Retirement

March 26, 2018

So...people keep asking me how I'm enjoying retirement. They don't say, "How is retirement?" They say, "How are you enjoying retirement?" Why do people assume that we will enjoy retirement?  Don'y get me wrong...I LOVE IT!  Still it's an interesting distinction, I think.  Maybe people ask how I'm enjoying it because they imagine how they will enjoy their own, or maybe they hate their jobs and yearn for when they no longer have to put up with them.  I don't know.  My son is so funny, though.  In one breath he says that he can't wait to be retired (he's only 34), and in the other breath, he says that he couldn't stand to just sit around all day.  I quickly explain that I don't just sit around all day.  Certain obligations continue until death, I suppose...cleaning, laundry, yard work.  In addition to those, I can  now stay up as late as I want and get up when I want.  I have time to do all the reading, sewing, and paper crafting that I want.  I can visit and travel, or I can just sit on the front porch with my coffee, cats, and dogs and just chill.  It's a wonderful life, and I praise God for it. And I've had time to start painting again.

Retirement Ahead

     Today, I sit here contemplating my retirement after 30 years of teaching English to junior high students.  I will retire in just thirty-four school days.  It is so strange to know that I will no longer be ruled by the alarm clock, the lesson plan, or the stack of papers and notebooks to grade.  I will no longer have anyone telling me that I have to be somewhere at a certain time.  That's a strange thought to know that NO one will have any control over my time but me.

     My  life has always been measured in semesters.  How strange to know that now my life will be  measured in days, or weeks, or months.  Maybe it will be measured by seasons or by rainy days.  Maybe it will be measured by how long a stack of wood lasts, or by how many times I mow.  Maybe it will be measured in how many books I read, or how many pages I scrap.  Maybe it will be measured by how many things I knit or crochet.

     I don't know how this new life will be.  I've always worked.  I'm both excited and scared.  There is always the possibility that this will be too much freedom, too little structure.  We'll see.

So, I'm slowly preparing myself mentally for the summer to be over and for school to start again.  I love school, but I really hate to see my lazy days go away.  The thought that I want to share today is a quote from Maya Angelou:

             "You can't use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have."

I hope to instill that in my students this year.

Tart Tins

Greetings on this hot June day.  After toiling in my yard for several hours, I came in, cleaned up, and decided that I needed to do something crafty.  I wish I could take credit for this cute thing, but I can't.  Someone at Jenni Bowlin Studios came up with this idea, and I modified it.
I used one of Jenni's Tart Tin sets, an old tart tin for the bottom, two spools, and one of my toy pegs from when I was little. I glued everything together with 1/2 inch dimensional Zots by Thermoweb, and then used some Prima flowers.  They don't make these flowers anymore, but you could use any that you liked or none at all. The ones of the bottom tier aren't glued in, but the top two are.  I don't know what I will do with this...set it on my desk, I suppose.

I thought about hanging my french hook feather earrings from the tins...I might...I don't know.

Anyway, happy crafting with whatever you craft!

This is too funny!  And Ich liebe Deutsch auch , but I think it's funny. 

Isn't this amazing?  It was taken this morning by Bill Hanna in Ft. Smith, AR. The glory of God is revealed all around us if we're just ready to take it in.

I suppose this is one of my favorite pictures of me.  It is so whimsical.  It was made in a children's sculpture park in St. Louis in 2006.
I don't know what it is about me that loves the whimsical...part of my on-going quest to not take myself too seriously, I suppose.

My first mobile blog post!

Creativity

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately (like for the past 9 or 10 months) about art journaling and book making...you know, not betting, but making handmade books:).  I'm thinking that if I do a couple of things every day that I will stay sane and feel more fulfilled somehow.  I don't mean that I don't feel fulfilled now, but I need outlets...creative, intellectual, spiritual.

So, here are my resolutions for each day:
1.  Pray and devote time to God
2.  Read
3.  Do something artsy: scrapbook, paint, artjournal, etc.

Did you notice that house cleaning didn't seem to make it to the list? :)

My Tree

This is a tree I made using a KaiserCraft chipboard kit.  I love the way it turned out.  It was designed to be a family tree, but I just made it for a decorative element.  Currently, it's in my living room on top of my antique blanket chest.  I just love it.

The Hands That
Waved Farewell

by Patricia Goedicke

Hands that have waved farewell
Meaning, we will meet again,

Cities I had thought lost forever
That have returned to me,

Sooner or later I will see them again, the mountains
The white coffee cup beside my plate

Steaming in the cold, as suddenly solid
As the most miraculous happening

In the whole world, it is a gift
That is given to everyone, yes

Everyone:
The patterns of our lives

Repeat themselves, like the old woman
Who keeps looking into your eyes from a window

Right next to the tracks as the train passes
On its way to forgotten farmhouses,

The strict pine trees of New Hampshire
Like night watchmen in the snow . . .

For me it was a small town in Mexico
Flamboyant, full of flowers

Lying on a hillside with the moon
And bittersweet stars in its hair

But for me also it was the one man,
I did not recognize,

At every turning point in my life
Like a small pony he would be standing there

Like an armchair with a cello in it, or a brook
He kept beckoning to me like the sun

Or a coffee cup, full of warmth
Until I accepted him, so that now

In the thick snows of New Hampshire,
In the dry deserts of Mexico

Over and over I keep finding them
Rustling in the wind like leaves,

Like growth rings in the book of trees
Hands that have waved farewell,

Cities I had thought lost forever
That have returned to me.

A card I just made for a cousin's graduation.

I have no idea how to post this right side up.  If anyone does, please tell me.:)