Teri Parris Ford's Blog

Mourning Moon-- A New Self Portrait

I started thinking about this painting in June 2023 after losing my dog Balt. I started 2 versions that got tossed out, one in acrylic and one that was digital. I ended up going fully mixed media after a visit to the Milwaukee Art Museum on a field trip and seeing an exhibit of mixed media paintings. I was sold.

I knew I wanted the painting to be about loss. Not just about Balt but my uterus and then the loss of my family creeped in there. It pains me to admit that it took grieving for Balt to get me to finally feel grief for my mom. I still miss Balt so much. He was my first dog and I was very surprised by how much I learned from him about myself, about enjoying Wisconsin weather, about contentment and unconditional love. I kept him on pain killers for months waiting until school got out so I could take the time to grieve. While on my first road trip without him in 13 years, I found myself sobbing in the West Virginia mountains listening to John Denver, a favorite of my mother. A flood of grief for my mother, that I had not let myself express for 3 years snuck into my already sensitive emotions. I grew up not given many opportunities or instructions on grief. Growing up in a strict fundamental christian household, death was always supposed to be joyous for those who entered the kingdom of god and for those who did not, did not deserve our emotion unless it was pity. In the very end, I think my mom felt very alone. She wondered out loud if my dad would be waiting for her in death and I knew what she wanted to hear, but I'm not sure if anyone was there to assure her in her beliefs. I sometimes take comfort in knowing both of my parents were gone. I do not have to worry about them anymore. I do not believe they are watching out for me or up in the sky giving anything to me. I have many fond memories and photos and I miss them dearly.

At the end of June 2023, I had a hysterectomy and some reconstructive surgery for my bladder. The loss of my womb was not as emotional as the loss of my dog. I was happy to see it gone as it was falling outside of me, but I saw it as a right of passage. I was officially in “old lady” territory. With the loss of both of my parents, I had moved up in the generational standings of my extended family. I had become the elder, not only in my family but at work as well. Many of my closest teacher friends were already retired and I knew I was next. I am starting the process of saying goodbye at work. I have begun planning my retirement show and party. I am trying to focus only on the celebrations and the joy. Sometime next year, I will feel the deeper loss of what I am giving up... but that will come later.

Summer 23 Week #7 End of July

I finished Summer School eagerly and although the gig paid $40 hr, it did not turn out as I had hoped. A synchronous zoom class turned into a free for all as all of my students were all over the place, literally. Many had wifi issues because they were camping with family (but got great photos), some worked full time or were away at band camp or in other states with family, etc. I ended up fielding questions and concerns at all hours of the day. While it was all very flexible, it was difficult to contain the class to just the morning hours. I got very frustrated with students who did not understand assignments because they failed to attend daily zooms or read instructions.  I actually had one student turn in a photo of her purse as a self portrait. I don't think she was being overly creative, but I could be wrong. Anyway, I think my summer school days are officially over, not just for this year, but for my career. 

I decided to leave Rochester on Thursday because Jim had an Army weekend to prep for and Monika was in MI so I was anxious about the cats being home alone. 5 cats are not easy to care for and Erika is still dealing with school and working on her condo. Over the weekend I went to her place to help paint her bedroom and we did a couple of Menards runs for supplies. I also took her to Costco and got steaks! While Monika is away, I'm allowing myself meat. I finally weighed myself since before the surgery. My hope that my uterus weighed 10 pounds did not pan out. I've gained 5 pounds instead. I know I am still dealing with some immflamuation but I've been too free with my eating while living with Jim, who is vegan now. I am unable to swim or do any strenuous exercise, so I really need to buckle down with my eating.

