Easter school fair

This year's Easter school fair will take place on April 15, so I figured now is the time to start making decorations and cards with the kids in school. I'm still not sure whether I'm going to participate in the fair, but I'm looking forward to making that stuff. This way I'll have ornaments to decorate my home with on this wonderful day.

The snow has almost completely melted, the temperature has risen, and there's so much positive energy in the air. It seems like winter is finally going away and making room for spring. That's why I brought the flowerpots out of the garage into the garden. The plants are holding just fine considering the fact that they've been locked in a dark place without a single ray of sun for quite a long period of time.

While I was searching the internet looking for some Easter ideas, I ran into these websites:

http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/staff-easter-workshop

              http://swirlydesignsblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/mini-swirly-bunny-how-to.html and 

http://crafts.kaboose.com/holidays/easter/

Here are some ideas for home decoration: 

http://www.marthastewart.com/photogallery/decorating-for-easter?#slide_45

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Contemplating...

It's been more than a month since my last post. I was waiting for the inspiration to come.. I was looking forward to going back to my work, and then, exactly three weeks ago, I got the phone call. I still refuse to believe he's gone. Sometimes I don't really have the time to think about it, and yet, there are times where everything reminds me of him. A TV show, his favourite actor, morning coffee, the fire in the stove, a film, a lesson I teach in my English class, leaky roof, the garage door lock that just doesn't want to lock, his red bike, our two dogs, our cat, our parrot, ham, soda. I find it hard to answer the typical question I'm asked at my work "How are you?". Usually I don't mind at all answering it, but lately that question just seems ridiculous, nonsensical if you like. I would still like to believe that he's taking a really long trip and that he'll come back (home) when he's ready. I know that this is impossible, but I keep hoping.

This morning, I was welcomed with a strong scent of mint in the air when I left the house. Then, somewhere around noon, my boyfriend and I went to the neighboring house to do some gardening. I felt so good to be outside, surrounded by nature, and taking a deep breath of fresh air. I honestly can't remember the last time the air was so fresh. There was something magical in it, something so soothing and healing.

The Grapes of Wrath

I went to the American Corner today. I was shocked to find out that they didn't have Brave New World in the stock nor Judy Blume's book, nor Native Son. The girl working there asked me: Has Aldous Huxley got any Pulitzer Prize lately? Are you sure Judy Blume is an American writer? We keep only books written by American authors, you know.
Man, Huxley died more than 40yrs ago. So, no, he hasn't got any Pulitzer Prize lately. Nor ever. And yes, Blume is an American author. So, what's the deal? You have Hamlet written by an Englishman in your stock.
She told me she could order books I need. All I have to do is to make a wish list. I said, never mind. I've found something from my reading list. I walk out of the library with The Grapes of Wrath. It seems a rather interesting book. And a pretty long one, if you ask me. 617 pages to be more precise.

Sunny day

I woke up to see the trees bathing in sunlight. The sunlight gave me such a surge of energy! I started cleaning my kitchen cabinets and thought about taking my plant pots out of the garage. Hopefully, the light will help them recover. I'm still waiting for my hyacinth to blossom.
I'm going to the market tomorrow to buy a bucket and a mop, and some socks and thighs.One can never have enough socks and underwear. I'll go the bank and then hit the furniture store to buy that book shelf I've so badly wanted.

For the past three days I've been trying to download some photo editing software but it all ended in utter disappointment. I have settled for some online photo editing and collage applications. Here are the results.

Pina of Another Beautiful Day inspired me to start reading again. A year ago I had this huge project on my mind. It involved reading the 100 Best English Language Novels. To be honest, I hated reading all those novels and poems we had to read in college. I would read the synopsis and analysis of a certain poem or a novel for my exams. Most of the time I didn't even know how the cover of the book looked like. I found those novels utterly boring. I hated poems because I couldn't understand what was the message the poet wanted to send to the readers. I would read only the books I had to present in front of the class. I remember reading Mill on the Floss by George Eliot. It took me ages to read it but I managed to read it on time and I liked it a lot.

I read every book on our reading list from two courses: Contemporary Australian Prose and Postmodern American Novel. I took me two additional years to get my degree so I had plenty of time for reading. I couldn't understand the term 'Postmodernism' the way it was present to us in our course. After doing extensive research on the internet, reading articles about literature, art, sociology etc. I finally began to understand what it was all about. 

Doing those two courses really helped me develop the sense for criticism. It's not that I'll be needing it very soon.

So inspiring!

I discovered Geninne D. Zlatkis' blog yesterday. I love her illustrations, hand carved stamps and embroidery patterns. After looking at her illustrations, I got such an inspiration for drawing and painting even though I suck at drawing. Maybe I'll draw something similar on the walls of our bedroom, or I'll embroider something on my pillows.

Geninne's Art on Facebook