Pink Saturday Sidewalk Flowers

This is only my second Pink Saturday post and I sure look forward to them. Thanks again, Beverly for hosting this event. Be sure to visit her and all the PINK Posts at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com

On our trip to Portland, Oregon, we stayed with my sister in her Pearl District Apartment. I am a city girl and love being able to step out into the action. Portland has amazing flowers that grow so tall and lush due to all the rain they get. The markets even offer a better selection of cut flowers than I have found in our area of Colorado. Peonies are about my favorite flower ever. I even planted a couple of peony plants in our yard but they just haven't done well, and I'm sure it's just me and my yard as I've seen them in other blessed yards.

This is the flower market a block from the apartment.

Gorgeous Pink Blooms. I would have them in my home all the time!

Bubble Tea in Portland

My daughters and I went to Portland, Oregon for my niece's high school graduations. My sister lives in a darling apartment in the Pearl District; park with a fountain across the street, lightrail outside the door, the best eye-spinning Lattes ever!

Six beautiful girl-cousins did everything together. Bubble tea is a fruity-tea drink with your choice of tapioca pearls and little gelatin bits. You have to drink it with a big, fat straw. A regular straw would clog, for sure. Does anyone remember when we would be given paper straws with our drink order? They would collapse flat; that was a longgggggg time ago!

Pink Saturday

I just found out about Pink Saturday and since I love Pink and love Saturdays I decided to join in. Thank you Beverly, for hosting this fun event!
This 3 votive candle holder used to be grubby brown with a primitive/rustic black rooster stamped on it. I grabbed my can of Ballet Pink spray paint and blasted the piece just one time. Then I searched and found this vintage pink rose and printed it on regular printer paper. After cutting out the shape I slapped the rose on with a sponge brushed dipped in Mod Podge. Ahhhh, much better!
I used the same Ballet Pink spray paint for this iron wall scroll. LOVE Ballet Pink.
The pink flowers are not bad for fake next to my white ceramic canisters. The pink and white chandelier,(see, if you look closely, the sweet little pink glass birds), is waiting for a spot above my bathtub. I've always wanted a chandelier over my bathtub but there is a matter of wiring. I am afraid to trail the plug in cord from the ceiling to the outlet. I remember hearing something about electrocution in my childhood days. I will figure it out someday. I'm thinking it can't be that hard and I can do it myself.

My Thrift Store Find

This is a ceramic vase in perfect condition that I scored for $2 at the thrift store on Saturday; half price day. I love the sage-y green stripes. Stuck these pink flowers in right away but I think I can do better with some taller blooms. The vase is perfect to mix juice or lemonade for our hot summer days. Lots of ice too. Most of the pleasure is the sound of ice being stirred.

Pink Glass

My mom just gave me this heavy pink bowl that was my grandmother on my father's side. It is something I can only appreciate now that I am a grown -up. When I visited their home as a child/teen I saw their decor as old fashioned and I was totally disinterested. For now, it is filled with pink rose petals. It would be a great serving bowl for later on.

The Twins are Here!

I missed the whole "hatching of the eggs". What a sweet and cozy family. I didn't know that doves liked to snuggle with their babies. When we've had nests before, they were robins and featherless babies. They even kicked them out of the nest before they should have. This is so much better!
I finally pulled out a step ladder to get a good look at the eggs in the nest and this is what I found.

He Has a Good Vocabulary

James speaks like he is a native Brit. When he says : "I can't do it", it is with a British "can't". He speaks proper English, as well. " I must beckon the teacher for assistance". One day I asked him if he had everything, (back pack, lunch bag, trumpet, jacket) ready to hurry out to the bus. I need to see him to the bus and if I time it just right, I can get out to my car and leave the campus moments before the bell rings and miss the mad student exodus. He answered " I have, (British Accent), but I must go numeral 2". Even "having to go #2" is said in a fancy way.

He Loves To Spin

James, my Aspie student, does really well when the schedule works like usual and the lessons keep moving. When he is fully engaged in a project he does just fine. When there is a lull in the action James copes by spinning. He will stand up and spin around and around in one place until his attention is needed for another task. He knows that the English teacher has a tall spinning bar stool in her class and that he will get in trouble when she comes in and catches him because it drives her nuts. She doesn't like anyone touching her stuff. I know he needs to spin as it seems to calm him down so I try to time it just right to warn him to take his seat before she walks in to start class. It is unlikely that he will hurt the spinning bar stool and he needs to spin, it helps him settle before class begins. That can only help, right? There are several spinning chairs in my office. They also have rollers on them so we asked the building engineer to come down and remove the rollers because James gets going so fast he spins out of control. It doesn't bother him but it does bother some of the other students who claim they get dizzy when he spins next to them. Also, since James is 6'5" his legs invariably crash and make a loud "knocking"noise, slowing him down for a very brief pause, into the other furniture while he goes round and round. Now that the rollers are off of James' spinning chair, it is nearly impossible to lift the heavy chair to another area, away from the dizzy students.

Routines and Honesty

One thing I gathered in a hurry at my job working with James, the boy with Asperger's, is the importance of routines. "What did you have for lunch today, James?", asks Luis. "Did you have pizza or a hamburger?".

James: "I had the same thing I had yesterday and the day before yesterday, and last week and last month and last year..."

In Math class, a paper airplane sailed over to James' desk. He raises his hand at the same time he unwraps and reads the message.

"Mr. Reid", pointing over to the tables pushed together of 4 boys, "they threw this at me and it says; 'vagina'. "

The entire class freezes including myself. I have learned that James can understand the rule that you shouldn't throw things at classmates. But he doesn't think further about how it will turn out if he pronounces certain words out loud.

Students have learned they can BAIT James into doing things they can laugh at. James can not STAND farting noises. He goes into a complete rage and classmates know it. For a good 2 month period this was really a problem and I had to watch out for it. James is a 6'5" big kid and he will fly at anyone who does this. He gives the appearance of a threat when he is mad, basically because he is so big and loud. I have seen school security called after James has been provoked by a series of fart noises. To me this is bullying. My concern is how will James handle irritations outside of a school setting? Can he learn to ignore these triggers?