I've been working on this self portrait on and off this summer and I'm still trying to decide what media to use. This draft is combo digital paint and photo but I'm thinking of transferring it to a large canvas and painting it with mixed media, adding fabric and paper. One of my favorite portraits is totally digital from 2013, so I am tempted to keep going this draft on the computer, most likely I will continue to on both fronts and see where things go. I am wanting to show the passage of time, aging, say goodbye to Balt and my uterus and am still struggling with how to do so visually. I often go thru my photos of Balt and cry in missing him. I have started thinking about wanting another Lab, but blonde and maybe a female, just so they are very different but also the same. What I miss most is his body leaning up against mine. There is something so wonderful about feeling the weight of someone who loves you. I don't miss my uterus at all BUT I am so grateful to it for giving me my daughters. It served me well until it failed. How do I show that? Maybe I need to add in photos of the girls as babies? I will continue to tinker...

Summer 23 Week #2 Sewing

I've made 5 t-shirt quilts now. Not a one is perfect. When I was a little girl I had a crazy quilt my grandma Parris had made and I loved how not perfect it was. I mean super geometric quilts are beautiful but there is something special about a quilt that is put together a bit haphazardly. At least, I like to think so. I made this quilt for Grace this time. She asked for a toddler sized one, so it's a bit shorter than my others. I'm hoping to give it to her as a baby shower gift at the end of the summer. It was my week#2 project. After getting out the sewing machine out, I was able to get a bunch of mending done as well. I finished my first week of summer school and had a bunch of doctors appointments leading up to my surgery next week. Oh, and we are surviving living with 5 cats!

I had a couple blasts from the past this past week with bump intos from my Spring Harbor days. I saw a favorite student fo mine at the mall while shopping for sandals and a fellow specials teacher at the Farmer's Market who had been the PE teacher for all 3 of the girls. I love that the girls all had teachers I worked with throughout middle and high school. It makes for happier connections. Monika also took me to my first SummerFest in Milwaukee. I've wanted to go for years and I finally made it to see Tegan & Sara. It was a late night but a special one. We also made it to the Overture for a concert, so it's been a fun first summer week in Madison. I went to the pool almost everyday.

It's July; Summer Vacation Week #3

Jim drove down yesterday from MN after spending the last few weeks in NJ doing army work and having a few days at home to catch up. We are spending the holiday weekend in Madison so we can spend time with the girls. Last night Monika took Jim to a concert (Disturbed) at Summerfest for his father's day gift. They had a blast. While I know I would have enjoyed the concert tons, I had my turn already.

I have not been too productive this week, but I did start a painting using a new "pourable" paint media that I have not tried before. It is pretty trendy. I am wanting to learn how to do beach and water type paintings. I tried a small resin pour over last summer and then a larger one over winter break but found it so messy and quite expenive. This time I used a waterbased media called floetral. I gathered sand and rocks from the beach by Jessi's house in Ocean View and hope to give this painting to her. We are having an art show in September that I will show it at first, as well as a few others I hope to create before the end of the summer.

Summer Project 4 (week 4)

I had travel on both ends of the week, so only Wednesday was available to work on anything. I picked up clay last week from Patty and knew I wanted to work on creating a couple more clay suns to paint. The ones I made a decade ago  are heavy and have broken. I made sure to make this one thinner so it would be lighter. I'll have to wait to get it fired in September once school starts.

I plan to have them for the new house we just put a bid on last night in Rochester, MN! The housing market is kooky, so we knew going in we would need to make quick decisions. A house we were really excited to see sold before we could even look at it. We looked at 1 on Thursday and 4 on Friday and really liked 1 in particular, so we gave it everything we got so we would not be sorry if we lost out and we did not. We close in August... big changes are a foot.

Friday the 13th

My day's are so full. I got up early to do some extra prep because I had to do several demos today.  At lunch I had a mammogram that took exactly 10 minutes. I connected with Melissa for a bit to sell her my old Ford Expedition and then dropped off my Yukon and walked to school. I stopped by Starbucks on the way to school for an iced latte. It was probably to most productive lunch hour I've ever had. Once back at school, I completely botched my animation demo and promised my students another try on Monday. I will spend extra time this weekend practicing with Animate so I can return on Monday prepared. I stayed afterschool with newspaper kids and then picked up my Yukon. I went home, ate dinner and started practicing with animation. I am creating an animated couch potato with some Netflix running in the background. 

