Under Glass



This was at the auction last night- a wooden tray with the butterfly and design pressed under glass.  The design is made from butterfly wings- fragile, horrible, beautiful.  If I had the money it would be in the studio now...but it was destined to be a treasure for someone else.  That's ok-

Today is warmish, springish, with the sun out and bright.  I've been baking- pineapple cookies for the manz, red velvet for class tomorrow.  This is one of my faults- I think of things that I think would be fun, memories- or fun that I want to 'do over' as an adult.  So we are having a Valentine's party tomorrow in crafts class.  I'm going over the history of Valentines day, and we already made paper-bag 'mailboxes'.  The kids are writing valentines, bringing treats.  I have the cookies, pencils with hearts on them, and the little boxes of dry candy hearts with messages on them for the winners of the origami contest.  The manz brought home some red tinsel the other day- Christmas leftovers, no doubt- that I am going to use to bedazzle the room.  I'm trying for fun... so many of the kids say 'I HATE Valentines day' and I can understand.  If they are alone, they feel lonely and out of the loop of happy couples- if they are with someone they get caught up in the cloud of expectations.  I'm trying to change that- I'm trying to get them to think of it as not being about themselves, and whether they are loved or not- but about loving others.  About creating an aura of Romance, even if you do not have a love- you can still be romantic.  Light a candle.  Smile at a stranger.  Tell someone that they are beautiful and mean it. Be a little unexpected.

I may sound...halmarkish.  But it's not about that, it's about using what you have to create a little magic in the world, make things a little brighter.  It does us all a world of good.