Flowers and Memorial Day...

My wisteria is in bloom! It only blooms bi-annually and 2014 is its year to pop! And pop it is! I planted it about 10 years ago. I ordered it off QVC, from Cottage Gardens. I went through a QVC phase ( ha! ha! ) when my kids were little and it was easier to order things on-line than to drag them out with me... don't get me wrong they were good for the most part but it's not so exciting for kids to go to the garden center. If we did, we would always make a stop at the pet supply store to look at the animals as a treat for their patience!

It's a vine type and has grown up into the surrounding trees...  I didn't realize how far reaching it was until I looked under the trees from another angle ( it was too dark to take photos from that angle they didn't come out well) It is literally a canopy of Wisteria under the trees! Gorgeous!

The sunflowers I planted are coming in! Planting them in the pot on my porch has kept the chipmunks from eating them to the ground...

The honeysuckle is also blooming around my fence...

This type is not fragrant, but very pretty... I have several bushes of fragrant ones growing up my front porch. Unfortunately, our horrible winter seems to have taken out a good portion of the plants along with several more of my bushes and plants... I am going to have to trim back the dead parts and hope that they re-grow this summer...

My columbine is starting to bloom... all of my spring favorites are bursting forth!

The Lily-of -the-Valley is everywhere! If you have never planted it before, beware it will take over your garden! When we moved into this house 14 years ago I had dug up alot of my garden plants to bring with me... one I did not bring on purpose was the Lily-of-the-Valley... it hitched a ride with something else I dug up and brought. It has now spread to several of my gardens... it was meant to be...

My Bearded Iris have not started to bloom yet even though I have seen them out in the area...I hope it's just that things take longer to bloom here in the valley... I will be really, really sad if I lose them... Some of them are vintage from my grandmother's garden transplanted to mine and others, my giant purple ones ( so fragrant! ) were gifts... let's keep our fingers crossed...

I still have to get these Marigold's planted around my mailbox... it's been rainy, life busy, I will get to it today... 

I am finally on to the border of this shawl. I love how the pattern looks but, I am getting tired of it... moving onto the border and a different stitch pattern is good...  Now I just need to get my butt out of this chair, eat something and go plant those Marigolds...

Have a great Memorial Day weekend if you are here in the US.  While you are vacationing and celebrating this first official weekend of summer don't forget it's REAL meaning... remember our soldier's and veterans of war who gave their lives to make our freedoms in this country possible. Say THANK YOU to our men and women in the military that serve every day and make it possible for these freedoms to continue... here is a page from History.com if you are interested in the history of Memorial Day. 

Have a happy!!!

Mrs."C" :)

Lunar Cycles, State Testing and Barometric Pressure....

( keep scrolling down, I just realized the first photo is way down... don't know why... no energy to try and figure out how to fix it...)

looks like it's time for some new paints...

 So... I'm blaming the chaotic nature of my students these past two weeks on lunar cycles, state testing and barometric pressure these past two weeks... we have had them all, several at the same time... I love them all, but they have been out of their creative little minds... chatty, excitable, not listening, you know the routine... it's that time of year, the weather is getting nice the kids are sensing it's time for a break and re-charge of their brains ( just like everybody else). I can't blame them, I feel the same way.

One of my colleagues puts a funny/inspirational quote in our mailboxes every Friday as a pick me up ( we all needed it this year...) this is the one I found yesterday. I laughed out loud! It totally sums up the past couple of weeks! State testing has had everyone a little nuts these past two weeks, schedule changes, room changes, parts of the building you can't talk or make any kind of noise because testing is going on, it's done now... back to our regularly scheduled programming next week! ( yeah!) 

Kindergarten butterflies...

                                            2nd grade Warm/Cool weavings...

          The front hall bulletin board. It looks amazing with the 1st grade flower paintings on it!

 Because I am a glutton for punishment, I am researching how the Visual Arts connect to the Common Core Standards... I'm just thinking ahead... I need to be one step ahead to keep my sanity... looking for a way to connect without being boring. and un-creative.. it's there, I just need to write it down so it's visual and in front of me...

