I like Samantha French. I like her work, her use of color, her use of form. Today, the last day of term, has been a DAY and this picture was somehow fitting. It is called: Slow Rise, Five Feet.
It seems to fit my mood, I am on a slow rise to the top, I’m just floating. But, that is alright, that is where I am right now, today.
Tomorrow, I will surface, take a breath and dive back down.
(Image by Samantha French)
This has been a long week and a crazy one too! It always seems to be that way, the last week of the term always makes me feel like I am working in a 3 ring circus! Everyone is tired, their stress levels are raised, their tempers are shorter. You never think you are going to catch your breath, but somehow you make it to Friday, bleary eyed, happy you have survived the week and simply ready to just flop down and slowly exhale.
I have had one of those weeks. I love the daily challenges of my job. I never fully know what to expect when I come through the gates in the morning, as my day consistently changes from one to the next.
I have been asked to run a session tomorrow that has been offered to students who need a bit of extra help. So, we will be working together to first make photograms out of objects I will be giving them and secondly to make a photogram from a piece of work they will collage based on 3 artists and a piece of poetry (an old favorite of mine by Robert Frost).
A few students needed to be chased up today, to find out if they would be attending tomorrow. I stood next to my colleague as he spoke to one student in particular and I was taken back by this young student’s attitude. I could only think of myself for a moment. I have given so much to this project, given a great deal of my personal time to make and create all the necessary ingredients to this pie, but, this student knew none of that, this student simply scoffed. Attending this session was the last thing he wanted to do.
I shook it off, because I thought, if you come tomorrow, I will prove you wrong! I will show you this is worth your while and if you don’t come, well then you are going to miss out on something that could make a difference to you, personally. You might even learn something about yourself you weren’t aware of.
I keep an open mind with the students, for I never let myself forget that like myself they have a life outside of those gates and for some it is a far from easy life. I get along with the students, it is very rare that I ever have any issues, because I have made it known from the beginning the rules of my Cupboard. One in particular is, that I do not care what others think of you outside of my door, I form my own opinion and you have a clean slate with me when you cross my threshold, unless you do something to tarnish it. I treat you with respect and I expect that in return.
I spoke to Mr. Michie about this on the way home, he smiled at me, with a slightly bemused expression. He has eons of teaching experience over me and you know what I love about him? He isn’t jaded as others are, he heard what I was saying, he took it in his stride, he told me the likelihood of the situation, but he hoped for all the best tomorrow.
That is all we need isn’t it? A little encouragement! I have more students who have been added to my list, I don’t know what numbers I will actually walk in to tomorrow, but if I can make a difference to one student, then I have done what I have set out to do. In saying all of this, my situation earlier today has still preyed on my mind.
I flipped my shoes off when we got home, sat on the sofa and grabbed my laptop to catch up on a few things, while Mr. Michie got ready for a meeting. I clicked to my Google Reader account first and slowly began to go through the posts awaiting me. There was a post from SwissMiss that focused on Austin Kleon’s book Steal like an Artist, with a picture capturing a page from his book (see below):
This is what I needed to see today! That is it! That is what we are here to do! DO GOOD WORK AND SHARE IT WITH PEOPLE! It doesn’t matter what your work is, take pride in it, be the glow that lights the flames around you. This made me feel lighter.
After this, I moved on to catching up with my e-mail and was greeted with another piece of happiness in the form of a note. A letter awaited me from someone who had recently come across my blog, they had even been brave enough to go back to the beginning and read through all of my ramblings.
In reading her words, I thought back over my day. Her words of kindness erased the words I had heard of ugliness today. Her words about my blog lifted me like a pink balloon. Her honesty about herself, to me, a perfect stranger, again brought me back to reflecting on my day.
She shared with me that she has been treated unkindly and made fun of, for sharing with a few people that she likes to make crafts. Do some of us ever grow up? Are will still living in High School as if we have never left? Have we not moved on to being more accepting of others?
To this young woman, I want to say to you, THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your kind words today and for the sunshine you say I give you every day, know that your words have given that to me in return. Do not let others inhibit you, for often those that lash out the most, are the ones who are truly jealous of what you are. For you have found your place and they have not.
