A beautiful day! The bushes in the woods are always the first plants to show their green buds. And every year I look forward to that first time when I spy them budding. I’ve been watching them for weeks, hoping. And they finally did it!
Now the woods have taken on a slight green haze. And when we got home today, we noticed that daffodils had sprung next to the birdhouse that’s been sitting on our front porch all winter. As if to welcome some winged visitors!
Today was my last day at fieldwork. It felt surprisingly sad to say good-bye to all my clients who I’ve come to truly care for over the past year. A few of them even made some pretty sweet and sincere gestures (both verbally and otherwise) in gratitude for my time spent with them. It took me a bit of guard, actually. I guess you can never really know what you mean to someone until you tell them it’s the last day you’ll see them. I hope and pray that all my little clients will eventually be O.K. at some point down the road.
So that chapter in my life is closed.
And a new one is about to open: our D.C. summer!
After obsessively checking Craig’s List, writing tons of emails, almost getting scammed once, and a few moments of nervous desperation and uncertainty…we finally found a place to live! It’s a town home in a really nice development called King Farm in Rockville, Maryland. The location is ideal. The metro stop, grocery store, tennis courts, and swimming pool are all within a five minute walk and downtown Washington D.C. is a mere 30 minute metro ride away. Hooray! Check out the lux pool: oh baby, oh baby!
Hey! Who is that masked cat?
Ximeze sent me this hilarious story which obviously deserves to be passed on for your amusement, my friends.
Thanks Ximeze!
I’m compelled to add a little of my own writing to this story, but it will be restricted to the student’s thoughts. My writing will be in CAPITAL LETTERS.
Here’s a prime example of "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" offered by an English professor from the University of Colorado for an actual class assignment:
The professor told his class one day: "Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right."
"As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send another copy to me. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story and send it back, also sending another copy to me. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on back-and-forth."
"Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. There is to be absolutely NO talking outside of the e-mails and anything you wish to say must be written in the e-mail. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached.
The following was actually turned in by two of his English students: Rebecca and Gary.
I heard recently what I considered a reasonable reaction from a couple of older nurses who finally got the farm home they wanted for years.
I knew FS when he was Director of Nursing at a State Hospital.I took each group of students over for a day to tour and hear the history and problems of the hospital.We lost touch for years after a particularly enthusiastic group wrote a Letter to The Editor of a
leading newspaper in the State promoting the lack of interest/funding in the grave situation of the hospital by the State Legislators and Governor.Initially the University applauded both me and the students for their interest.Several days later tho there was a big deal and my resignation and "efforts to censor that group of students" was called for by State Officials both in the paper and to administration.To shorten a long story,which is likely not of much interest,there was no censure.I was leaving at the end of the year anyway but FS was fired.
So I just got my notification from the selection committee…I’m going back to school! I am a little shocked as i have been wondering for quite awhile now if this was even really going to happen, I applied VERY late. So I wasn’t really letting myself get too excited about it all, just in case. In fact, I still need funding otherwise I won’t be able to go…so do feel free to shop with abandon in my store! Anyway, I am all at once; relieved, stunned, freaked out, nervous, excited and thrilled. As some of you know, I have been trying to make a break from my current profession and this is my big escape! However, I would like to freelance while going to school, aiming for that to happen. So if anyone needs any logos designed, books laid out, forms created, business cards etc., just say the word! Goodbye cubicle land! Anyway, I am off to celebrate….! Huzzah!
Now we need to think about how to transport your valuable equipment around, and there are many choices to consider here. The first point to think about is whether to select a hard case or a soft case. Hard cases are more secure and provide better protection (some are even waterproof), but weigh more and are more difficult to transport, although you can find ones with wheels. On the other hand, soft cases are easier to carry, but may not hold as much or provide as much protection for your gear.
Apparently, good food plays a major role in how we like to throw a part-ay.
Filed Under (Vintage) by Jack on 04-07-20084 Jul
Today I turned 23! Brian, as always, totally delivered and threw me a great b-day bash. We started out the day with almond amaretto Belgian waffles. Then came presents. We didn’t have any wrapping paper or even newspaper so throwing jackets and t-shirts over the top of each gift was the perfect solution. (Plus, with no wrapping paper to throw away, it’s eco-friendly!)
