The Weekend is Here

Hi everyone. Happy weekend.

Week 11 of remote teaching is over, and things  are starting to wrap up. One more week to go. It seems a little surreal that this year is about to be over. And what an unpredictable way it is ending.

Some of you have asked about my mom. She is doing really well but still in rehab since she is still testing Covid-19 positive. Once they get a negative test she is going back to her apartment. Hurrah! It is one of the good stories coming out of this pandemic. I am surprised and thrilled and glad to get some more time with my mom.

And speaking of parents, my Dad was into shrubbery. He had this orange-red azalea bush, and many years ago another one sprouted under the one he had. When it got about 6 inches tall, he dug it up and gave it to me. And now, many years later, here is the shrub that grew from that seedling.

Last Monday it was covered in buds and now it is just covered in flowers.

And the month of May is quickly winding down. Mia has been a fantastic host at Art Journal Journey and her flower challenge has been a lot of fun. It's not over yet, but this is my last entry for the month.

 The left hand page wouldn't lie flat so it looks a little weird. I layered some paper images, stamped some phrases, and fixed up a predone tag. I had some old thick paper flowers, which I stamped on and painted and used one both sides of the spread.

The weather here in New Hampshire is going to be cooling down. That's good as it was very hot and humid, which made it feel like July weather when you just want to lounge in the hammock with a big glass of iced tea and a good book.  Never mind school work. Plus I have a whole lot of gardening, well a whole lot of planting and weeding I need to do. 

Well it's always something, isn't it?

Have a great start to your weekend.

Out on a Walk

Hi everyone. 

Today my post has something different to show you.

While my daughter and her beau were visiting this past weekend, we went out for a stroll around their old college campus. They both went to the University of New Hampshire, which is about 30 minutes away from my house, and they were nice enough to invite me to join them. (The hubby wanted to stay home and clean his boat, even though he was invited.)

It was a great place to walk as it is not too hilly and there was hardly anyone there. So we could easily social distance as we got some exercise.

My daughter posed for a photo but I couldn't get her beau to stand there with her.

I hadn't been on campus for a long time and not only was it nice to see it all green, but there were some new art installations too.

Like this cardinal.

 And I managed to spot some things I thought made interesting photos.

 The students have been gone since mid-March with the Corona virus. Maybe that is why these chalk monsters are smiling.

And I liked reading the stickers on the lamp posts.

Not much left here but I wonder how exactly many years of messages were put up on the message board. 

I ws explained to me that a tree died and this cool statue was carved from the remains.

And I had to stop to smell the lilacs. They are a favorite of mine.  And the state flower of New Hampshire also.

A train comes through campus that connects Portland, Maine and Boston, MA. I love how they fixed up this old train station.  And they added a small restaurant too. They sell sandwiches and ice cream.  When my daughter was at school and I would stop by to pick her up we sometimes went and had an ice cream.  I might have suggested one during our walk but the Dairy Bar is closed like the rest of campus.

The university's mascot is a wildcat. They say that students will have good luck if they rub the cat's nose. You can see how it is more worn from lots of hands rubbing it.

And this older but rather unimpressive building  below is where I took most of my grad school classes. This is the education building. 

And even though I went to grad school here, I was just a part time student taking evening classes.  never really made a strong connection with the school. I was already teaching full time at this point, and I also had a young child at home. It was a little bit busy time for me, and so making a strong connection just didn't matter that much. The other reason I didn't make a strong connection is this university's major rival is the school where I did my undergraduate degree at, the University of Maine.  Some of you might have read about that from I've written about hockey games. My connection to my undergraduate school is much stronger given the fact that I was a 4 year full time student there.

And these next 2 photos are my favorite photos.

I love the crab apple blossom petals all over the ground.

And this is  a piece of (I think-maybe?) granite. New Hampshire is the granite state. What a cool looking stone slab though.

Obviously someone had been celebrating on campus. 

Maybe an engagement? Or they just graduated? I wonder how long those champagne bottles had been sitting on the table.

I had a great 2 1/2 mile walk and I learned a lot about the university that I didn't know. I hope you enjoyed this virtual walk with me.
Thanks for visiting.

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 Jo suggested I join the Tickled Pink challenge at the Frilly and Funkie blog. So I will.
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.