A light at the end of the tunnel.

Three weeks of school left. Count 'em, three! It's weird. Normally I'm totally burnt out by now. I'm not this year--at least not in terms of teaching the kids. I am for other reasons, however. This past week was busy as I had my spring concert and all that goes with that. Now for the next 3 weeks I will be grading, putting away stuff, cleaning my huge school closet etc. etc. June 13 won't come a day too soon.

I have begun getting ready for summer. My attention has turned to the outside. I went to Behnke Nursery and got annuals for some of my planters. So far, here are some of the goodies:



So far, I've done the two stand planters on the deck and the two concret urns in front. I also planted some basil, Italian parsley, curled parsley and cilantro in the herb pots. The flowers on the steps are for the pots in front and for the 4 hanging baskets I have on the deck. I still need to find coco mats. Everyone around here seems to be out of the size I need! I also got two gorgeous Fuschias!

I've decided that I'm going to spend some time this summer cleaning out my flower beds. I did survey my irises last week and cut some for the family room.

Some years ago, I planted a number of gorgeous rose bushes behind the irises. I've neglected them over the last few years. I need to get in there and prune them all to see what is still surviving. I couldn't resist this beauty when I was cutting the irises:



I took several photos in an attempt to capture the beauty and size of this rose. It is stunning! It measured about 6 inches across. It is the Peace rose.
I found photos online of some of the other rose varieties that I've planted. In order they are Double Delight, Brandy, French Lace and Blue Ribbon.




There are others, but these are my favorites. I used to come home all stressed and walk over to the roses and just gaze. It totally destressed me! There is a small pink rose bush that has a story with it, but I will save that for another time.

I've done very little knitting this week. I did receive the Handmaiden Double Sea for Labyrinth:


I am making the short sleeved version, but I am lengthening the sleeves to be elbow length.

I found 3 cute patterns on Ravelry. One is a baby sweater which is knit seamless.

I just purchased the pattern for the sweater. I may end up getting the one for the pants too. There is an adult tank by the same designer that I purchased as well:

The last pattern is called the Leaf T. It is a seamless top down and it can be found on Ravelry.

I'm thinking that I would like to do that one in a cotton or silk with 3/4 length sleeves. I also think it needs a little ribbing at the neck to keep it from rolling.

I went shopping with Ems to help her find a dress for my nephew's wedding. We ended up at Marshall's where she found a gorgeous teal blue silk sheath dress by Calvin Klein. It is really elegant. I found a cute little cotton dress. It is made out of creamy goldenrod colored cotton batiste and the bodice and hem are edged with hand crocheted trim. It is reminiscent of a 1950's dress.


I love 50's dresses and I have a few nice ones. I sold a bunch of mine on Ebay after I gained weight, but I did keep the premium ones! Hopefully I'll be able to get into them by the end of the summer!

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be winding down school and planning all my summer projects. The first thing I undertake every summer is to totally clean my house. Basically it is my spring cleaning a couple of months behind schedule.

That's it for now! Hopefully, I'll have knitting to show in my next post!

Bushism of the day:
"We look forward to hearing your vision, so we can more better do our job. That's what I'm telling you." --George W. Bush, Gulfport, Miss., Sept. 20, 2005

Kitty Cam: Samantha checks out the new flowers on the dining room table.