Share Your World 2014 – Week 26

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….now we are truly at the half way mark into the year

Is your refrigerator, organized or a mess inside?

It depends on the day. Of course after I clean it, it’s organized and I try to keep it that way. My husband, however, does a lot of the shopping and he doesn’t always check to see what’s already in there. Consequently we have doubles and even triples of condiments and vegetables. Even if he does check he often doesn’t see what’s near the back of the fridge. So some days it looks a tad messy in there.

If you could be famous for one thing, what would it be?

If I could be famous, I’d like to be a famous artist, preferably while I’m alive.

An earlier attempt at collage.

What one thing have you not done that you really want to do?

I’d love to have my own art show. I was suppose to have a show at a community arts centre several years ago but because of politics, the group that I was working with was kicked out of the time slot that we had booked to make way for a more established group of artists who were also on the board of directors. The experience left me with a bad taste in my mouth and I haven’t booked another show since.

Where do you eat breakfast?

I try to eat my breakfast at the kitchen table. If I’m running late I’ll take my breakfast with me or stop at the local Tim Horton’s and pick up some oatmeal. Once I get to school I sit down in the staffroom to quietly enjoy my meal before my classes begin. Now that the weather is nice I sometimes eat my breakfast out on the deck both at home and at the cottage.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful that school is out and I can now focus on my fitness and weight goals once more. Even though I have to go back in this week to tidy up some more and pack away more books I’ll be able to do it without having children around to supervise.

I’m looking forward to spending time up at the cottage. I haven’t opened up yet and finding someone to go with me this weekend was impossible (too much going on in the city). I’m also looking forward to having my hair cut and my feet pampered before I go.

For more posts about Share Your World check out Cee’s blog at: http://ceenphotography.com/2014/06/30/share-your-world-2014-week-26/

A Crazy Week

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..so much has happened at school this week and we’ve got more to go before signing off for the summer

If anyone tells you that nothing happens in the last month of school don’t believe them. This week alone (the last week of school) we’ve had rehearsals for the grade 5 farewell, the actual farewell assembly, the book club’s all day activity event for 50 students, field trips into the community, training for next years Peace Keepers, the kindergarten play day and final printing of the report cards.

Yesterday I emceed the farewell assembly for the grade 5s in the afternoon and then spent time after school getting the materials ready for today’s Forest of Reading Extravaganza. In the morning we split up the group of 50 children into two groups and sent one group to the drama workshop and the other group stayed with me for the book making workshop. After recess the boys and girls rotated to their second activity so that everyone had an opportunity to participate in both activities. After the morning activities we served them pizza, water and Freezies and the staff that helped us all year as expert readers joined us for lunch.

When lunch was over we had Allan Stratton who is the author of Curse of the Dream Witch come to the school for an hour to read to and talk to the children about being an author. The children asked him wonderful questions without any prompting from their teachers and he skillfully kept the children engaged with his many personal anecdotes about writing and how they could become writers.

After the last recess of the day some of the children returned to their classrooms but many stayed behind to finish their handmade books. There was a fair bit of cleaning that needed to be done but the grade 5s were more interested in getting their yearbooks signed. I’d put them off all day while the activities were going on so during the last period of the day I gave in and signed most of their books.

It’s been pouring rain since I’ve left school and it hasn’t stopped for over five hours. I’m afraid that it might affect tomorrow’s play day at school and the grade 5’s excursion to the pool and the park for lunch tomorrow. I’m not sure if I’m going to that but I think that the teachers who get prep from me tomorrow were given their time today. If all goes as planned we will go swimming in the morning, go to the park for a barbecue lunch and then head over to the golf course for a round of mini putt.

After school we have our staff party at the home of our gym teacher. It is usually our last day with the students but this year we all have to return to school on Friday. I suspect that many of the students won’t show up especially since they get their report cards on Thursday. On Friday we have an assembly in the morning and in the afternoon teachers will be madly trying to straighten up their classes with their students present. It should be an interesting day.

I have a feeling that I will be going into school next week to tidy up the library. As much as the students want to help me it often ends up being more messy than when we started.

Cheers!

Share Your World – 2014 Week 25

Posted on June 23, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..almost half way into the year….yikes, where does the time go?

