Happy New Year's Eve!

This verse immediately came to mind when I saw this picture (which was taken in the homeland of Indiana). 

What a beautiful invitation from God! And a good prayer for 2013. 

fotos con palabras

I've long been wanting to find a way to add text to photos, and thought I'd have to wait until I got Photoshop.  After some investigating this morning, I realized I could do it with Preview! 

YAY!

Here's the first attempt, and also a first snow photo of the MANY I'm about to inundate you internet folk with. 

Meditation on psalm 27

The last verse of Psalm 27 in the Amplified for Coleen (love you!). 

Watercolor on a random piece of cardboard I had laying around...

Christmas Elving: supplies part 2

O the joy of stamping!

I found more Christmas stamps complete with kraft paper tags - SO much fun!

The assembly line beginnings are below...

Christmas Elving: supplies

I teach science. You wouldn't believe the things I find in my back storage room at school. 

 Recently, I found dozens of old beakers in the back room. 

DOZENS AND DOZENS.  

And we're already well overstocked at school, so I thought, "Why not use them to make Christmas presents?!"  So that's what I did!  

Here's the beginning stages of the whole endeavor.  Like all handmade, DIY ideas, it took way longer than I expected, a little more money than I planned on, but turned out beautifully...which I will show y'all after I've delivered them all.

Can you guess what I made???

I heart snow

This isn't Tucson, but it's gorgeous, no?

 

However, today it's only FORTY-THREE DEGREES here!!! 

AHHHHHHH!!! It's WINTER!!!! :D :D :D!!!  

I'm a little excited.  

I took my homeroom outside and taught them how to skip rocks on this massive puddle because it rained ALL NIGHT.  So fun!

Check out Arizona!

this is what I want for Christmas

Yes, please.

The onset of winter is forthcoming

Little tidbits from life lately.  It's been very full, and I haven't felt like blogging...but here are some of the things I've been enjoying :)

mumford = awesome

I, like the rest of the world, have been IMMENSELY enjoying the new album by Mumford & Sons.  I heard this song when I was driving to work, and Jesus used it at that exact moment to say some really cool things...and get me to work a little quicker.  :)  It's such a catchy, fun song!

Things to notice:  how fast they play, how adorably excited they all get, how tired they look at the end of the song.

CHECK IT OUT!

And here's another sweet one. It does sound like a cover of Sufjan Stevens's version, but still awesome.

Camping with the kids

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry, from New Collected Poems

I went camping with my Astronomy Club students as a research getaway to Mt. Lemmon.  Temps got down into the 30's!!!  It was such a great time.  And we had a few wild things come visit our campsite...

Back in AZ

Gotta love fall no matter where you are

The last morning

A painting for my grandma

And she taught me how to knit! We're so crafty, we Tezich's (mom's maiden name) :D

A drive in the country

The glory of Notre dame football

Beating Stanford on a wet, rainy day with old friends and family. Probably the best game I've ever been to- winning in overtime as seen from the press box the 2nd half!

Accidentally had b&w film on

On the drive home

Autumn-pierced Queen Anne

To the Midwest I go

This is actually a picture of the Northern Lights (taken at different wavelengths of light) over Ontario, just north of where I'm going.  Let me just say, as an astronomy teacher, I see a lot of photos...and this picture is INCREDIBLE.  You can see the major cities of the East at night, and the photo centers over Lake Michigan with Chicago glaring front its southwestern corner - SO BEAUTIFUL!

One of my lifelong dreams is to see the Northern Lights - what if it happened while I was there?!

PS - stay turned for many a foliage picture.  heck friggin yes!

Image Credit : NASA, NOAA, GSFC, Suomi NPP, Earth Observatory,
processing by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon

Birthday card!

 A friend's birthday was this past week.  She's got such a sweet heart, so I thought this card seemed appropriate.  I must own, however, the idea isn't mine...thanks Etsy! 

Jonathan Kozol

Two of my dear friends and I ventured north to the City of the Resurrected Fire Bird to hear one of my all-time favorite authors/education activists: 

 Jonathan Kozol. 

Check out his books. I mean it. SERIOUSLY NEED TO. They are so eye-opening, and should be considered a must-read by anyone in America (which is most of the people reading this). I think what I love most about his books is his awesome sense of humor, combined with his extreme passion for children, combined with his unwavering commitment to revealing the truth about inequality in American public education. He specifically looks into poverty and social justice. His newest book is called "Fire in the Ashes"

dear friends

me and Martha talking to Mr. Kozol 

he said he thought we were cool and asked us to stay after to chat! so we got an after-event invite from the keynote speaker, saying we should be good pals and gave me his cell phone number. 

SO INCREDIBLE!!!

The last 24 hours

What are those???

Is it dirt?

Why is it MOVING?!

OH MY GOSH.

(insert PANIC here)

What does a flea look like????

Darcy, you just got over a UTI...you better not have fleas.

If you have fleas, does the house have fleas?

Question Answered Here:  http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Fleas
(especially love #3)

Start vacuuming.  Vacuum breaks.  Watch youtube and learn how to replace belt.  Vacuum all rugs in the driveway.  Swept and mopped whole house.  Washed bedding, curtains, couches, and all clothing.  Called Eric on the verge of a breakdown. Take shower.

What about the yard?  And the mini African savannah in the backyard due to the monsoons?

Purchased weed wacker.  Used for 2 solid hours.  Take another shower.

Did a flea just fall on my shoulder?!?!?  Do I HAVE FLEAS?!?!?!  Take ANOTHER shower.

Talk and pray with Erin to avoid full-scale mental breakdown.

Life lesson: DON'T EVER LET YOUR DOG GET FLEAS!!! Especially if you're a bug-paranoid sociopath like I am.

PS - Thank you Mumford & Sons for your new album.  And your old one for that matter.  They have been my soundtrack during the "Epic Flea Battle of 2012". 

Madera via Hipstamatic

I got a new package of "lenses" and "film" via Hipstamatic - woohoo! 

And to test? 

 Off to Madera Canyon! 

There were a CRAZY amount of VERY WEIRD bugs there, including giant, fuzzy caterpillars (which I tried to show in comparison to my finger), giant agave beetles, and HUGE black locusts - the Biblical kind - with red underwings.  So strange. And apparently so hard to photograph with the iPhone camera.
Also, I apologize for the long string of photos...I really need to learn how to do a photo montage with them all in the same frame!