I'm Ready!

Wednesdays force me to get out at 6am to work out, but then I know Friday just a couple of days away. I presented new projects in one of my 2 photo 1 classes as they are ahead. I'll present to the other one tomorrow. I got my yearbook kids working on the last 50 pages of the book that must be turned in in two weeks. I'm ready for the year to start wrapping up. I spent my lunch hour finishing up my wall for the art show. I got the short wall, so it was easy to fill. I only have one large brand new piece of artwork but the other stuff hasn't been seen for a while or at all in a show. I have an old black and white portrait that I found when going through all of my old negatives back during the cold snow days. Two Vienna photos from last summer's trip were made into cards but never framed and two images from my India show are three years old. Our show opens next Tuesday and I'm ready early so I don't have worry about it over the weekend. I have too much else on my list of projects for this weekend..

Lots of Meetings

It was a busy day. I covered for Joe's afternoon classes so I was busy every hour and then had two meetings after school. I had hoped to get to yoga but no way am I going to a late class when I've got a 6am training tomorrow morning. I took Balt for a short walk while talking to my mom. I'm in bed and ready for This Is Us tonight before bed.

Below is my painting for the April Staff art show. (photo, painting and then digital combo).

Chipping Away

I am almost all packed, but I made sure to get a yoga class in late in the morning. I did some clean up and some laundry for my prep to leave. Jim's travel plans got changed at the last minute because of a flight cancelled so he's coming into Madison tonight and we are heading out tomorrow for the big trip. 

I worked on my painting this afternoon. It's not easy work and am struggling with it but can see progress. 

Motivation

Nothing seems to motivate me to clean than when I have other work that needs to be done. I spent the morning cleaning out the bathroom cabinets instead of doing any artwork. Maybe it's that I know what to do and how long it will last, whereas the artwork is quite open ended with no way of knowing when it will be finished. It rained all morning, so I did not get much of a dogwalk in but did go to a great yoga class. After yoga, I ate lunch and did a bit of putzing around but I finally managed to get some ideas started.

The hardest part was trying to figure out what to paint, so I managed to come up with an idea. I may start painting tomorrow (see below). I actually already started this painting about 10 years before but got frustrated and never finished it. Let's see if this one ever gets done. I have always been an admirer of Albrecht Durer, especially this painting. He was 28, I'll be 53. I was thinking it was time for another self portrait and the last time I did an oil painting of myself was 30 years ago. Anyway, I like the addition of the phone. After deciding on the photo, I did some computer work and started a series on Netflix to keep me entertained. 

Color

Balt woke me up early, of course. I put him off until 4:45am and then gave up and got up and got to work. I did some work that I had hoped to finish last night but went to yoga instead, so it all worked out well. I am so much more productive in the morning and feel so much better as well. The problem is that getting up so early means I'm exhausted in the evening. I finished grading my Art Experience students color projects which are inspired by Kandinsky (see below) and they are a favorite to work on. My kids have moved into ceramics which is not a favorite for me but most kids love. We started shooting jumping photos for the yearbook endsheets. I'm hoping they come out cool looking (will post once finished). I stayed late after school working on them. I came home and had dinner with Erika, talked on the phone for a while with Jim and then watched some news. I'm in bed early tonight, ready to fall asleep but will try to refrain until after 8pm!

The last day of summer!

While it was not quite a record high today, tomorrow will get hotter and is the first day of fall.  I had a full day with a class afterschool over on the east side of town. I'm taking two classes this semester, working on reaching the next pay level for next year. It's a little extra work but will be worth it next year. I enjoyed connecting with a couple of teachers I had not seen in a long time. I came home and made a salad for dinner and watched Ken Burns new documentary on Vietnam on PBS.  Below are some images of my Art Experience kids' line project. It's a new project for me and I really like the way came out.

