Mystery Box

…..this year a parent from my school gifted me a box of plants

The problem is I don’t know what I’ve planted in my garden. The only plant that I’m familiar with is the succulent. I’m hoping if I post some photos of my newly acquired treasures some of my followers will be able to enlighten me as to what I have.

This is the box that the plants came in.

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The plant on top is the one I’m most curious about. I’ve planted it an area with partial in the morning and full sunlight in the afternoon.

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Any ideas as to what I have? I’ll post photos of the others when they become a little more established in my garden.

 

Share Your World 2014 – Week 26

….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.

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.IMG_0372

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/

School’s Out but I’m Back Next Week

…..just couldn’t finish in the library

Normally the children are finished with school one day before the teachers but this year everyone had to stay in school right up to Friday. The last day for teachers is usually a clean-up day where teachers put away as much as possible so that the care taking staff can do a thorough cleaning in the summer.

Many of us found it very difficult to get our rooms to that point and despite staying for a couple of hours after the children had left some of us need to come back next week to continue with the purging and tidying. In the library I had one extra job that needed doing this year. I’m having new carpet tiles put down and in order for the workers to move the free standing shelves and the book carousels I had to empty them all and box the books again (same job as last year). I had children in all day who tried to help me with this task and we still didn’t finish.

As I wrote earlier the last two weeks of school have been very busy and stressful. I’ve mentioned before that stress and weight gain go hand in hand for me. Not only that but all week children and parents have been bringing in chocolates, cupcakes and cookies. We had a pizza lunch with the book club, a BBQ with the grade 5s, our staff party and our principal treated us to breakfast (muffins, Danishes, bagels, croissants) all in the same week. IMG_20140626_193926-2

This morning I put myself on the scale thinking that I had gained back all the weight I had lost recently plus more. I did gain four of the five pounds that I had lost but I was relieved that it wasn’t more. Now that most of my stress has been lifted for the summer I’m hoping to get back on track and drop all the weight that I’ve gained this winter.

I started the morning with a healthy breakfast and then went for an eight kilometre bike ride.photo 2-200 photo 1-201 For the rest of the day I’m going do some gardening, get out for a walk and drink lots of water. I’m also hoping to get  up to the cottage this weekend to open the place up and then I’ll come back to finish up in the library. With any luck I should be able to get the job done in one day.

Flower of the Day – June 22 – Rose

….I wish I could say that this beautiful rose is from my garden but alas it’s not

On our walk this morning I came across numerous beautiful flowers to share with you this week. My neighbourhood is a haven of gorgeous gardens. My poor peony plant still hasn’t opened completely. In fact at the moment it is looking rather sad. Hopefully in a day or two the blooms will erupt to their full potential.

Three block over the house on the corner lot is awash in pink roses.

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Ode to my Pine

…..first you see it, well what’s left of it

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…..and then little by little over the next four hours it starts to come down

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….until nothing is left but a bit of saw dust

photo 2-196….and now my view has completely changed

photo 1-198 Thirty five years ago

you were barely three feet high

You grew wide and tall

Your lower branches spread across the lawn

and encroached on the neighbour’s roof

trimming was a necessity but you continued to grow

until you shot above our two story house

You were home to birds, squirrels and racoons

You provided shade and nourished the soil

I cursed your shedding needles but

you always stayed green season after season

Your demise was swift, we barely saw it coming

Sun shines where before you provided shade

and our view is forever changed

Farewell dear tree