Spring is finally in full swing here in New Jersey! last year I didn't put out as many flowers since we were going away for two weeks to the Caribbean( and knew they would croak in the heat while we were gone) I really missed them last summer.  My porch is full of flowers and looking beautiful!

I have to plant my marigolds down around my mailbox this morning, as well as many other outside projects today! The tan chair belonged to my grandmother... it was her go to chair for sitting in the back yard. She kept it on our back porch with her basket of clothes pins on it. We had large clothes line off the back porch that was used all year round when I was growing up. When my Mom moved I took it, I couldn't bear to throw it out. I was going to strip the many, many layers of paint that are on it, after a closer look I think the layers of paint are holding it together! You can't sit on it, so I just display it with the occasional plant.

How cool did this come out?! I was doing some yard work last weekend and found an old metal bistro set we have that is ready for the trash. The bottoms have fallen out of the chairs. Instead of putting it out for the trash I decided recycle it into a great way to display flowers by my front steps! I love how it turned out! I am going to use the other chair in my backyard. I need to find the right container to fit the base and pick up some flowers.( ignore the dead Laurel bush in the background... sadly this past winter completely did it in. I waited to see if it would come back but its toast. One of the things I need to remove/trim that the winter season did a number on...)

Two books I ordered from Amazon last weekend came yesterday! One is on classroom management by Michael Linsin. I follow his blog, Smart Classroom Management. If you have never read any of his posts about classroom management techniques check it out.  He has written a couple of books on classroom management and this one is his newest geared towards the special subject teacher classroom which as we as special subject teachers is different in many ways from a regular education classroom. I started reading it last night, its an easy read and his thoughts on classroom management are well grounded. 

The other book is called, Sweet Dress Book by Yoshiko Tsukiori. It comes with patterns to sew the 23 outfits in the book. There are some really great pieces in the book! I'm excited to pick some to sew this summer! They are just the style I have been looking for but have not been able to find! It's now in English so I can read the directions without trying to translate through the pictures!

This is a shawl in progress, one skien down and one to go yet. I love how the pattern is working up! I found the pattern on Ravelry. Once I got the repeat memorized it has been been a relaxing project to work on. It took me a little bit to get the pattern in my head! It has a several row repeat. Hoping to finish it up this week. It will make a great summer weight shawl!

                                                      Detail of the scallops...

Playing with another block... attempting to turn it into a sweater... work in progress... I got bored and started the scalloped shawl!

Don't know if I ever showed you guys these finished...

                 This is another Nordic Shawl I made from extra yarn I had laying around...

I think this one is based on the Nordic Shawl also... I have started to mingle elements of different patterns and make up my own borders so I'm starting to forget which patterns inspired what! I really like the color combination in this one! Again, these were left over yarns from other projects. The color combo reminds me of a scene from, The Devil Wears Prada. If you have ever seen the movie its the scene where Miranda is telling Andy how the blue in her sweater came about, during the discussion Miranda is styling a similar red tone dress with a turquoise belt . I always loved that color combo! 

My Lilly of the Valley are in bloom and smell really, really good! I should stop and go do other things... recycling, dishes, yard work, progress report grades(yuck)... 

It's a beautiful day out, if you are having the same go out and enjoy it!  :)

Mrs."C"  :)

Happy Mother's Day!!!

                                                    Happy Mother's Day!!!
May your day be peaceful and filled with family...  I did some gardening/outside clean up this morning, planted some of my planters and put out my bird baths ( forgot how heavy those suckers are! UGH!!!)  I'm done outside as there are about 10 billion gnats out there today and I can't deal with them hovering around my head like a herd of zombies anymore! I'm going to make some chocolate covered strawberries and take my Mom to lunch with my kids, hubby has to work today :(    It's sunny, warm and gorgeous out! Everyone enjoy your day!  :)
                                                             Mrs. "C"  :)