July 10

It stormed last night, so I was up. Gobs of water flowed into our basement via a small window. I have it protected with a plastic cover but the rain was just coming down so hard, we had flash flood warnings  I was up a couple of times making sure the water heater did not get flooded. The soccer fields across the street were completely flooded over. I was able to take Balt for a short walk this morning but rain was in the forecast and I did not want to get caught in it. With only one week left of summer school, I have lots to make sure I finish up. After summer school I picked him up and we went for a bunch of errands together. I took years (2002 to 2011) of old Sword & Shield newspapers to get bound that had been in my garage for years (since 2012!). I'll have to get copies of 2012 to 2017 ready for binding next year. I came home after errands and took a nap that last a whole lot longer than I expected. I got up and made Gluten Free blueberry muffins for dinner and watched some news. I'm going to watch a documentary before bed tonight.

Week 3 Done

How did that happen? Summer school is half over and I only have one week left before I get to take off. I worked on my print most of my free time during class. My kids are working hard to keep up since progress grade reports are due next week. All the slackers have dropped out, so I'm left with a class of really motivated art students. Right after class I ran to the pool for lap swimming and sunshine. I chit chatted with a teacher friend for over an hour and then went home for left over stir fry and some tv. I did some house cleaning, figuring it would free up some of my weekend. I was too tired for an evening yoga class. Balt and I just hung out this evening together. I finished a movie I had started before visiting Monika and am ready for bed. 

Hot & Humid

Summer is in full gear now! I do like the heat but I also enjoy having the air conditioning on at a comfortable temperature -- 74. It certainly helps me sleep better. The air conditioner at summer school is being appreciated now that it's so hot outside. I got Balt out for his walk by 6am so that we could beat the heat and get a good long walk in. During my second class, which only has 6 kids now, I started a 3rd hand print to finish off a set that I think I will make cards out of. I know the kids really like to see me working on art work along with them. After school I did big grocery shopping finally as Erika and I were starting to run out of food. I came home and made home made salsa. I bought a big can of green chilies for the salsa. It was so good. I made a tostada for lunch and watched a show. I went to 4pm hot yoga and came home drenched. After my shower I was ready for bed but I took Balt out for a bit after feeding him his dinner. I'll watch a show or two before hitting the hay.

Week 1 Done

I'm always counting. I can't help it. 1 out of 4 weeks of work done today and it felt good. My students are only finished with week 1 out of 6, but I still let them celebrate and we did a round robin about what the plan was for the weekend-- sleep, movies, video games, work and hanging out with friends. I graded the first projects and I've got some really talented students (my 2nd class "coat of arms" assignment where student shared about themselves in their work). 

After school I went grocery shopping as our list had gotten pretty long. I went to Trader Joe's but will still need a few items from the regular grocery store tomorrow (like rice noodles). I had hoped to go to the pool this afternoon but did a hot yoga class instead. I've been so cold lately, even with the humidity, it's just not really warm enough for me to go swimming. I hear about the heat out west and I'm not sure if I should be envious or not. I guess I should be thankful for the comfortable 70's we're having here in Wisconsin.

I'm always glad when it's Friday.

The list of things to do is getting shorter. I've learned to enjoy the eb and flow of busyness. 2 weeks ago a teacher at the middle school next to Memorial died and a couple of kids drew his picture. The principal wanted to frame it in the school but asked for the picture to have a little more work added into it. A middle  school teacher contacted me asking for my help which I assumed was just advise on how to improve the drawing, instead I was handed the picture to make the improvements. I had hoped to talk Josh into working on it, instead he offered me advise. I have to admit, I did procrastinate working on the drawing but I got in 3 solid work sessions and finally finished it today, as promised. I was glad to get a bit of help from Joe and a student, adding finishing touches. Fixing it up included adding a lot more contrast, a lot more detail and fixing proportions.  Josh's advise was not to leave any blank paper or draw everywhere and he assured me my fixes were on target. While I do enjoy drawing and I really haven't done much lately, it's not necessarily fun to work on someone else's project. I'm glad to cross another item off my list.

