Dharma Love

Just a couple of pages I made this month.

Emerging into the Creative World Again

Well, now that I am officially a graduate of a master's program, I can justify spending time doing what I love - creative play. I have been doing lots of little things, but most recently I have been art journaling every day, usually a page a day.

I have some other pages to share, but this one is related to a daily prompts by Daisy Yellow, so it made sense to start with this page. Today's prompt was to create a map of an imaginary place. This page kind of took a different turn, but I started with the idea of a map.

Anyway, less talk, more pictures:

The pasted journaling reads: A Bell With a Crack In It: It may not ring as clearly, but it can ring as sweetly.

Wishing you all a day of play, whatever form play takes for you.

WitL 2012 - Final Day

Rounding out this week has me thinking - thinking about how much joy there is in my life. Many things bring me joy: my family, my practice, my job, the sangha, sunny days, spring blossoms, quiet mornings, the first drink of coffee in the morning, affection, a good book, our lovely circle of friends, my non-family friends, and the list goes on.

This week was not typical in a number of ways:

• Although I have been working on my master's for a while, the doubling up on classes and the internship hours and the culminating paper were not typical.
• I usually see my parents at least once in a week, and that didn't happen because of the double up on classes and the internship hours and the culminating paper.
• I didn't go to Dharma Zephyr Monday night. This kind of threw my whole week of, since I find that group a grounding force.

Even though this was not a typical week, I am still glad I participated in the week-in-the-life project spear-headed by Ali Edwards. One day I will look back on the photos and remember when . . . . This is what I want from my scrapbooking hobby - to celebrate who we are in all our messy, loving, disorganized, silly, grumpy selves.

But enough with the words. Time for some pictures:

See the stick Sawyer has? Roz taped two pencils together to make a wand.

The kids were collecting worms.

Jason eats a salad for lunch every day at work. On Sundays, he gets Monday's and Tuesday's salads ready.

I worked on my discussion questions for GCU.

They were very excited to show me their worm house for their new pets.

Doing dishes is part of my weekend morning routine.

It seems they are always playing or fighting.

I just ignored the mess.

We were invited to a friends for a BBQ. Since I didn't want to go to the store, I made food to share from what we had - blue berry muffins and a plate of veggies and dip.

The robins have arrived.

A view from our friends' house. Beautiful, isn't it?

"I am going now, Mom."

"I crashed, Mom."

Roz rode the bike around their driveway.

Little I's shoes. So cute!

All the kids. :)

All the moms and the resident auntie.

Roz is a natural climber.

After we got home, Jason showed Sawyer our house on Google Maps.

WitL 2012 - Saturday

 Saturdays are great, aren't they? Today I was reflecting on my childhood Saturdays. I was always up before the rest of the family and would turn on cartoons. Saturday morning cartoons. The tradition is pretty similar for Sawyer, our early bird.

I spent the morning doing laundry and writing a paper. Jason and the kids did yard work, and then the kids played. Later, I took the kids to a BBQ of a neighbors. Before prom, some of the chaperones went out to dinner at Garibaldi's. (It was sad to be there and not see Julie.)

Saturday morning cartoons.

Goofing off in PJs all morning.

Breakfast for the kiddos.

Playing with water - still in PJs.

On and off the scooter.

The dog pulled this flower right out of the planter and dragged it inside. Get out the vacuum.

Helping Daddy.

Indiana Jason.

Writing, writing, writing.

I was highlighting the instructions as I covered each element.

She got wet from playing with the hose, so she decided to wear her winter coat for protection.

Pretty girl.

Simply playing.

Dancing to Just Dance 3.

On our way to the BBQ.

Rock star Roz.

The three kids at the BBQ enjoying lunch and avoiding bees.

BBQ attendees.

Chaperones sans vino with dinner.

I worked the entry table all night, so I didn't get many photos of kids. This was at the end of the night. The last of the attendees to leave, so I took advantage of the opportunity.

WitL 2012 - Friday

The main story of the day is that Jason love his job as much as I do. I tip-toed into his classroom during class to take some photos. He wasn't exactly thrilled with the camera, but as usual, as soon as I entered the room, I could sense the happy, upbeat attitude of his classroom. He teaches all A.P. classes this year. Just recently, he applied for the Rotary Excellence in Teaching award. Part of his application shows graphs of the improvement in both the A.P. Lit and A.P. Language scores after he started teaching them. Just one bit of evidence of his excellence as a teacher.

The kids had good days. Roz got to wear PJs to school - a celebration of successfully completing their CRTs. We also found out Roz's friend is visiting her grandma - who lives near us - for a while. She is excited to have someone to go play with. Our neighborhood isn't like mine as a child. Most of the houses on my street had young kids, and we would spend every evening outside playing with one another. There are almost no kids on our block, so having someone she can go play with on a moment's notice is a pretty splendid change of pace.

For internship hours, I helped supervise the senior-senior prom. Okay, honestly, I wasn't needed, but the activities director was kind enough to let me hang out with her and see what she does at these kind of things. The senior-senior prom is an event they hold the day before prom. Since the gym is decorated so beautifully, they hold a free dance for local seniors the night before. The kids who helped put together the prom ballroom host the event. I loved being there. The senior citizens who attended had a great time dancing, and I loved seeing them teach the high school students how to dance - everything from swing dancing to line dancing. It was a happy event all around.

Morning!

Climbing into bed with mama is nice.

Let's go.

Bye, Dad.

Jason teaching. Not the best picture, but he was getting irritated with me.

I had to include this silly picture of my students. They make me laugh.

The lunchroom where Jason and I eat everyday with colleagues.

Evidence of spring - seed pods on the Maple tree.

Roz, her friend, and the neighbor boys.

Showing off the necklace he got from the treasure box at school.

His bling.

Feeding the dogs.

The gym was completely transformed for the prom.

Case in point. Does this look like a school gym?

More Old Hollywood decor.

Tearing it up - a couple dances at the senior-senior prom.

The chandeliers.