Dogs and Dunes

Today on Easter we took a ride to the beach.  The dog, like us, has had pretty bad cabin fever.  When I walk him on the leash, it seems like I can never walk far enough to wear him out before I get worn out.  When I walk him in the Town Forest, he sometimes gets nippy with other dogs and he's already far away from me, so I am doing the run of shame, holding the leash, shouting his name, trying to get him to stop.

We've had a bad winter, let's just say.  So when my husband said he would come and take the brunt of any unpleasant doggie activity...I was very happy.  We kept him on the leash until he got used to the dogs coming up and sniffing and there was no growling to be heard.
 
 
And then what do you know...he was so DARNED HAPPY just to be out in a wide open space, he just galloped and galloped and played and played with all of the other four-legged furry friends and we had not a hint of trouble.  That is his bone just thrown, perpendicular in the air, LOL, go get it Bono!

Recently we've had some pounding coastal storms that have even taken out houses in a couple of beach communities.  Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester had a lot of beach erosion.  About 1/3 of the bridge got torn away.  When standing flat on the beach, the dunes were way over my head showing just how much sand was lost.

This wooden boardwalk is partially covered with sand many feet before the beach - which is in the foreground of the photo.

This pile of debris was pushed to the side by a backhoe filled with lots unpleasant non-beachy stuff like tangled bits of rope, paper bags, broken beach pails, etc.

But this being one of the prettiest beaches in Massachusetts and certainly one that carries so many memories on its shoreline, it will always have a fan in me.  And since this kid was knee-high to a grasshopper he's been going to the beach.  Now he's up to his father's shoulder.  Yikes, I did not really notice until today.  He's going through one of these mad growth spurts where every day he wakes up taller.
 
We all get bumped and bruised in life...a little dusting off and rebuilding and before you know it...ahhh, it will smell like coconut suntan lotion and we'll be grabbing an Italian ice once again.

Easter Mosaic

This year the colored eggs lasted only one day before being eaten.  Hey, as long as I got a pretty picture, I'd rather they are lunch today than hanging around for a week.

But when the eggshells were all left on a napkin, I was completely taken with how pretty they were even broken apart. 

An eggshell mosaic.  Beauty is all around us!

Another Snow Day

By March 19th, the thrill of another snow day is slightly tempered.  Now the 6th grader is full-on worried about how long they will have to go to school in June.  How many days will be added on?? he frets!

This time one of the college boys is home to help.  Thank you Brady.  That is until he gets on a bus to visit a friend in New York which he did about 30 minutes later.  We'll see him again in three days, for another two days, then he'll fly back to school.  It feels kind of hollow for a little bit after they leave and then life fills the space.  Just like I have heard it would.

Goodness, gracious, great balls of snow!

Back inside we took to organizing our new cabinet space. Oh this new cabinet space is quite a story.  I will get to that in another post, because it really deserves it's very own post.

I did the movies.  All lined up in neat little rows. Ah, the Virgo in me is very pleased with this new order.

Then I made giant cookies.

Then I watched "Giada at Home" where she made a lovely picnic for her husband and daughter to share on the Malibu shore while I also watched the rest of the afternoon snow falling down.
They say Spring is Thursday.  Ok, then.  Whatever they say.

Crafty Project of the Week - Colored Rice

I have now taught nine painting classes to almost 30 children.  So I am finding myself always in search of the next great painting/crafty project while keeping within my budget.  I saw this great idea where you color rice an the students layer it like sand art.

You can use either rubbing alcohol or vinegar as a "sticking agent" for the food coloring to the rice.  The recipe I saw said the rubbing alcohol smells a little less than vinegar, so I chose to use that.

I used a 10 lb. bag of rice for a class of 10 students and I could have used even more.  They all gravitated to the color green and that bag of rice was gone first ; )  There are more girls in this class so I made a lot of pink.  That'll teach me.

Although the first half of the class was finishing up watercolor projects from the week before, all eyes were on the glass bowls and they were quite eager to get to filling them!

I bought some little chickies to put in the bowls and some bunny garland to use as decoration on the outside of the bowl.

Then I cut little signs out of watercolor paper and the kids taped them to some candy sticks.  A really cute project that generated a lot of happiness.