Green, growing, blooming..

I went on a bit of a "potting up" spree last Sunday. We had several bits of houseplants I'd clipped and put in vases of water to grow roots, as well as some older potted plants that needed more room. Then a friend of Gregg's (a bit of a plant collector) sent me the start of a new-to-me plant on Saturday, so on Sunday morning I went to Lowe's and bought potting soil and new pots. I also bought a bag of orchid mix because several of my orchids needed their medium refreshed. 

Here are some of my houseplants, as well as a big bouquet of flowers I bought myself last week to celebrate the day when I paid off our mortgage. I love having cut flowers in the house.

These last pictures are from my office at work. I have a pretty blooming orchid and the peace lily my coworkers gave me when dad died. My office window faces due east and plants really love the bright morning sun.

I love surrounding myself with green, growing, blooming things. Especially in the winter.

Goodbyes

Whew, what a week I've had. My feelings have been all over the place.

There is, of course, the end of my one job and the beginning of the next looming. This was the last week of school for students. Several of my favorite kids came by my office to say goodbye, and one boy, Caleb, spent most of his last day hanging out in my office, talking. (He's mildly autistic and one of his accommodations is that he's allowed to find a quiet place to work outside of his classroom when he needs it). 

All year he would occasionally stop by my office and ask to sit with me and finish up assignments. I said yes whenever I was able to (and he didn't mind the times when I wasn't) and we'd do our respective work together.  I kept gentle guitar music playing softly in the background, and it was a peaceful, quiet atmosphere for work. He'd also come to me when he was upset about something or worried about his grades. Sometimes he just needed to talk, and I'd be there to listen--we've been firm friends throughout his middle school years. How I'm going to miss him! He's headed to high school in the fall, and I'm proud of him. He's worked hard to get there, and he's a really good kid, to boot. His parents must be proud. I hope they are.

The mother of another boy sent me an email on Tuesday asking about his attendance on the last two half days and ended it by saying "thank you for being a constant in John's middle school years and for being so easy to work with". Then later in the afternoon she actually showed up and brought me a gift: this beautiful orchid!

It's going to look wonderful in the window of my new office! In fact, it will replace a yellow orchid growing there that belonged to the outgoing secretary. How perfect is that?! It was awfully sweet of her.

There were a few phone calls and visits from other parents, too, and I appreciated it all. The end of the school year is always a bit bittersweet, with kids growing up and moving on and all that, but it seems especially so for me this year since I'm leaving. Next week there's two teacher and staff workdays, Tuesday and Wednesday, and then that's it. I've finished all of my work and packed up my office, so I won't have anything to do, really. I may bring a book. Then on Tuesday afternoon, when it's time to go home, I'll turn in my office keys and building entry key fob, and that's when I'll be officially done. This month of goodbyes seems to have dragged on, and on, and on....so I'm beyond ready. 

Onwards and upwards from here (hopefully).

Flowers and showers

In the comments on my last post, Steve asked me to show a picture of my blooming Christmas cactus. I had mentioned it but didn't share a photo at the time because I didn't have a good one. Here is a photo of of it alongside my blooming orchids. I'm also throwing in pictures of the two smaller orchids that I took yesterday.

Flowers really brighten up the house when the weather outside is cold and gray!

For the rest of you who love Marco stories and Marco pictures, I snapped some of him fresh from the shower the other day. He loves to shower with me and then he loves getting blow dried afterwards!

On a more positive note...

I don't like having yesterday's post as the most current one on my blog. We can all get enough of the news elsewhere (and likely you're all as sick of it as I am) so I decided to kick off the weekend with a happier post.

First of all, I wanted to show you the beautiful holiday cards I got this year. I couldn't bear to put them away with the rest of the Christmas stuff at the end of December. I also kept out some fairy lights that I put around them so that they'd glow and sparkle at night.

Next, here's something else that's making me happy. My orchids and my Christmas cactus are blooming. The orchids are my favorite.

The weather has been wet and cold this week. On Wednesday morning while working from home I started a crockpot of homemade vegetable beef soup and let it simmer all day. It's been our supper for the past two nights, and it's maybe one of the best batches of soup I've ever made. Delicious, and just the thing for the kind of weather we've been having. This is comfort food at its best.

Last of all, this sweet boy. He loves basking in sunshine as much as any cat. On bright days he follows the sun through the house and parks himself wherever he can soak up a few rays. This was early yesterday morning.

Wishing you all a weekend filled with comfort, content, and the happiness that comes from the little things in life. 

Tea tin window garden

 

 

 

 

These tea tins came from the cafe in the bookstore where I work. The baristas are saving them for me when they're empty, rather than throwing them in the trash.  I think they make really pretty planters, and I'm getting new ones all the time. Soon I'll have a large windowsill garden!

The middle two plants are tiny orchids I got for a throwaway price at the grocery store a month or so ago. I think I paid $2.50 for each. They had little pink flowers which have since dropped off, but now that they're repotted and getting good light they're growing new leaves and roots. The other two plants are ivy that I gave to my girlfriends as party favors at our last monthly get-together. They only graced my windowsill for a day.