Little Scraps of Magic

Remembering to Celebrate Abundance

I am loving my class and my job! Nope, it's not perfect, but then again, is anything? Yes, my body is beyond tired. Sometimes, I wonder if I'm way too old to be confined with 75 adolescents, but then again, I'm having way too much fun.

Yes, I could cheerully take an axe to the copiers. VERY CHEERFULLY! They may well be the death of me someday. But, I absolutely refuse to let a machine take control of my life.

No, not all of our books have arrived. But, I can well teach for several days without that math workbook. If I can't, I shouldn't have a job.

Yes, there are issues in my life...some big ones. But, many people have far bigger ones. In the grand scheme of things, I am blessed many times over.

I'm not a pollyanna, never have and never will be. But, neither do I want to be a constant grumbler and complainer. My word for this year has been abundance. I haven't always remembered to focus on it, but I've done far better. I still have a ways to go.

So, here's to "Thankful Thursday" and for some of the "greats" in my life.

Enormous yellow sunflowers with eye popping patterns and colors. How can you not smile?

Sunsets over the channel...such gorgeous red light in that sky!

Martini drinking mermaids in store front windows...

Stolen hours of beach magic with my husband, and

the colors, smells, textures, and tastes of the farmers' market goodies.

Life really is good.

Journal Play

Phil drives and I journal; not a bad deal, right? Thank goodness, but the time to and from the beach seems to have been the only time available to journal during this hectic time of getting a classroom ready and the students into a routine. I come home beyond tired, but the year looks to be a great one! My kids are awesome, simply awesome. Nothing like having 70 some kids smile at you each and every day, even when you're nudging them to do something they may not particularly want to do!

I shared these pages and my atlas journal with my classes. I loved it when they all began  clapping, led by the boys!  Now, how cool is that?

I'm looking forward to art play this weekend. I am hoping that this body of mine gets acclimated to school days and workloads soon. My fingers itch to do art; my body says, "Nope!" We'll see who wins.

So...Are They Nuts, or What?

Scene of the crime? Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia!

The perpetrators? Becky and....

Paula...aka: ME!

Our choice of weapons? Various crayons, masking tape, ink pads, paper, and more!  The streets of Old Town didn't quite know what hit them. Folks strolled by, dressed in their Sunday best, more than one of them muttering softly, "Cool!"  Children asked their mothers if they could play too. Some folks asked what we were up to, and others offered suggestions for places to try next!

So, really, what WERE we up to? Looking for textures with which to make rubbings, aiming for a sort of urban graffiti feel.

Who knew that manhole covers came in such a glorious array of possiblities? Check out the ones below!

You really don't know where art is hiding, until you stop to open up your eyes. Besides, being LITERALLY under your feet, you can find it on sign posts:

and even the bricks on the sidewalk, and....

the garage floor!

So, nuts? No, I don't think so. Just two ladies willing to think outside the box a bit, willing to get dirty and to have a person or two looks askance at them. No big deal...art was made, and even ended up as a journal page later that afternoon.

Contentment

Early morning ambles on the beach, watching the sunlight dance across the water and gulls gliding effortlessly through crystal blue skies...

trying to dodge the debris, not wanting the feeling of jellyfish squishing underneath...

but deciding to pause a moment and look a bit more closely, and finding beauty where I least expected it...

...long green tendrils stretching across the sand, reminding me of mermaid's tresses...

sea oats dancing in the wind.

I am blessed.

Life Is Good

Don't you love this sign? Yes, I know that it's advertising a company that makes t-shirts and other assorted goodies, but really, life is very good indeed!

So, today, I am grateful for these things:

1. a classroom that's bright and colorful and nearly done - a new year begins

2. I am going to the beach tomorrow evening. We nearly didn't get to go; it's still peak season and most of the hotels are booked or beyond our budget. Luckily, we found one...not  anything special, but clean and a place to sleep.

3. for good friends with whom to make art...friends who will sit in the middle of an Old Town sidewalk and do art rubbings with you!

