Five on Friday

Did you see the Hunger Games?  One of my former students, Leven Rambin, plays Glimmer.


I love the crunchy sound my computer makes when I empty its trash.  So satisfying. I wish all my jobs were that easy.

I saw my future grandson yesterday on an ultrasound. The only thing better will be seeing him in person.

My newest obsession:  Draw Something app.  It's like playing pictionary - and you don't have to be able to draw well. (Stick figures work.)  I'm addicted.


Is Easter really next weekend? 

Poetry Party Wednesday

This is one of many I saved from my high school days.  I’ve always admired the "silly scholar" of this poem -- maybe even found in him a kindred spirit.   I hope I've inspired a few students of my own to be a little less present-minded  now and then and to pay attention to the silly stuff as well as the important business.  Where would we be without our dreams?

  

The Absent-Minded Professor

This lonely figure of not much fun

Strayed out of folklore fifteen years ago

Forever.  

Now on an autumn afternoon,

While the leaves drift past the office window,

His bright replacement, present-minded, 

stays at the desk, correcting papers, 

nor ever grieves

For the silly scholar of the bad old days

Who’d burn the papers and correct the leaves.

By Howard Nemeroff

Poetry Party Wednesday

 I like to be philosophical and talk about lofty things. It feeds my soul.  But sometimes that's not enough. Someone has to be the practical one, after all.

Communication

I am talking to you about poetry

and you say

when do we eat.

The worst of it is

I’m hungry too.

(Alicia Partnoy)

MY NAME IS ELENA: KEYS 4 ART 2012!!!

MY NAME IS ELENA: KEYS 4 ART 2012!!!

I've been away

I spent the past week at the Key Largo home of my friend Elena, who invites a few friends over once a year to play at art and enjoy each others' company.  She is an angel for putting herself out this way to make it all possible.  This year she had two wonderful teachers lined up for us:  Lynne Perrella and Kathy Orta from Paper Phenomenon. I've taken classes with Lynne before and I absolutely love learning collage techniques from her - I just can never get enough of her inspiration and insight.  Kathy Files was new to me -- we created beautiful handmade journals and accordion folders, all from scratch.  I would never have imagined I could do such a thing. The construction was a bit complicated and I'm not sure if I'll manage to create another one on my own because of that, but I'm probably extra proud of the three I made.

Since Elena lives in Key Largo, we also spent a day visiting Key West.  Can you imagine a gaggle of women traipsing about that beach town during Spring break?  Quack, quack, quack.  (And speaking of quack, there are roosters who run around loose throughout the town!)  We explored antique shops and used book stores, enjoyed cheeseburgers and margaritas at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville restaurant, and jumped on a guided trolley tour all around town.  We even stopped for delicious lobster rolls on our trek back home at the end of the day.

Do any of you have art friends you get together with, either regularly or occasionally?

xo-teri

Poetry Party Wednesday

It's hard, when our heroes fall from the skies and turn into mere mortals, full of flaws.

I miss my brother, sure. He drank Robitussin washed down with beer. Sure, he smoked dope; shot heroin; went to prison for selling to an undercover cop. Sure he robbed the town’s only hot dog stand, Gino’s, like I overheard while I laid on my bed staring up at the stars under slanted curtains. Sure he used to leave his two-year-old son alone so he could score on the street. But before all this, my brother sure used to swing me up onto his back, run me around dizzy through hallways and rooms; we’d laugh & laugh; fall onto the bed finally and he’d tickle me to death, sure. Arlene Tribbia

Five on Friday

Five favorite quotes I pinned this week:

My dog winks at me sometimes and I wink back, just in case it's some kind of code.

If you think I'm mean, it means I'm doing my job as a mom. If I was nice, you would call me grandma.

Wouldn't life be perfect if sweatpants were sexy, Mondays were fun, junk food didn't make you fat, girls didn't cause so much drama, guys weren't so confusing, and goodbyes only meant until tomorrow.

When everything seems like it's falling apart, that's when God is putting things together just the way He wants it.

I am aware that I am less than some people want me to be, but I am so much more than what they see.

Poetry Party Wednesday

My children are no longer infants, and sometimes my heart forgets they've grown up. I will always be their mother, and they will always be my babies.

Don't fill up on bread

I say absent-mindedly
The servings here are huge.

My son, whose hair may be
receding a bit, says
Did you really just
say that to me?

What he doesn't know
is that when we're walking
together, when we get
to the curb,
I sometimes start to reach
for his hand

Robert Hershon

Five on Friday

I’m a little obsessed with the photo apps on my iPhone and feeling just a touch guilty turning a poorly composed photo into something that looks pretty good -- deliberately scratched, aged, tinted or framed.  I feel like I need a disclaimer that informs people my photo started out badly.  (ProCamera, Camera+, Pic Grunger, Instagram.)

I’ve given up on winter. No snow in sight.  But if I put my snow boots and mittens away we’ll get hammered, so I’m holding tight.  (You can thank me later.)

Celestial Seasons Devonshire English Breakfast Tea. My new favorite.

Someone once told me, "Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should."  I can't tell you how many times that advice has worked for me.

My daughter is pregnant, so I've been hearing about baby names.   In 2011, favorite names for girls were Emma, Olivia, Sophia, Isabella, and Ava. (Very movie star retro, no?)  For boys, Mason was number one  (really? Mason?),  followed by Liam, Noah, Ethan and Jacob.    I guess the Joshua, Jason and Jeremy trend of the 80's - when I had kids - has finally ended. 

~ The Feathered Nest ~: Thinking on these things....

~ The Feathered Nest ~: Thinking on these things....