Daiseys

Hi everyone. The summer  heat has arrived here in New Hampshire. It is making the kids even less interested in school than usual. And I have to say that is true for me too. (Smile)

So yesterday I had a fun evening out. Yes, it was an evening out. My school offered us a parking lot picnic if anyone wanted to go. You emailed in your sandwich order, and they ordered you a sandwich, chips and drink. Then we drove up and our individually bagged up dinner was put in our car's passenger side window. After that we drove around the back to one of the parking lots,  parked our cars, got out  with our lawn chairs and sat socially distanced from  friends  while we ate our sandwiches. 

It was beautiful evening and it was fun to have a short social time. I didn't realize how much I missed it. 

So today I have a journal spread for Art Journal Journey.

Mia's flower challenge goes through the end of the month, and it has been an inspiring one, hasn't it?

It started with some pink paint, some printed tissue paper and this daisey stamp.  I drew and painted the circles, and I also added a tag on the right side and stamped the quote. I also added a few assorted stickers and ephemera.
And that's my art for the day.
Thanks for visiting!

Cut It Out

Hi everyone!

A new challenge starts today at Try It On Tuesday. For our latest challenge we ask you to die cut or fussy cut an image and use it in your creation.

So we call this challenge "Cut It Out".

I die cut the small oval frame and I stamped and fussy cut the lady's face. She definitely likes roses, wouldn't you say?

To make my page I started with a stencil and some of Dina Wakely's spray paints. I love how they work because the image doesn't smear or wipe away once dry. (And no, I am not working for herr or Ranger and trying to sell them to you.)

I then added a bit of printed tissue paper to dull down the color a bit. I stamped the lady with this ancient Postmodern Design stamp, colored her and fussy cut her out. Then I die cut the frame from white paper and inked it brown. I also added some small crafting gemstones. I added the roses (TH emphermera) , including a Japanese stamp with roses on it.  I also stamped a few postmarks to go with the stamp. Finally I used some white paint to make a place for my stamped quote. That is another ancient stamp I had from Flourishes clear stamps.

I am also linking up to Mia's flower challenge at Art Journal Journey which runs through this upcoming weekend.

Hope you like my lovely summer lady. And thanks so much for visiting my blog!

T Stands for Summer Things

Happy Tuesday everyone.  This weekend we had comfortable but not really summer like weather, but last week and starting again this week the heat will be back.
It's week 11 of online teaching out of the 12 weeks we'll be required to teach.  9 days with kids left, which is both exciting and a little bit sad.  To be honest, I am not thinking about the little bit sad part, since we always have summer break, it mostly just feels like summer break is almost here. and that is exciting.

This past weekend was a long holiday one  here in the US, and although it had a different feel than usual, we did a few summery things. One of them was having our first firepit of the season.

 My daughter and her beau came for a visit for part of the weekend,  and it was a nice way to spend some time relaxing. 

Some of you have said I have a lush lawn. This photo above shows the good part of my lawn. On the other side and around the firepit is a lot of bare ground. It also looks more lush when it is recently cut, as it is here. 

My husband and daughter built the firepit maybe 6 or 7 years ago from a kit you could buy at one of those big box stores.  

From this view you can not only see the firepit they built but the fenced in veggie garden and my screen porch.

We grilled up some sausages and hotdogs , as well as some onions and peppers and corn on the cob. 

Maddie thought she might like a taste too, as you  can see part of her head in the photo. She didn't get any of my dinner, but I made each of the dogs a hot dog that they got after we finished. I am too nice or what?

 And you can't tell what my drink was because I used my stay cold cup, but it was filled with some red sangria. It was fruity and really delicious and I must say I had a refill or two. But with lots of ice in my cup, there wasn't as much sangria per serving as you might think for the size of my cup.

Since it is T day, this drink is my ticket in. Stop by  Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog    and join us for T. All you have to do is share a drink related post.

 And after dinner we could sit for a long while chatting. 

It made for a great summer like evening, especially since this particular day was really warm.
More of that weather is due back for this week. Let's see how many of the kids actually show up for my ZOOM classes, especially from my afternoon group.
That's all for me for T this week. Wishing you all a super T day and thanks so much for visiting!

