pile of toys on another. there were baths and rain-showers, repeated readings (rather, singings) of the wheels on the bus book.






there were naked nights and naked days and lots of times outside.
there was blueberry picking with A and her daughter R.
there were visits on the couch and and snacks and iced coffees... and then later of course, the blueberry treats.
don't forget the pesto and the bread and the salads from the garden, maple balsamic dressings and homemade pizzas by "papa gino".











there were fresh raspberries and glittery gold shoes, lots of vintage finds and junktiques to browse, picnics in the park watching bad adolescent rock bands, sharing berries and chips and celery stalks.
there were the moths that were stalking me, too... everywhere i went.






and then there were the cuddly moments, full of love and peace and pure friendship.



and meeting a beautiful new baby boy. congrats, E and A, on such a handsome new family member. so much love for this little one. and of course, i finally got to reveal my summer baby quilt project... may it bring sweet dreams.


thank you, friends and family, for a wonderful visit and stay.
i miss you already.
xxoo