What is your favorite type of dog? (can be anything from a specific breed, a stuffed animal, drawing, cartoon or character in a movie or TV show)

As much as I love our current dog, Frances, I’d have to say that my favourite breed of dog is the Golden Retriever. Before adopting Frances we owned 2 Goldens over a 23 year period. Our first dog died way too soon, just before she turned eight and our second Golden lived to be 15 years and 40 days old. My husband says now that the Goldens were my dogs and that Frances is his.

This is Scully at the cottage when she was 15 years old. As you can see she only has one eye. She lost her eye when she was only two but it certainly didn’t slow her down. She hated having her picture taken and would usually run away when she saw the camera. I suspect in her last year or two her sight in her one eye was starting to fail.

Frances is a mixed breed of Dachshund and Australian Shepherd.

Name one thing not many people know about you.

It’s a weird thing to admit but I have a deathly fear of bears. I’ve never had an encounter with a bear or even seen one from a distance. My sister thinks it has to do with a book our Aunt gave us when we were kids about bear attacks. Last year a family of bears swam across the lake and now live on the island where our cottage is. I’m actually afraid to go for walks in the woods now.

Have you ever gone scuba diving? If you haven’t, would you want to?

I’ve never been scuba diving but if I went to a sunny island in the Caribbean I would probably like to try it.

What was the most important event in your life last week? (anything goes it can be a good nights sleep, finished a reading book,winning the lottery, or getting married)

Last week was extremely busy and I had a lot of late nights. For two nights in a row I didn’t get home until 9:30 and 10:30 and on one of those nights I couldn’t sleep right away so I stayed up and painted and didn’t get to bed until 2:00 in the morning. The following day I went to lie down right after dinner because I was feeling a little off and I didn’t wake up until after midnight. I changed out of my clothes and into my PJs and surprisingly fell asleep without any difficulty. I woke up shortly after six in the morning. Sleeping for over ten hours on a school night and finally getting the rest I needed was the most important event of last week.

One of the paintings I was working on.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful that my daughter went into school with me on the weekend and helped me clean up my art area and part of the library. She also helped me organize the children’s prizes from the Jump Rope for Heart activity and together we took down all the art work around the school and returned it to the different classrooms. I knew that if I didn’t get it done on the weekend I’d be in big trouble this week. There is so much going on at school this week that I needed to get those jobs done ahead of time.

I’m looking forward to the end of school on Friday and to our staff party on Thursday night. Normally the children are finished one day before the teachers are but this year both students and teachers work right till the end of the week.

For more Share Your World posts check out: http://ceenphotography.com/2014/06/23/share-your-world-2014-week-25/

Share Your World 2014 – Week 23

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….a lot of questions involving tight spaces

Would your rather be stuck in a small plane with mild turbulence for 2 hours or be a passenger in a car racing the Daytona 500?

This is a difficult question because I dislike any kind of turbulence on a plane and I suspect a small plane would be worse but I also would not be a good passenger in a racing car. I would constantly be stepping on the imaginary brake, hanging on to the overhead strap for dear life and covering my eyes for most of the race. If I had to choose I think I would take the small plane. At least I might enjoy the aerial views of the landscape below.

Would you rather be alone with nobody in the vicinity for one month or never be alone not even for a minute for one month?

Again another difficult question. I enjoy moments of solitude but I also like being around people. If I was well stocked and had plans to be very productive for one month I might enjoy that more than never having a moment to myself. At the very least I’d need a phone so that I could talk to loved ones and friends once in awhile just to make sure everyone is well.

Would you like to sleep in a human size nest in a tree or be snuggled in a burrowed spot underground?

Definitely in a human size nest in a tree. I remember watching the movie Swiss Family Robinson as a kid and I thought it would be really neat to live in the trees. I like the thought of being able to see who’s approaching the nest, the openness and fresh air and the breeze that would waft through the branches. Underground would be too claustrophobic and the air would be stale and damp.

In a car would you rather drive or be a passenger?

It depends on the situation and who’s driving. I like driving but on long trips I enjoy being able to sit back and take in the scenery. My husband very much dislikes driving in the city now so there are times when I would rather drive than listen to his complaints about the traffic.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I am grateful that I’ve finished writing my comments for the report cards. This is probably one of my least favourite things in the world to do. I’m also grateful for time spent with old friends last week.