The World is Green Now

Hi everyone. Happy Sunday.

And here's a journal page for you today. 

Some spring flowers, a spot of tea...my latest page for Art Journal Journey.

It's amazing how in 1 week everything has gotten green. Wonderful beautiful green. We had some summer weather, and now the weekend is back to comfortable working weather before the next round of heat arrives.

 I think this year might be my year of the garden. Yesterday afternoon I filled some new patio pots with soil. It was more hard work but I can't wait to put my flowers in them.

Pretty soon there will be irises. One of my favorites.

 And roses too. Another favorite. OK, I have lots of favorites.

 And there are wild johnny-jump-ups in my garden. Some people may think they are weeds because I didn't plant them, but aren't they pretty? And those tiny little purple creeping Charlie flowers. 

 And here it is ground phlox season too.

 Last year I moved this peony plant to this sunny spot. It obviously loves it because you might be able to see all the buds. I counted 15 on Friday, but today I see a few new ones.

 The oaks are a bit behind. In fact the pollen from them is horrible right now and driving me crazy.

But this view from my Friday morning walk is pretty.

My husband has been busy cleaning his boat but he took a break and added the flag for Memorial Day weekend.

And I baked some interesting  brownies the other day.

They're blonde brownies with chocolate chips and walnuts, but the new ingredient was 2 tablespoons of instant coffee. Adding the coffee really changes the taste. And made them yummy!

I found the recipe in an old cookbook. I've been going through them trying to find some new recipes to try.

I think this one I got the recipe from came out in the 1980's.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Long Weekend Ahead

Happy Friday everyone. It's just about the long Memorial Day weekend here in the US and although this weekend usually includes some going out activities, I think mine will most likely be gardening, art and NOT  doing online school. Only 2 more weeks of that to go! 

 I did visit a local garden center greenhouse yesterday late afternoon to beat any weekend rush (but I think people have been buying their plants early this year-they were pretty picked over. The woman I know who works there said it's been crazy ever since they first opened.) I got some flowers for my deck pots and also veggies for my garden, so this weekend might be a good time to do some planting. And my daughter and her beau are coming tonight for a short visit, so we're talking about maybe doing a fire pit outside. 

I don't think the boat will ready for the water, and boating is allowed as there is a lot of social distancing, as long as you're OK with people who are on the boat with you. That's OK with me as I think the docks will be too crowded this weekend with the holiday weekend. 

But what the weekend brings will be seen as the days get here.

And here's a page for Mia's flower challenge at Art Journal Journey. My garden fairy or maybe garden queen page. She doesn't look like me but that's what I have been filling my free time this past week doing. 

My page began with Dina Wakely's spray gloss paints and a stencil. I really like these paints. They give a bolder finish (I think) than the spray inks and as they are paint, they dry and stay in place when you put things on top of them like matte medium or water. I used the leftover piece from some flowers I die cut to stencil the flowers, which I then painted white and detailed. I used 2 shades of green watercolor crayon to make the stems and leaves.

The face is from a Studio Light/Art by Marlene pop out booklet. I created the wings and then used another Studio Light sticker quote book for the quote. I also added a few small gemstone raindrops.

And my bird feeders have been Grand Central Station lately. I have been having to fill them every day.

Here's some of my visitors. 

 The titmouse and below, the first pair of cardinals nesting in my yard. I've seen them in  other people's yards, but now I have them in mine.

 The  hummingbirds returned ast weekend which was very exciting.

 And Mama Baltimore Oriole. She and her mate returned last weekend also.

 Here's Dad.

 These titmice are so cute.

And these red bellied woodpeckers (why are they called red bellied when there isn't much red on their belly?) are really amusing. First of all they are very loud when they call, and then they have these really well defined and jerky movements.

And of course I have tons of chipmunks and red as well as grey squirrels. 

And lastly for birds, I had a hawk around with a nest for awhile. I'm not sure if it is still there as I haven't seen it for a bit. And I never could get close enough for a good view of what it kind it is.  It might even be a falcon from what I can see.

 Before the leaves came out I could see it through the trees sitting in a nest.