Yay for a new blow dryer! The old one was pushin’ five years. And not to say that the other two gifts weren’t fabo presents, but we ultimately decided to return them and put the money towards a sewing machine. After presents, we went bowling and out to lunch at a cute little bakery/cafe in downtown Salem. Brian had a smoked salmon wrap and I had a flat bread pizza with salami, goat cheese, and olives. MMmmm… Even though we were stuffed when we got home, Brian surprised me with amaretto Italian sodas topped with homemade whipped cream. (If you haven’t already taken note, I’m amaretto’s biggest fan.)
We were at the feed store the other day to pick up some scratch grains for the chickens and we noticed some of those large containers with the baby chicks in them. We went up to them to check out the different varieties of chicks they had and to our surprise, we saw a different type of bird: baby ducks!! They were so cute, Todd couldn’t resist taking a few home.
Traveling for business again - Off to Barcelona!
Filed Under (Ramblings) by Jack on 30-06-200830 Jun
When I was little, my father used to tell me stories about the many places he traveled to when he fought in World War II.
Orginally part of the Polish army, he was imprisoned in a concentration camp in Siberia, was released and fought in a tank for the British forces in Africa against Rommel. He also fought in Italy and in France and who knows where else.
He saw the pyramids, the deserts, religious sites in the middle east (now Israel), famous places in Europe.
I’ve been really sick all week, my friends, so I apologize for my lack of enthusiasm in regards to my blog lately!
So on Wednesday of this week (yes, I was sick, but I scrounged up enough energy to get out to a farm!) we decided that we needed to increase our flock a bit. I had seen an ad on Craigslist for Jacob lambs so I figured since Cowboy and Kenzie are both 1/4 jacob, these new lambs would fit in just fine. So we went out to some property in Cheshire (about 45 minutes from us) and instantly fell in love with these adorable sheepies! There were a couple ram lambs and a couple ewe lambs to choose from. We decided to bring the ewes home because they had the softest and most colorful coats. Here they are!
Just a quick update. There are two new videos available to view. You can go directly to the ‘youtube’ pages right now to check them out! first is the video for the song "Pretty" from the new fukachuk egg machine album ‘Small Things’ CLICK HERE to check it out
Also there is a video for the song Leaving the ghost town, blaise kolodychuk on guitar and vocals, terry ramsay on bass and vocals, and elaine boyling on piano. starring the beautiful Elizabeth ‘molly’ Wall. CLICK HERE to check it out!
Ok, so, as you know from my previous post, I was having some problems getting funding from the student loan people…well, they relented and are granting me ’some’ funding…of course not the full years’ tuition. Sooo, I have to come up with that somehow down the line. My art therapy course is amazing and fascinating and also giving my artwork a real jump start because we are expected to do a lot of artwork ourselves every week, we even have a studio class where we paint for about an hour before anything else. I am also in a practicum art therapy group at a hospital and have time to work on some of my own stuff too. So this has been really helpful in kicking me in the pants…imagine painting at 9:00 a.m., amongst a group of people, in a medium you don’t normally use (we can’t use oils because of the smell). I have been experimenting with using the figure in my work, which i have never done before and also painting spontaneously…i suggest Shaun McNiff’s book "Trust the Process" if you have trouble just letting go without putting too much thought into a piece before you start. It gets you out of your head and on to the canvas (love his books, he also has ‘Art Heals’).
What is that mantra that pacifists and ignorant Christians so often quote?
Oh yeah, "those who live by the sword, die by the sword."
But the above mentione idiots have no idea what that verse really means. They often attempt to apply it to our Military Heroes and our Police Heroes.
FOOLS!
I don’t live by the sword, but rather because of it…
The sword of man; to protect, properly applied (O-plied) (ie the Military and Police Heroes).
For those of you who don’t know, the High School Musical movies are totally filmed at my high school: East High. One of my little sisters, Rosie, was even an extra dancer in the first movie which is how she got her big break modeling. East High is truly a magical place. Now they’re in the process of filming #3 and my sister, Hailey, was lucky enough to catch some real Zac Efron basketball action! Read the rest of the story here on her blog.
Children are such great photo subjects, aren’t they? Provided you can keep them still for a nanosecond, that is. Kids that you know well are usually uninhibited around you, particularly if there are a few of them together. This picture of my godson Daniel was taken at one of his birthday celebrations many years ago (he’s now at university!), right after the cake was cut. The cake was barely in his mouth before he was off for a trip on one of his birthday gifts.
