Abroad

Paris in Springtime - Nikon D80

I have not been here in a long while. In the time that I was gone I had the opportunity to travel to France and Spain with a group of students and colleagues. As crazed and hectic as it all was I felt quite comfortable and quite at home abroad, other than my limited knowledge of the language.

When we arrived in Paris we moved right along, traveling to the hotel, getting out and about and walking around the city. It was sort of surreal moving around in "scenes" that I had seen for so many years in print and movies. It was an odd sort of familiarity.

Each time I travel I am reminded of my one extremely teeny tiny corner of this planet. I feel like a who in Whoville, floating obliviously through my life. While each place has it's own sights, smells, foods and charm, they are all filled with people, each individually maintaining their own little teeny tiny corner of the planet.

Westword

Toward the end of what seemed like an extremely long week came one of those extremely long days in the life of a teacher...conferences. Three hours of being "on your game" can be draining. Much to my surprise and glory, when I stepped out of the school tonight this was the sight that greeted me! As an added bonus, my drive home is to the West. I got in my car and drove, listening to Big Star all the way I watched this beautiful sunset melt away in front of me and vanish just as I pulled up to my house. This image trumps all things that happened today.

Yarn

I posted this photo months ago and these yarns are still sitting in the bag that I brought them home in. I plan to knit yet another sweater for my girl. I have bought THE softest wool I could find. Now we are in the tail end of the hottest spring and inching ever closer to summer, the thought of knitting with even the softest wool does not sound appealing. Maybe in a month or two I will begin again.

Wool

I hand knit this adorable sweater for my girl. I chose a yarn that had a bit of wool in it, knowing full well that she has texture issues. Once the sweater was complete I was so excited to have her try it on to see if it fit, which it did, PERFECTLY! I thought it would take longer than two minutes for her to start clawing at it and trying to rip it off.

Oh well, live and learn. I love this sweater too much to give it away, I suppose I will keep it as some sort of keepsake.

Grey

Just having one of those weeks...blah. Never sure this time of year if it really is just lack of sunshine and over abundance of grey days. Things just seem heavier and more burdensome on my mind. I am thankful to my family, friends and students who brighten my days.

I continue to remind myself that "this too shall pass"

Process

Like all things in life, painting is a process, sometimes long, sometimes short, sometimes interrupted and sometimes abandoned. If you are lucky, one process can carry another one along, however, it can also bring it to a screeching halt.

I have to admit, the process of this painting started off extremely high, though "real" life and emotion came along and brought it down. Is it possible to carry on and have it stay on the intended path? or if the old saying is true and art does imitate life, is that even a possibility? Will it be for the better, or will it be for the worse? I suppose the only way to find out is to continue with the process.