It was a beautiful morning with a long dog walk. I made scrambled eggs for breakfast for the first time in a month. I came home for lunch and made a big salad. I stayed late after school with newspaper kids again and then ran off to yoga. After yoga I warmed up some chicken for dinner and watched Netflix. I'm thrilled to go to bed knowing tomorrow is Saturday!

Fridays are Fun!

There is something about Fridays that seem to have a bit more fun embedded into them just because we all know it's the end of the week. My students seem just as excited about it being Friday as I am. Balt and I started our day with a walk, while it was only 20 degrees, there was some bitter cold wind adding the discomfort, so it wasn't a long one. I came home for lunch since I didn't have time to make my lunch this morning and I did not want to spend the money to go out. It was a nice change. I stayed late after school helping a student of mine hang up a solo show in the principal's office. He's been accepted to art school and now we are working on getting him some scholarship funds. He took my painting class and continues to paint whenever he can. He was my TA for my art experiences class last semester, where he not only helped students but also created a few more paintings. It's super exciting to see his work all up at once. I came home, fed Balt dinner and then ran off to my favorite Friday night hot yoga class. I made some chicken for dinner and then had to go check in on Erika's cat, as she's away for the weekend. I'm finally home and eager to end the night with a movie. I think it's time to start catching up on Oscar nominated movies! I have a fun weekend planned.

Not Quite...

I was in bed last night by 7pm, asleep by 8:30pm. I woke well rested and feeling good but with wind chills below zero, I decided on no dogwalk. Balt had daycare, so he'd be fine today without one. My day was busy, as I continue to chip away at getting a lot done, knowing I'll be gone most of next week. The first mosaic stone was made yesterday and cracked in half today getting out of the mold. Bummer, big bummer. I'm not sure if we mixed the cement with too much water or not enough. I had two more kids make them today so we will tomorrow how it goes. After school I stayed after for the scholarship committee which I got roped back into after a 4 year hiatus. I picked up Balt after 5pm and did some vacuuming at home after seeing a couple of dust bunnies the size of my foot. I watched some news and went to a 7:30pm hot yoga class that was wonderful, perfect actually. I will sleep amazingly tonight.

It's coming!

There's only 10 school days left until winter break. Only 18 work days left for this semester. I don't count down until Christmas anymore, big deal. The big day to look forward to is the beginning of vacation- winter break, spring break and especially summer break!! I had a pow-wow with my morning metals classes, explaining how little time was left and how awkward this year's vacation schedule interrupted our semester. I've always found it a bit weird that we leave for a long vacation and come back to finish the semester. It makes more sense to finish the semester with a long break? My art experience kids have their bowls coming out of the kiln, all shiny and bright from glazes and they are very fun to see (pictured here). The kids love them. I told them we would eat cereal out of them for our final exam, but now that I see them and how excited the kids are to see them, I think I'll just bring in plastic bowls so the kids can take them home. I ate lunch today and needed a bit of a pick-me-up, so I splurged with a coffee break and then got to working on the yearbook. All 4 grade sections are nearly done. There's just a lot of fine tuning and double checking to do. I have kids do things but there's so double checking I have to do too. I stayed late and got home exhausted. I made a small quesadilla for dinner and enjoyed Survivor and am ready for bed.

Cold day, Warm feelings

Today was an emotional day on various levels for a variety of reasons. I started the day with a nice walk with Balt but it's so cold outside, so it's hard to get going but once I'm back, I'm warm and glad I've made the effort. My classes are so good. So many of my students are so nice, so wonderful and so fun. I have a few kids falling in love with printmaking and that warms my heart (see photo). With my first yearbook deadline coming up in exactly one week away, I'm really working extra hard this year to make sure we don't leave kids out. I've learned the hard way, I can't let the kids do all the work. Ultimately the mistakes get blamed on me and that's tough. I've been staying late after school to go over the work and double check everything. It's time consuming but I'm getting paid to do it.  After school I met up with Erika for a celebration dinner together. It is wonderful to have a daughter to enjoy a wonderful meal with in the middle of week!

