Tag: school (page 14 of 15)

September 22, 2010 / 0 Comments

Round the Buses

We take the bus into school most mornings and pretty much every evening, unless we miss it and then we walk home breathing in all the goodness of fall (tonight I smelt my first fire of the season, the air was crispy and the woody mossy smell of logs crackling, was dancing through the air as we waited at our stop).

As we stand at our stop in the morning, our breath clinging in puffs before us, it is quiet, tranquil. Everyone around us still seems to be asleep just running on auto-pilot. The bus driver turns up, and as we are stepping on board he has our tickets printed already a few cheery “Good Mornings” and we take our seats.

You see the same people, a little nod and smile to some, others don’t care to be bothered. The bus is quiet, there is no talking, everyone appears to be mentally preparing themselves for the day ahead.

This, however, is not the case on the afternoon bus. Our bus driver is not a happy camper by any means, I greet her with a friendly “Hello!” and get either grunts or no acknowledgement in reply. She usually has a terse word with someone over nothing and she drives like a maniac.

It is like being on a rollercoaster ride, today my stomach was doing flips by the time we got home, from all the twisting and turning and short stopping and almost hitting people, animals, cars. I just hold my breath.

We have been back at school for two weeks now and she has not changed, her attitude seems to be stuck to her like glue, but I refuse to bend! I will continue to be as cheery as always and continue to tell her “Hello!” whether she likes it or not!

As Anne of Green Gables said, “I refuse to be poisoned by your bitterness!” and I think that can also go for being jaded. I refuse to be jaded by someone because they have a sour disposition about the world. I have my own thoughts, beliefs, dreams and I refuse to let them be destroyed by someone who has no imagination. Because to have no imagination must be the most unhappiest of existences I could dream of!

Whew! Ok, hold on…I am stepping down now and putting my soapbox away…

September 20, 2010 / 0 Comments

Vacations

It is only Monday and I think I need a vacation! What a crazy hazy day this has been!

I am loving my new job, always something different, always moving here and there and I like that. I have been busy designing a few things for the big Art trip happening in a few weeks, so Photoshop and I have been in full swing creating an interactive type guide for the students to use.

I am also finding more and more goodies to photograph for In the Art Cupboard, the pile is growing bigger and bigger so stay tuned…

(Image: Found in Mom’s Basement)

September 17, 2010 / 1 Comment

Crab Apples

Last night we walked home from work and even though I ended up with a blister the size of Texas, I loved our walk.

The sun was just beginning to set, the air was so crisp and clean and as we passed the park, a gorgeous crab-apple tree stood before us.

Its boughs laden with little yellow and red apples. Some had already fallen from their branch and they stood out so cheerily from the dark green of the dewed grass, others had been munched on by woodland creatures. They were little orbs of swirled autumnal colors laying at our feet.

And they made me smile.

September 12, 2010 / 0 Comments

Mid Act

Well, this past week has left me feeling like I have been caught mid-act! I can see the bar I need to grab and I am reaching out for it and going to hold on tight as I swing into week 2. I have been busy every day tidying, organizing, assisting the department and finding new things to catalogue that I plan to photograph.

One of my faves this week was a something I spied behind the door of a colleagues room. It was a commissioned piece she created out of an old book for a library. It was beautifully done and the way it was imagined and executed left me feeling like Alice about to tumble down into the “rabbit hole” of this book. This is a work of art that will feature on In the Art Cupboard and she has kindly agreed to let me discuss her work in a blog piece here on Jenny Wren’s, which I plan to do in the near future.

The gentle jazz crooning of Nat King Cole’s “Your Nobody till Somebody Loves You” is beckoning me into the kitchen to dance with Mr. Michie, while we make dinner and enjoy the last lingering drops of sunshine as evening falls…

P.S. I bought my first Fall item this weekend. A little pumpkin trick-or-treat bucket to put on my desk and fill with candy for my cupboard visitors, I can’t wait for October!

(“Breathless” by G. Elvgren)

September 9, 2010 / 0 Comments

What’s for Lunch?

In keeping with my Back-to-School theme and the oilcloth lunch bags I wrote about the other day, I thought I would do a post on the ever important lunch box! This was one of the most crucial decisions made at the beginning of the school year! Which one did you choose?

My sister lives near a wonderful hole-in-the-wall restaurant with sandwiches to die for and it is completely filled with treasures. One of the many is a collection of lunch boxes, one of my favorite being a vintage Mary Poppins tin lunch box, and I know I would have chosen that one if I had it as an option, the pinks and blues in it are so happy.

I used to have a She-Ra lunch box one year, she was just so cool, and I had a plaid tin one with a little matching thermos. Some of my husband’s favorites were his Transformers, Star Wars and the most important of all a He-Man Master of the Universe lunch box, even then we were meant to be together, me with She-Ra & him with He-Man.

I love the old tin boxes they are so much nicer than the plastic ones today, and so much more durable! I think your lunch just tasted better out of the box, especially if it included a smiley face note from your Mom, and an oatmeal cream pie like mine would!

I could have used one of my Mom’s notes today, it has been a long week, but I got something better; a wonderful Back-to-School package from her that was a treasure trove of delights! Did you have a favorite lunch box?