I’m looking forward to this week’s soccer game where the girls are competing for the city championships. I’ve been there a few times but we’ve never managed to secure the title. I’m also looking forward to catching up on the painting assignments that I’ve had to put on the back burner because of report card writing and numerous social engagements that took place last week.

Here are a few things I would enjoy if I had a month alone.

Reading the collection of books that I bid on at the silent auction.

Puttering around in the garden and enjoying the fruits of my labour.

Painting, painting, painting. These are the first two assignments out of 4 from lesson one. Lesson four arrived today. I have a lot of catching up to do.

For those of you who read my post from Saturday you might be interested in knowing that we went back the next day to the yard sale and bought the mandolin. It’s a beauty and we got it for a good price.

For more answers to this week’s Share Your World check out Cee’s blog http://ceenphotography.com/2014/06/09/share-your-world-2014-week-23/

Crazy Flowers

Posted on June 5, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..produced by my grade 3s

This time of year I’m always looking for art projects that are easy to learn and quick to finish. Carla Sonnheim has come up with a great tutorial that shows you how to create this fabulous art.http://www.carlasonheim.com/abstracted-flowers/ It incorporates watercolour, gesso, sgraffito and stippling.

The kids loved it. Here are a few examples of this fabulous art projects.

Two Down and One Big One to Go

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..paintings that is

Today the grade 5 students in my art class managed to finish painting all the circles and background of their art project for the silent auction. After school I started putting a second coat on some of the areas that needed it. Tomorrow I’ll pull a few more students out of class to go over the background one more time and then I’ll redraw the black lines around and inside the circles.

The two canvases that the one grade three class designed and painted had the finishing touch ups done today. Tomorrow I’ll have all the students sign the back of the canvases and they will be good to go. The first one actually has a grey background. I’m not sure why the colour looks so beige.

Share Your World – 2014 Week 21

Posted on May 27, 2014 by Mama Cormier

….these are the toughest questions yet

If you could make a 15 second speech to the entire world, what would you say?

This is the only world we have. Love it, look after it and keep it safe for the next generation. Love yourself and your fellow man. Be generous with your time and share your knowledge to create a better world. Use your words to solve problems, not weapons. There is no place for hate in this world. Be kind.

If you could take a photograph, paint a picture or write a story of any place in the world, what and where would it be?

I have no idea. There are so many great photographers and travel writers and subsequent photographs and stories of magnificent places in the world that the work has already been done for me. Maybe a better question would be what would I like to see first hand. Even this question is difficult for me because there is so much I haven’t seen. Off the top of my head I’d like to see Machu Picchu, the Pyramids of Giza, the Coliseum in Rome, Stonehenge and the canals of Venice.

If you had to spend one weekend alone in a single store but could remove nothing, which store would you pick?

I thought this question would be fun to answer and then I read that I couldn’t remove anything. Does that include gourmet goodies and bakery delights. I am spending the weekend there after all and one does need to eat. Seeing that I have to sleep there I’m thinking about a department store that sells beds, comfy chairs so that I can curl up and read and exercise equipment so that I can get in a bit of a workout.

I would want to try on shoes to my heart’s content and pull designer clothes from the racks to see if they suit me and are comfortable to wear. Of course I would return everything to its rightful place and leave everything no worse for wear. In Canada I would choose Holt Renfrew and in the U.S., Saks Fifth Avenue.

If you were given a boat or yacht today, what would you name it? (You can always sell the yacht later)

Owning a boat is not high on my priority list so I haven’t given much thought to naming one. How about ‘Get Me Home Safely’ or ‘Slow and Steady Wins the Race’. As you can see I’m a bit of a nervous Nelly when it comes to riding in a boat, especially at high speeds. I’ve always been amazed at how much time and money it takes just to get a boat onto the water and then again when one returns (more fuel, repairs, docking fees, on going maintenance, etc.). Maybe a good name would be ‘This is Where My Money Goes’ or ‘Four Hours of Prep for One Hour of Enjoyment’. To all boat lovers I apologize for my sarcastic response.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful that the girls won all four of their games at the soccer tournament last week. I’m also grateful that the weather was so warm this weekend that the flowers actually started to bloom and I was able to really clean up the front garden.