TGIF

I've got one of those weekends ahead with not a whole lot planned or to do and it's wonderful. I'm mostly excited about getting a little extra sleep. My day today was pretty grand. I've got to start planning a new project for my art experiences kids as they finish up their Warhol profile pics. I've posted my example here. My kids really liked working on this project. It's always so fun for me to feel their enthusiasm. After school I took Balt for a short walk before heading out to me Friday night hot yoga class. There are other regulars that I enjoy connecting with as well. After the class, I cleaned up and headed out to Costco for gas and dinner. I wondered around picking up only a few items I needed and settled on their chili for dinner. I brought it home and watched a Chelsea episode while eating. I watched the news and now am ready to hit the hay.

Old Enough!

I found out that I am old enough to be the grand parent of my freshman students. It's the first time I've heard, "that's how old my grandma is" when mentioning my age. Oh, I've heard, "that's how old my mom is" since I started teaching but never before have I been told that I am the same age as a grandparent of a high school student. I did the math and if a woman my age had a daughter at 18, and that daughter had a child 18, then that kid would be a freshman in high school. Wow. Well, I've sporting reading glasses around my neck now so I've got a grandma style thing going too. Although Josh said, he loved the look and Monika also told me it was a great aesthetic. 

It was another great day, wonderful autumn weather, busy students and lots of working being done (below are my metals students finishing up rings). After school, I picked up Balt and went for a short walk to make sure I got my 10,000 steps in. I made a couple of tacos for dinner, watched some news and a Chelsea episode. Erika popped over to pick up some costume gear and then I went to a late slow flow yoga class which was so amazing. I'm so ready for tomorrow to be Friday!

Just Another Manic Monday

Mondays are always kind of crazy. Classes are shorter, so they go by so fast. My freshman Advisory is actually longer then classes on Monday, so it kind of drags and there's a lot to do and I'm never prepared enough. Luckily I made Halloween popcorn balls for my Freshman and there were leftovers! On Mondays I meet with my newspaper kids, which makes the day even more busier. My prep time gives me a bit of time to breath before my yearbook class and PCT, professional collaboration time. Today we met up with some downtown administrators who are part of the Pathways program coming down the pike. As a department we are trying to decide how to prepare for the coming changes. I came home late after the long meeting to a very happy Balt. I made dinner and then watched the news. I was out before the news ended and woke up too late to get to a yoga class. I guess I was tired!
Below are a few of my kid's animal bowls that kids are finishing up in Art Experiences.

Show Opening

So today was the day I swung the doors open of the gallery and spent the afternoon prepping for an opening celebration. While not a huge crowd showed up, it was nice to see those who came by, new and old friends. I have lots of masala chai tea left over and will bring it in for my morning classes to enjoy. Other than show prep, I worked on yearbook pages. I promised my kids to have pages ready to work on next week, so I'll go in to finish them this weekend and that is fine. It seems my weekends have become the time I need to make my weeks more enjoyable. Instead of staying late at school, I know I can put things off a bit when I have time. I prefer to live life at an enjoyable pace. While there's always so much to do, I always make time to breathe!

