Wednesday, 2 September 2020

2nd on the 2nd - Back to School

 Hi Everybody!

It's the 2nd of the month, so it's time for Elizabeth's 2nd on the 2nd, where we re-show artwork shown on our blogs in previous years. These pieces were all made for AJJ back in 2016, and the theme was back to school. Here in our county the kids went back to school 2 weeks back, some still have the 'Big Day' in front of them. 

My internet provider has announced that they will be doing maintenance work during the night, from midnight till about 6 a.m. I hope I will be able to get onto the net again tomorrow, but it could take longer than they estimate - we shall see!

But now - back to school!

For this one I used my head(s):




This one comes from the heart, during 35 years of teaching it was good to have friendly pupils at least some of the time!


Here I have a selection of young ladies from various times. The one standing at the front behind the chalk board is me. My mum is the third from left in the 2nd row, and another relation, Erika, is at the left of the 2nd row:




Erika is in this one again. It shows her school sports team back in the 1930s. Erika is the 2nd from the right. A year later she had to leave school because she was Jewish, and 2 years after that she fled Germany with her family and had to start a new life in Paraguay:



This piece shows Tower College in the background, a private school near Liverpool where I taught for a couple of years from 1969 to 1972 before I came to Germany:


I taught art at various schools here. This journal page reminds of some Christmas window decorations I made with my class one year. We decorated the windows through the length of the big hall, so it was a lot of work:



This one shows my late husband as a schoolboy:



This page shows another project I did with one of my classes back in the 1980s. We made heads using paper maché and the kids had great fun. We started by collecting egg cartons, then they had to be torn up and pulped, and then we formed our heads. And no, we did not empty all of those wine and beer bottles, we got them from the caretaker....:



Another page showing Erika while she was at school, she's standing on the right. She was the only one with short hair, all the others still have their long plaits, including the teacher in the middle!



The photos are also a repeat from this day back in 2017. We visited a lake surrounded by a lovely wooded path, not far from here on the other side of the Rhine:






I love these fairy colonies:











The cormorant found a good seat:




And of course, lots of Canadian Geese, especially for dear David:





That's enough for today!

Take care, have a great day,
and thanks a lot for coming by!

69 comments:

  1. I just loved seeing all of that fantastic art work. Love the paper mache heads too, very cute! Your photos are awesome and I really love those fairy colonies too! Have a great September :)

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    1. Thanks Martha! It's such fun to find fair colonies! Have a wonderful day!

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  2. Wow!!!
    You are incredibly talented! I mean it Valerie.
    I loved seeing you as a part of your lovely art!
    Your late husband was a very handsome.
    Lovely photos always~

    Hugs 🍁☕🍂

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    1. Thanks Jan, you are so kind. Have a great day, stay safe!

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  3. This is such an interesting post Valerie i loved reading about your teaching days, my mother in law taught in Liverpool after she returned from Singapore in 66. Fabulous shared art and yes the heads are fantastic. I miss creating displays with the children at school, always great team work between adult and child. You hubby was indeed a very very handsome man. Will keep my fingers crossed your internet is up and running when you wake. Hugs Tracey xx

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    1. Thanks Tracey. Working with kids is always fun. They often had fantastic ideas and were really capable. Good times!

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  4. It is going to be a different year back to school here in my area. I am so glad I don't have that challenge to deal with. But it is fun to get a second look at that BAck to School challenge Valerie. Oh the good old days when going back would be fun! It was a fun one, wasn't it? And I can see the start of fall in your beautiful photos too. It is that time of year, isn't it? Hugs-Erika

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    1. Thanks Erika. The kids had to be masked all the time in the first couple of weeks, it was surely not easy. I'm glad I don't have to teach at this time! Stay safe!

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  5. A lovely look back Valerie. Nice to learn about your teaching days.

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  6. Looks like you had loads of fun in your teaching time, my daughter is a teacher at a pre school....love your awesome makes and pic. xx

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    1. Thanks Annie. Teaching was often hard, but I didn't want to do anything else!