If anyone can help me out with an ID I'd appreciate it. 

Of course now we have leaves so the nest has vanished into the woods.

OK, not only dd this post take me a long time to write, but it is long enough.

I need to get ready for class.

I'll be by to visit blogs soon.

Happy start to your weekend.

It Was One of Those Days

Hi everyone.

Let me start my post with a tag for Pinky's ANIMAL challenge at Tag Tuesday.

I started with some printed number tissie. Then I scraped on a bit of paint. The silly cat is from TH.  I stamped the top border image in white, and then I added lots of paper dots which I decorated a bit. I debated on a quote, but I think his expression says it all.

So yesterday was one of those days. I gave a quiz to one of my classes, and then what did I do?  I deleted them all by mistake. Good thing Google classroom lets the kids keep a copy so they can resubmit them to me.  But instead of being able to grade them afterwards, now I have to wait for the kids to relink them.
And I had more kids oversleep too for this same morning class. So I had to redo class later in the day so they could take their quizzes. But at least I didn't delete those.


And Kathy asked yesterday if I was going to have a retirement party. Well, last Saturday I got an text from a friend who said "Happy today was suppose to be your retirement party day." Huh?
Then a text quickly followed from another friend that I wasn't supposed to know about that.
So a party was planned for myself and another friend who is also retiring. Our whole department was invited, our book club friends were coming, my husband and daughter had been invited, my other retiring friend's family was invited and even a friend of mine from North Carolina was coming north for the party. But it had to be postponed because of covid-19 right now.
I have to say I didn't want a party, but when I found out one had been planned, it made me sad it wasn't going to happen. I think it is going to be rescheduled in the future, so I will just have to wait and see.


But I did make a really easy sourdough bread that I started Monday and finished yesterday. And it was delicious. You might have heard of this recipe but you mix the ingredients, let then sit in a covered container for 18-24 hours. Then you shape the loaf, let it rise for a bit, and then bake it. No kneading, no electric mixer needed, not a lot of work time time nor any big messes.

And some very nice weather means I head outside after remote teaching most of the day, and there hasn't been a lot of art time. I'm really ready to remedy that; good thing we have the long Memorial Day weekend ahead. And including today, only 12 teaching school days left.
Time is flying, isn't it?

Thanks for visiting my blog.

T Stands for an Ending

Hi everyone. Happy T day to you.

It is time to stop by Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog and share a drink related photo for T.

This week I am taking you into school. Yes, I know school has been closed since March 15th, but we were asked to clean our personal belongings . Rooms have been sanitized,  but the custodians want to strip floors and do the usual summer cleaning. When we all left school in March, we left everything in place, making it hard for the custodians to do that summer cleaning.

And many of you know I am retiring from teaching in 3 weeks when the remote school year ends. So not only do I need to pick up my personal belongings, I need to take them home. And after 35 years at this school, I had lots of things to clean.

We had to sign up for a  time slot to clean because of social distancing. I signed up for three  2 hour slots in a row, just because it seemed smarter to get it all done in swoop.

After the 6 hours, here's how my room looked.  I still had to clean those items on the top of my cabinets. But school was closing, so I had to leave at this point. Plus my car was packed.

And there were a few things left on my front  demo table too. And can you spot my bottle of Diet Coke? This is a T Day post afterall.

My desk looks so bare. And I decided to leave those posters up for my replacement. 

So last week I signed up for another 2 hour slot to go finish my cleaning and to double check that I didn't leave anything important behind.

I had really expected my first cleaning day to be sad, but I was so busy it was rather anticlimactic.

But when I went in for my final cleaning, the room ending up looking bare and that was rather sad.

But  I am ready to start something new in my life.

 Goodbye room 302.  

And here's something of mine I brought home. How do like this artistic mug?

 Back in 2011 ( I know this because they signed the bottom of the mug)  a couple of girls decorated a mug for me. It was made for a cell project so they colored lots of red cells and created a biological tissue mug. How cool!  I couldn't leave this behind. I think it will be a great addition to my art table and hold some pencils or something like that. 

And it works for T Day too.

Some memories are just way better than a classroom.

That's all for me today. Thanks so much for visiting my blog!