A Full Day

There was a thunderstorm this morning, but the rain stopped for just enough time to get a nice walk with Balt in before I went to work. I made sure not to turn on my lights even though I probably should have on the way to work. My morning was busy. My first four hours of the day keep me hopping. I got clay out for my Art Experiences classes and did a clay demo for the first time since I started teaching high school, I think. I survived the experience, but I would not call it enjoyable. I'm hoping my students thought it was. I am so much more confident teaching metals (see below). This whole clay unit will be very interesting. At lunch I ran a few errands, including mailing Jessi a pair of jeans and buying Masala tea for show opening tomorrow night. The show is ready to open, I just have to figure out how to make this tea. I stayed late after school working on the yearbook and then popped home just enough time to feed Balt and run him around outside before heading out for a hot yoga class. I came home, showered, had dinner while finishing Survivor and watched a Chelsea. I'm ready to pass out. It's been a very full day.

Autumn Saturday

Balt had me up at 3am this morning. He kept waking me up every 15 minutes hoping it was time to get up-- way too eager! Finally it was 5am and I gave in and we got up. I enjoyed my coffee and news and then went for an early walk and yoga class. I passed out for over an hour afterward. I made myself some lunch and met up with Erika at school. She worked on the torch and I hung the art show. I still have labels to create, but it is coming together and it's looking great!

I finished my day with a 4 mile walk, making it a 7 mile day, playing Pokemon Go. I baked Pumpkin scones for a meeting on Monday and enjoyed chicken tacos for dinner. It was a great Saturday!

The First day of Autumn and the last day of 50

This past year has been a really good one. I have really, really enjoyed being 50. Aside from the aches and occasionally pains, the dimming of vision and few more greys, I think I am in for a lot of fun this decade. I found quite a bit to celebrate this past year as I kicked off my 50's with an art show to celebrate me. I traveled more this year that ever and I've really grown as an individual woman, finally finding some comfort in being me transparently. I took a road trip with each of my daughters this past year, driving across the country with each of them individually (not collectively as I have in the past), connecting with them as young, adult women and I feel like our relationships have transformed significantly. Having spent many months thinking I would lose my mother, I have found great comfort this past year realizing that she may be around for a while still, maybe another decade. Although it is unclear how long I will have her in my life, our relationship is special and she will always be a part of me. Life is good... but busy. 

I took Balt on a walk this morning but totally forgot it was his day to go to daycare. I just had too much on my mind, I guess. I have students starting new projects and spent some time grading my Art Experiences (a 2D3D class) first big projects (see 3 below). I am going through Art Elements with them, so I used Kandinsky as inspiration for a unit on shape and color. I think they were fairly successful. I heard from Monika today, who got to spend the afternoon in Petra (see above)! I am very jealous. She's camping out tonight. I am going to have add that place on my bucket list. I came home after school exhausted, walked Balt again and went to a hot yoga class. I dozed off at one point, missing out on about 3 lying down poses. I sometimes think I have narcolepsy as it seems I can fall asleep in almost any conditions. The room was so hot and humid, I left drenched. I came home, showered, and made myself a grilled cheese sandwich. I watched a Chelsea and am ready for bed.

More Art

It has occurred to me lately that I have not made any art this year. I did so much for my birthday show and then took a break, but it's time to get busy again. I know I have a lot to create this summer while I'm traveling for a show next fall. I am loving the artwork my metals & glass kids are creating (mosaic shown here). I started the day with a good walk with Balt and then while at school we had thunderstorms. The rain subsided and I came home late for another walk. I warmed up some soup for dinner and watched the news and Survivor. 

Spring Flowers!

Well, it was back to school and I was greeted with a bunch of blooming daffodils (see below) in the metals garden! I plant bulbs in the fall so I can enjoy them now. I did not plant any at home last fall, just at school, which I'm a bit disappointed about now. At school I have a bunch of left mosaic stone projects out in the garden helping pave the flower area. This year I decided to do something different then cement stones. Students used cement board to create images that would be hung, rather than set outside. It's less messy and taking a bit longer, but I love them! The first ones are started to get finished, just in time for the quarter to finish. 

The day was beautiful. I got in two walks with Balt and a hot yoga class. Kids seemed eager to get back to work. The garage door was open all day, so of course, it made for happy moods. This week will go by quickly since it's a short one and that's okay!