hello friends

It has been a long time since my last post. I guess life has been so busy recently that I have not had time to stop and reflect. Since December my husband Bobby quit teaching at Memphis City Schools, I still work there. I wake up at 5 am Monday-Friday and it is very lonely in the morning now (Bobby gets to sleep later with his new job at Three Angels Diner.) This took some time for me to get used to, you see Bobby always woke me up and made my coffee when we were both public school teachers.

Life has been good but struggles abound. It has been a year since Granny died, and I just lost a friend and co-worker Claire Nevels. Claire was the 8th grade science teacher at my school. We have worked together for 5 years and she was a strong disciplinarian, a great teacher and a true friend to me. She died in her sleep, and was young. It was rough to go back to school to explain what happened to the kids.

Being a teacher is hard, especially when death happens to a school "family" member, but I love teaching. I do find it difficult to be a strong leader when faced with the loss of loved ones. The students were so sad when Claire (Ms. Nevels) died and they looked to me for answers that I did not have. As a control freak and bossy know-it-all, this did not settle well with me.

Time has passed and I have stopped crying and mourning, but my artwork has taken a back seat. I am o.k. with this. Art takes time to make and I am in a period of reflection, finally. I have managed to make some paintings. Here they are...

and they are hanging at Bari Ristorante e Enoteca