Continue to do what makes you happy, find that one thing every day that allows you some peace of mind and DO GOOD WORK AND SHARE IT WITH OTHERS! For the path you are on right now, is where you are meant to be. Maybe this journey isn’t completely about you, maybe you need to be on this journey so your path crosses another’s and gives them the advice, the encouragement, the kind words, that they so need to hear.
I came home with a bit of a rain cloud over my head today and you have shown me the silver lining. So, today, this post is FOR YOU! You know who you are.
Jennifer x
(Image found at SwissMiss)
If this little bunny doesn’t say, “Spring”! I don’t know what does!
The bunnies are out, I have seen them munching away on clover while on my way to yoga in the evening.
The sunshine has come out to play this week, but it is still cool in the evenings, we are slowly moving in to what my Grandmother would call: “Blackberry Winter”.
(Image by Jennifer Murphy)
We “sprung” forward last night and so it suddenly seems did our flowers. We have spent the day, cooking, working, talking, sitting, making red velvet cupcakes with marshmallow cream cheese frosting (mmm!) and tending to our little flowerpots.
Flowers make me happy and they certainly make the cottage feel like we are moving into Spring from the outside, which is a good thing as I can’t say as much for the inside. It is time for a major overhaul, but my major “Spring Cleaning” is going to have to wait till we are on Easter Break, so watch out closets, because I am coming to attack you first!
Be so good, they can’t ignore you!
Steve Martin
Well Hello! This has been quite a busy week and I haven’t gotten to post since Monday. I even missed commenting on the first day of Spring! I enjoyed it, I hope you did!
I thought I would share a mini Spring board of some things I have been pinning lately. Enjoy!
All images pinned on to my Pinterest account, original sources found below:
1) Sweet Paul 2) Dottie Angel 3) Clic Par Hasard 4) Country Living
5) 2nd Book 6) Whimsical Raindrop Cottage 7) Ladaisi
I have had this film sitting in my Instapaper “box” for about two weeks now and as I was catching up with reading through everything yesterday, I finally watched this film.
I was extremely touched by this story. It is beautifully shot. I appreciated their desire to preserve something old and this passion for preserving interlaced with his background in Architecture has turned into a career in conserving minkas. What a blessing to be able to do something that you truly love!
These two men’s lives have been intertwined within this house and with this house. Their memories join all the others that have occurred under that roof and that have been ingrained in the wood during the lifetime of this minka.
This is a story about passion, about preserving our past to preserve our future and most importantly a story about love and the people we encounter that make our world all the better for knowing them, for our journey would not have been the same without them, that road might never have been taken.
One of my St. Patrick’s Day traditions, is to watch this movie! It doesn’t get better than this! Sean Connery singing, leprechauns, the Irish countryside, the banshee, the fiddle playing…Darby O’Gill and the Little People, is always worth a watch!
I wish you all a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day! And hope that good fortune comes your way today!
Goose Girl & Foxy have been busy today too, be sure to check on them:
Happy St. Patrick’s Day my friends! Goose Girl is busy in the kitchen making Irish Soda Bread. She is following her Nana’s recipe, but making a special loaf without raisins just for me!
The rain is falling softly while I work in the study, it is making everything look greener today, soon it will be time to plant flowers without the worry of frost.
Tonight I shall take Gigi out for dinner and a little dancing at a favorite Irish pub of ours. I have bought a new green bow tie just for the occasion.
I am off now to see how far Gigi hasn’t gotten, I just might be able to nip a bite off of a warm loaf of bread and curl up on my coach with a good book and a hot cup of tea. Ta ra!
“Let’s get together”, is one of my favorite songs from The Parent Trap. It came on Sunday afternoon right before I started working on Sunday dinner. I kept popping my head around the corner to watch it in between cooking. We made a roast with The Pioneer Woman’s “Crash Potatoes”, a fresh salad and a chocolate fudge cake for Sunday dinner, it was wonderful, if I do say so myself!
I have always been a Hayley Mills fan and this was one of my most beloved movies. The air of nostalgia that surrounds it, the time period, the clothes, the California ranch house, oh, the cast! Hayley Mills, Maureen O’Hara and Brian Keith as the parent’s. Tommy Sands and Annette Funicello, singing the opening song! It doesn’t get much better than that!
It reminds me of being little. I can remember watching this movie with my family, all camped out, munching on popcorn, laughing, talking, enjoying each other’s company, just as it should be! Together!