I’m really pleased that my rhododendron survived the winter and blessed us with some blooms this spring. My Dad’s aren’t nearly as bountiful.

This week I’m looking forward to finishing up the art projects for the silent auction. It’s being held this Saturday at the Fun Fair. Also Jump Rope for Heart is this Friday and so is the playoffs for Girls’ Soccer. It’s going to be a busy week.

For more great posts of Share Your World check out Cee’s Photography.

Update on the Paintings for the Silent Auction

Posted on May 22, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..one is almost finished and the other is just started

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. Assemblies, trips to feeder schools, soccer tournaments, field trips and a school council meeting. The grade 3s abstract painting is undergoing a second coat and will be finished by the end of the week. The grade 5 project has been delayed because the class missed art one week and this week I was at the soccer tournament with the grade 4/5 girls (we won by the way) when the same class had art. When I saw the class in their library period last week I told them I was taking inspiration from previous projects they had done and applying some of their designs onto our massive set of canvases.

Today some of the students asked if they could help start the project after school. I had painted up a rough copy of what the project might look like and most of the class liked what they saw. We agreed to keep the background one colour and I’ll conference with a small group to decide on the other colours. One of the girls from the class was able to stay for quite awhile and together we drew the design onto the canvases and I started painting the background.

Hopefully I’ll be able to take a small group at a time out of class to work on the project. Ideally I’d like every student to paint a portion of the project. If you can’t tell from the photo the entire piece is quite large. There are four canvases measuring about six feet in length.

I also introduced a new project to my grade 3 art classes today. Carla Sonheim gives a free tutorial on how to paint crazy flowers using watercolours, gesso and pencil. It’s a fun project and very textural.

Getting Ready for the Silent Auction

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..all the classes in the school are preparing an item to be sold at this year’s Fun Fair

For the 15th Anniversary of our annual Fun Fair the parents have asked all the teachers to prepare an art piece to be auctioned off at the Silent Auctions on May 31st. Since I teach art a couple of the teachers asked me to help them come up with something for their classes.

My grade 3 class agreed to come up with some designs for a simple abstract piece where every child in the glass would have a section that they could paint. One student had finished all his work and set about to come up with a plan. When he finished the class agreed that they wanted to use his design and apply it to the 24 x 24 inch canvas.

On painting day we looked at the paints and changed the original colour scheme. We mixed colours and tried them out side by side. We finally decided to use grey, white, yellow green and fuchsia. Here is where we started and how far we’ve come. Next week we’ll finish this project and maybe even start a second one.

Share Your World 2014 – Week 18

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Mama Cormier

…..another set of great questions from Cee

What object do you always have with you when traveling and why?

I always have my camera with me. I love recording all the wonderful sights that I see and being able to share my experiences with family and friends when I come home again. In fact I’m never without my camera, regardless of where I am.

What subject would you like to study in depth, if given the time to do so?

I would study art in depth. I’ve learned over the last few years that there is so much that I don’t know about the art world. I would also like to try new and different art techniques, such as encaustic painting. I’ve been considering going back to university when I retire and study art just for fun or at least take a lot of courses from experts in a variety of fields.

Which would you prefer: a wild, turbulent life filled with joy, sorrow, passion, and adventure–intoxicating successes and stunning setbacks; or a contented bordering on happy, secure, predictable life surrounded by friends and family without such wide swings of fortune and mood?

This is a tough question. When I was younger I would probably have chosen the first option but as I get older I’m happy to live a contented life. Family and friends are more important to me than ‘wild, turbulent’ adventure and who needs stunning setbacks at this stage in life. I think I would like the best of both options. A life filled with joy, passion and some adventure while being happy and secure in the company of family and friends.

What are your favorite spices?

My favourite spice is cinnamon and most spices that complement it, such as ginger, cardamon, allspice, cloves and nutmeg. Is that too many? I love ginger cookies, spice cake, chai tea, mulled wine and spicy apple crisp.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I’m grateful that my oral gum surgery went well and that the recovery has been a breeze. I’m looking forward to having the dressing removed and being able to eat more than soft bland food. I’m also looking forward to spending time with my daughters and their significant others on the weekend for Mother’s Day.

For more Share Your World stories go to Cee’s Photography