Abstract and Landscape
Today we got the veggies into the garden, And Mother Nature got into the act, coaxing bees into fruit blossoms and sending breezes through the sunlight trees. I admit, when I had to take a break between loads of compost or a stretch between planting rows, I let the siren call of social media pull… Continue reading In the Moment
I spend an embarrassing portion of every day daydreaming, worrying, planning for imaginary (and, occasionally, real) contingencies, and, did I mention worrying? Now, as Nicolas Cage once opined in Raising Arizona, “Y’all without sin cast the first stone,” but, as the surgery date gets closer, the worrying gets wilder. I’ve been through enough procedures to not worry… Continue reading Perchance to Dream
A lot of people think that no good can come of checking your phone at 2 AM in the morning, but anyone who’s ever been getting ready to go into a meeting at 2 PM knows that there’s nothing like a quick glance at that glowing window to distorted reality that take your eyes off… Continue reading Pieces of 2021
The last few months have been sketchy for me as the demands of mitigating the pandemic and navigating pneumonia with resulting lung issues forced me into a new job search. I am determined to continue teaching in the fall, but, along with millions of other Americans, I know that full time employment is anything but… Continue reading Salad Days
About five years ago I was invited to lead a drawing workshop for a group of teenage boys recently arrived to this country as refugees. I had never taught anybody anything and knew nothing about classroom management. I understood the workshop would be an education for all of us, but some of the lessons of… Continue reading The First Thing
We woke up to about a foot of snow this morning. this time last year I was at work at home mom, and The news of a snow day what are you meant sleeping in for an extra hour before logging on for work. This morning, however, my new life as a teacher at a… Continue reading Winter Warrior
“When are they due?” I texted, knowing exactly what the answer would be. “Today,” he texted back. I had tons of baby pictures, but we hadn’t snapped many pic of Thing1 or Thing2 since Christmas and none that were remotely yearbook-worthy. So that’s how the Big Guy, Thing1 & 2 and I found ourselves packed… Continue reading Smelling the Roses
Saturday & Sunday I went over the mountain to help with and participate in a blog workshop at Pompanuck Farm in Cambridge, NY. Sunday I got there early to have a little time to paint, but I had been up till 5 in the morning nursing Thing2 through a fever, and I kept nodding off… Continue reading Postcard from Pompanuck
Sometimes it isn't a crash. Sometimes everything just recedes. You go from feeling everything to feeling nothing. To wondering why you're here. To wishing you believed in a higher being that had a purpose for your life and being fine with not knowing what it is because knowing it exists is enough. To realizing every… Continue reading What Goes Up
"Mom, I have a new superpower!" Thing2 barely had his seatbelt on. "I can create wind!" That neatly explained seven-year-old Thing2's energetic, skyward gestures as he hopped off the bus. "What do you mean?" I asked. Thirteen-year-old Thing1 smirked as he tried not to inject eighth grade into a heretofore innocent and imaginative conversation. "I… Continue reading If Everyone Jumped
In my inner world, I fight dragons. I take on armies and villains, triumphing over any challenge with wit and courage. Did I mention this was a fantasy? In the real world, I've wrapped myself in the notion that my dreams are the result of an active imagination. Lately, though, as I look at my… Continue reading Be
I've been getting pretty good at getting up at 6 or 6:30 on Sundays to have enough time to get in a longer-than-a-weekday run and still get back to the cave before the kids or the Big Guy are ready to hit the all-you-can-eat buffet in Cambridge, NY. Sunday wasn't much different. It was raining,… Continue reading Another Rainy Sunday
Rachel Barlow Art 