My brood and I trudged to the auditorium for the awards assembly this afternoon. We are tired. After 47 days of 2nd grade, some of the children have broken from the pack and are sprinting down the track. Their minds like steel traps, they gobble up whatever I’m serving. Another third are swimming in a sea of confusion. The rest are perfecting their circus tricks. Slipping on banana peels, playing pranks, chewing the erasers off their pencils, juggling wadded up paper. Pure chaos unleavened by self-awareness. The year is young. My mind grows weak.
I consult my dog-eared copy of The Art of War. Time and time again it has proven useful when my right is in retreat, my center is collapsing, and my left is nowhere to be found. Sun Tzu to the rescue!
Carefully study the well-being of your men, and do not overtax them. Concentrate your energy and hoard your strength. Keep your army continually on the move, and devise unfathomable plans.
Journal work resumes unabated.
And a farway friend is sent a postcard.
In these ways I keep my wits about me. Oh let simplicity do its lovely work!
Your work is fantastic. I don’t “journal” but your work makes me want to.
robin
I’ve got men that I would do well not to overtax. Thanks for the tips! Stunning journal pages…
oh what beautiful pages- a visual feast!
This series of photographs is so wonderful…but the translation of these images into your pages is spectacular. Wow!
I so relate to your school comments … we just started a new charter K-8 school and I work with special needs kids, in and out of the classroom. Your statement about how some a zooming down the track while others are swimming in a sea of confusion is so incrediably description, and accurate!
The flow of images and mystery continues as we shine our awareness onto new things and into new places each day. Beauty, tragedy, loss and gain. I’m buying that book now. xo
I *love* the orange and turquoise lantern journal page…………. Happy sigh.
We don’t have a China Town here (Ann Arbor not big enough for that), but I managed to find an orange lantern hanging from someone’s porch. Now I need to mess with some filtering to turn that white porch turquoise….. 🙂
Ah, more lantern torture. I tried visiting Chinatown in Seattle on Monday, but alas….not one hanging lantern to be found. I really do have the worst case of lantern envy. Your journal work with the images are just as lush and wonderful as your photo tour. Those pages really speak to something in me, MA.
I so enjoy your blog.
Your the only one I know who uses the word unfathomable.
how handsome those pages are.
graphic and alive.
admiring,
me
These journal pages are splendid, I especially like the one of the single lantern with pen and ink, colors, texture, ink lines, a feast.
Do you use a fountain pen, or dip into ink? I love the quality of the lines…must use more ink (note to self)
One day, far into the future, people will offer these journal pages of yours as must-have-treats for those who want to know what it was like, in the beginning. What it was like back when all of the beauty was still unfolding and when this woman had just begun to teach others to see, to dream, to paint, to witness the life around them.
OMG – I have a 2nd grader of my own. Monkeying up my own house with his two cohorts – 1st grader and toddler. I can hear the quiet, late summer breeze pushing those lanterns back and forth.
I am soaking in the beauty of your lantern pages….mystical, magical…
you have a way…you do…
love the journal page and think teachers should make more than Donald Trump.
It makes me smile all over to see the delight you generate in your readers. I know you do the same for the monkeys. Mine are down for rest time in a darkened room quieted by soft music and birdsong in the background (in kindergarten, you get to have rest time!! – but I have to struggle to be awake) So I can savor the blog for longer than I did this morning. How big are your pages? dimensions? You used 140# hot press WC paper right? (I think you said that).
Ah well, time to turn on the lights – about half are asleep and have to be coaxed awake.
Isn’t that a wonderful line – ‘devise unfathomable plans’ – and how clever of you to have found it and used the idea to your advantage with those monkeys of yours.
Your blog is a great advertisement for the good things of your town. It makes me want to visit the Chinese quarter.
It’s a dull day when there’s no news despatched from LA!
its the pen and ink!
sounds like the progress of a certain elementary school I transport..it’s a journey and thankfully looks nothing like 4-5 weeks ago…progress is being made. I’m really ‘into’ your China work..
Your photography and journaling is amazing…I LOVE it!!! Thanks for the inspiration!!
I fall into your blog and float on a cushion of wonderment. I mean *seriously* – these journal pages are like nothing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I love every stroke of your pen/paintbrush/mind.
Oh I’ll have to come over and help reign these monkeys in. It’s much too early for them to be wandering away. LOL
I love your pages and what you’ve done with the photos. Great work as usual. 😀
Your blog is just so beautiful! These journal pages are amazing. I love visiting here and appreciate all that you share. I’ve nominated you for the Brillante Premio blog award on my blog. You deserve more but there you go. Thanks!