This was a very pleasant 4-day weekend, with movies, BBQ, and some projects – with lovely SoCal weather! We went over to Pasadena to catch the last day of “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Friday – excellent Swedish murder mystery. Unfortunately, there will now be an American version which will turn a tightly wound suspense story into a star vehicle with oversized budget. We also watched “Red Cliff” at home – at least the first part of this recent John Woo historic (280 AD) Chinese war movie. It’s a 2-disc Netflix and now we have to wait for disc 2! Then we also watched “The Messenger”, an appropriate Memorial Wknd. story of “casualty notifiers” – well done but too long: would have been better shorter. And last night we finally watched “You Don’t Know Jack” about Kervorkian – another good film but also too long – the pacing dragged the last hour. So there you have my reviews!!

Yesterday I cleaned up my office quite a bit – bought 3 large clear plastic bins to store the piles of stuff under my work table and now it looks so much better. I was even inspired to do some sewing: made canvas covers for the $1 lounge chairs that have some rips!

And today we decided to do a drive up to local campgrounds but discovered that Angeles Crest is closed – either from the fires or floods – so we just explored the foothill communities from La Canada to Sunland and had a nice stroll in a pine-shaded park. Now I have to get my head around returning to school tomorrow – haven’t been in the classroom in 5 days since we had the beach field trip on Thursday! Just did my schedule for the week and it is going to be stressful trying to push the kids to finish their projects before finals! We have AOAT Awards on Friday – this year is screeching to the end!

Images for this entry are the drawing class “Fauve Landscapes” – wild colors in oil pastels…

It seems extra sad to be remembering our war veterans with two wars even now in progress. I am thankful for our brave troops, but wish they could come home…when will there be a peaceful world with so much economic inequity and religious radicalism? The outlook is not bright.

And so my drawing students instead look just beyond their noses and create books about their chosen artist, any artist about whom they could find enough info to write a biography and whose works they wished to copy. Some were very strong this year – and this entry presents a gallery of selections…

The end of a school year always brings lots of extra activities: parties, trips, awards, projects. Friday after school was our AOAT senior BBQ at Lake Balboa park. The Art Club leaders put it together and the food and fun was full-on: burgers and bacon-wrapped hot dogs, flag football and a moon-bounce! Too bad not all the seniors opted to come – but the 35 or so who did had a great time.

Today I helped paint and supervise a mural at school – part of a patio makeover organized by one of my 10th graders as his Scout Eagle Project. We had a good crew – most of his troop, their parents, plus some students – and got it almost finished! His mom brought in lunch for everyone, and I worked from 8 a.m. until 1:30, leaving quite a few kids still painting the wall and assembling new tables for the area. The 12th grade artist who drew the design was there all day mixing colors and directing the kids, then she was going to paint the black outlines herself to complete the piece. I hope it can stay free of vandalism, but the tagging scourge has been escalating lately on campus, and this area is just a wall away from the teacher parking lot out of sight and easily scaled…

Tomorrow I am attending the annual Giving Circle meeting that chooses one or two of our AOAT graduates for a scholarship which they fund-raise for. There were some really good student essays with the applications this year, so it may be hard to decide the recipients. So much school – not much weekend!

Yesterday was my father’s 91st birthday – salutations, Papa San!! I’m so lucky to have both my parental guides still on earth, still on point to support me with their example and their love. I’ve always said I have a guardian angel, but maybe it’s just been their protective spirits all along that have kept me safe…

Today begins the countdown to break at 4 weeks of teaching – then finals and last grades and HURRAY!! Summer release…the teacher’s mental health insurance. I don’t know how the majority of working folks survive without summer vacation to keep them sane. This year will be the shortest break for lausd because we are changing the calendar in fall, starting mid-August instead of the usual post-Labor Day. Still gives us almost two months to recharge and rejuvenate.

The photos in this entry include the “rural” scene as I arrived at school recently – horses passing our parking lot! Families on the block also raise goats and chickens and most days I hear a cockle-doodle-do as I pull in to work. It gives me a smile and a sense of timelessness that jump starts the morning. Also pictured is the blooming succulent that we inherited from our neighborhood – these giant flowers are as large as my hand, but only last a day or two. They are easy to propagate, though: I just break off branches and stick in dirt and they grow!

The last image is Cathy’s latest creation: world peas dolls! She sent me one yesterday and it also gives me a smile, dressed in my favorite colors and wearing fortunes and charms (hear no evil!). Soon we’ll be art-making together in the mountains – come on, Summer!!

It’s been a quiet, relaxing day shared with hubbie and no offspring. Miss the girls, but they checked in. Called my folks and had a nice chat with them – Daddy turns 91 next Saturday! I got all my “have to’s” done this weekend, with time left for my “want to’s”: breakfast out, shopping foray to Target, some outdoor sprucing (see photos!). Target had chair pads for gardens on sale so we scored two for the wooden seats that Charlie gave us, and on the way home we stopped up the block at our neighbor’s yard sale and snagged the two loungers for $1 each!! Bought some blooming kalanchoes at the 99¢ store yesterday and potted them today with some bits of succulents from around the yard. Voila! Ready for a party, if we can just find some new tablecloths for the rounds.

We are all so ready for school to be out – kids are getting rowdy and teachers less motivated. Lots of changes in store for next year, including maybe moving classrooms. Stay tuned for developments! I’m just eager to jump on a plane – time to get out of town!