*The image of the 3 women is a Flickr picture found on dlundbech’s Flickr page, the woman in the middle is Ana Grimshaw and this photo was taken around 1900 in Vermont. I have no idea who Ana Grimshaw is, but she was beautiful, vivacious, and has breathtaking Anne of Green Gables Gibson Girl hair. She looks like a hell of a gal to have a picnic with!

(All images found on Flickr)

September 5, 2010 / 0 Comments

Back To School

Tomorrow is my first full week at school. I jumped in last week and now I am just swimming around, not sticking too close to the edge, I have thrown myself into the deep end and I am just fine, for the moment anyway.

I have plans this week to do more cleaning in the cupboard, just taking it a section at a time. In going through a pile on Thursday (it cascaded down when I went to reach for something above) I discovered some treasures from China. There were little paintings, bought in a market, a box of two shadow puppets and a few packets of tissue paper wrapped intricately designed paper cut-outs including circus figures, the New Year’s animals and a selection of Oriental women.

I cleaned the other half of my “hallway”, so now there is an easy path inside, with no tripping, twisting, or contorting to get through into the main part of the cupboard. So, tomorrow I will be donning my green apron, rolling up my sleeves and getting back to work!

In celebration of going back to school I will be doing a small series this week of “Back-to-School” posts, so keep a look out for ideas and projects that I will feature here!

September 1, 2010 / 1 Comment

I Jumped

Well, I jumped! And, the water was just fine!

Today was very busy, with a major learning curve I had to quickly climb up! My day was spent in and out of meetings, I worked in my cupboard in between, unpacking supplies. I love the smell of pastels and charcoal and inks. It was a treat to open those boxes, the first person to touch the beloved Art supplies before they become a muddled rainbow of used things.

There is much more to learn, but that will come in time, I know. For it wouldn’t be an Adventure if you already knew the journey at the start! As Anne with an “E” says:

“Isn’t it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive–it’s such an interesting world. It wouldn’t be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There’d be no scope for imagination then, would there?” -L.M. Montgomery

The best part of my day was the end. I was picked up by Mr. Michie and arm in arm he walked me to the bus stop and then home we went! I felt just like Anne of Green Gables with her Gilbert Blythe.

August 31, 2010 / 2 Comments

Jumping Right In

Tomorrow is my first day of school! I am so excited, nervous, happy, sick to my stomach! I love school and I hate school. I know I am going there in a working capacity, but I feel as if I will be walking through those doors like any other student, the new kid(s) on the block.

Believe it or not, I am a very shy person and meeting new people and being in new situations give me butterflies. Even the thought of being introduced to my peers at Assembly on Wednesday morning has my stomach churning and my cheeks flaming red, for all of the 10 seconds it will take to occur. But, you would never know it from looking at me.

My parents have always taught my sister and I how to behave, we were never allowed to hide behind them and not speak to people; making eye contact, a nice handshake, they have a gift for putting people at ease, my parents and they instilled good manners in us.

So come tomorrow morning, I am going to make eye contact, shake hands, hold my head high and no one will never know that a three ring circus is going on inside my tummy. I’m holding my nose, here I go… I’m jumping right in!

July 20, 2010 / 0 Comments

School’s Out!

School is out for Summer! Wooo-Hooo!

I am so excited, that means the occasional morning sleeping in with Mr. Michie, eating lunch together, running errands together before I head to work, dinner at a more normal hour. I love when he is off from school and we can spend time with each other.

Next school year, I will be going to school too, so we will have the same holidays off, to just sit and stare at each other over the tops of our computers, like a couple of nerds.

Mr. Michie is a very cute nerd though!

(Image found on polkadotandplaid’s Flickr account)

June 6, 2010 / 0 Comments

A Cozy Nook

Well, Mr. Sunshine has gone away for awhile, it looks like he will be on vacation all week by the weather reports, so the rain is here to stay. When it is raining like this, I want nothing more than to curl up on the couch with a good book!

This image looked like a cozy nook to curl up in and just read the day away. You can see the window from the bed, which I like because I stop reading and just day dream on rainy days like this and if you got too cold you could drag the rocker over to that adorable stove.

And on a day like today as Summer begins to fully blossom (even in the rain) I would be reading an old favorite, “Anne of Green Gables”. I wanted to be like Anne when I was growing up, I had quite the imagination, so it wasn’t a far stretch to pretend I was Anne Shirley who lived on the second floor of Green Gables with a window that overlooked the pastures, with my best friend and kindred spirit Diana Berry living just a short cut through the fields.

Like Anne, I too am moving on to new adventures, I am going to be working in a school this coming fall. I will get to put my degree to good use working in the Art Department of a local school and I am so excited and nervous and looking forward to this next bend in the road. It isn’t as quaint as Anne’s one room school house in Avonlea, but I will have my own nook to make cozy and I can’t wait!

“When I left Queen’s my future seemed to stretch out before me like a straight road. I thought I could see along it for many a milestone. Now there is a bend in it. I don’t know what lies around the bend, but I’m going to believe that the best does. It has a fascination of its own, that bend, Marilla.”

❈ Anne of Green Gables

(Image of “A Cozy Nook” found at: Gypsie, image of “Anne” copyright Sullivan Entertainment, “A Cozy Nook”, embellished with tape from a freebie by: The Pugly Pixel)