4. for good books and magazines; I plan to pick up a few tomorrow, especially the new one by Anne River Siddons. (Now, how did I miss that she had a new one?)

5. for time to do art journal pages. TIme has been limited this past week, but I've squeezed in a few backgrounds and I'll have time to do them this weekend. I promise to post some next week.

Finally, I'm leaving you with Who-Dey, the wonder dog, who so enjoys life. He adores his toys, especially those he can take apart at the seams, literally. RIght now, he's happily chewing on an empty plastic bottle. This dog adores noise.Here's the remnants of his latest toy:

Just Breathe

I know it will all get done, even though at the moment it looks highly doubtful. No matter what, enough gets done before that infamous first day of school! Because, whether I'm ready or not, those marvelous brand new sixth graders will be present and accounted for!

Even though I've been up early most of the summer, I'm  not adjusting well to getting myself out the door bright and early. Summer saw me in pj's, drinking coffee, doing the crossword and Su Du Ku puzzles. It did not see me getting dressed in my "grown up " clothes, attending meetings, and unpacking and organizing a classroom. My body is wilting.

So, this is just a quick hello! I had a wonderful Sunday which I'll share a bit later. In the meantime, I'll rest my eyes on this image, remind myself to breathe, and do it all one step at a time.

Where to Find Art

Look at this! I love it! The arrangement of the bottles behind the bar, the glasses filled with different colors, the neon blue sign - what a feast for the eyes! It's art, a different type of art, but art!

Whether it's on wine labels (Hi, Jeanine!), the fronts of old buildings with their gorgeous details, flowers amassed in a planter, you just need to keep your eyes open to find it.

Historic Main Street in Park City, Utah, offers a treasure trove of possibilities, and I'll share some pics now and then. In the meantime, keep your own eyes open. Happy hunting!

Thankful Thursday

5 things that make me smile...

Who-Dey and the other crazy four footed creatures that share my life and make me smile with their antics.

Sunsets over the water

Early morning dew magnifying Mother Nature's patterns

Sunlight coming through glass

  - and summer flowers in all their vivid color!

What about you? Can you name 5?

Holding Onto Summer

Life here continues to move in slow motion, as I try to hold onto my last few days of summer.  Maybe, if I meander through my days, summer won't slip by quite so quickly.

I've been thinking a lot about "ordinary" lately. None of us much want to ever be considered "ordinary." It implies a sort of dullness. Yet, I think it's the ordinary moments that we hold special in our minds.

I've spent hours on the porch you see here. I snapped this photo this past spring while visiting my day,the subtle signs of decay catching my eye. A vine creeps up a drainpipe, and rocking chairs wait silently.

But, years ago, this porch teemed with life. It offered a cool haven to four hot kids and their parents. We rocked, talked, dreamed and planned. Dad churned out homemade ice cream, filled with wild berries we picked in the woods.

As we grew, we rocked some more, now sharing conversations as adults. It rocked with laughter and our own children'ts giggles.  Mom's flowers hung and rested everywhere.

It all blends in my mind's eyes, a kalidescope of memories. No one memory stands out; rather, it's a patchwork quilt of ordinary moments.

I don't think ordinary's so bad.

Her Name was Lola....

I didn't start out to do a "CopaCabana" page, honestly, I didn't. Somehow, the darn thing evolved on its own, and now, I desparately want to add Barry Manilow's image to it! And, I can't stop humming the song, either!

I did this yesterday for Nancy's "Collage Play with Crow About" on FLICKR for week 2.  The collage items she posted had me even more stumped than the week before! Nancy, you're really pushing my creative limits here! Anway, after a few days, late at night (Isn't that always the way?), I thought about the kettle of fish, most likely since I had spent a good couple of hours cutting apart image sheets bought last May at Art & Soul. (Yes, last May!) I also knew I had a black/white image from an old magazine that would work.  And, it just went off on its own from there. Have to admit, though, that the silliness of it all just makes me giggle.

It's been a lazy sort of day, working on some downloading from July's conference and editing some pictures. My kind of day!