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  7. Your photos always make me smile. And I also love how you use the family photos in your art. I didn't realize your Erika escaped to Paraguay. I'm glad she was able to get out in time. The fungi growing in the tree stump may be one of my favorite photos of all time by anyone. It's remarkable.

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    1. Thanks Jeanie. I love seeing that sort of fungi, this time of year is just right for that!

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  8. Gosh, Valerie. I am so happy you shared these. It makes me feel proud because I was hosting AJJ that month and you shared art every day, even while entertaining a house guest. These are all so wonderful and I'm incredibly thrilled you have shared these with us as your second look on the 2nd.

    If you have not linked by 12:30 my time (I think 6:30 your time), I will link you. Thanks for this wonderful post. I only wish the kids in the states felt as safe and secure as the ones in your country do about returning to school.

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    1. Thanks Elizabeth. I always work well in advance, just in case! Have a great day!

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  9. Good morning Val! I LOVE your theme today, and all the wonderful pictures you shared. So nice to see you and your Mum and Erika all together again. And the one with the picture of Peter is fabulous, he was such a handsome boy. Love the photos, especially the fairy homes, I will show them to S later, she will love them, too. Have a lovely day, hugs, Sarah

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    1. Thanks Sarah! Have a nice day and take care, hugs to all!

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  10. I see your internet is back on and I didn't have to link you.

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    1. Yes, I woke up thanks to the crows having a morning party, and my internet is back on - for once the firm seems to have got things done on time , wonders never cease! Have a great day!

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  11. Lovely back to school creations. Enjoy your day and your walk.

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  12. Erika must have had a very interesting life. Did she remain in Paraguay? How is she related to you? Those are wonderful old photos and I love the way you have used them in art work. Of course the back-to-school theme this year is very fraught.

    be well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. Erika was there till she was about 70. Then she moved to Israel, but a few years later she decided to come back to Germany. She was the granddaughter of a cousin of my great-grandfather. Have a safe day!

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  13. Love how you have incorporated your photos and family history into your art work. That tree stump looks like a fairy castle 🧚‍♀️ lovely. My husband's mother and her parents had to leave Germany in 1936, they thought they were going to Canada and they ended up in Melbourne. They always wanted to return to Germany but didn't manage it sadly.

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    1. This sadly happened to so many people, it must have been a terrible and scary time to live in. I hope they were happy in Melbourne. I like to work with old family photos, I think it's my way of handling all the memories. The tree stump was so lovel, a real fairy castle! Have a great day!

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  14. A fascinating post, especially about Erika. I wish children well, across the world, as they slowly return to school, many this week. Those Fairy Colonies are something else, aren't they? hugs, Deb

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    1. Thanks. It's important to remember the past, but to live in the present. Yes, the fairy colonies are amazing indeed. Have a good and safe day!

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  15. very interesting information related to history. Have a nice day :)

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  16. It is a wonderful retrospective, Valerie, and I learned a lot about your life I didn't know. It really adds a sense of pathos to see those photographs of Erika as a young girl, part of a sports team, enjoying life with her friends, and to know that the abomination of Nazism tore her away from her companions, her social circle, and ultimately from her very country. I hope that the family went on to do well in South America. Thanks for the picture of the Canada Geese. i am glad to see that they are looking strong and healthy and I am sure they appreciate that you are there to keep an eye on them! Hope your internet is back up and running smoothly. Big hugs, David

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    1. Thans David. I only knew Erika as an old lady of over 80 so it was great to see her family photos from her childhood. I inherited all of her pics, some I sent to the Jewish museum in Berlin, but they made me copies to keep. It's good that history gets recorded. The geese here are big, strong and loud as always! The internet is fine, they got it done in the allotted time, so that's something! Have a wonderful day, hugs to you and M!

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  17. Good morning, I loved seeing your second look I don't remember these and they are perfect for September. here in my state of Missouri the kids are back to school with guidelines-where they should be instead of at home in front of a computer.
    Your photos are always so wonderful Valerie, loved the mushrooms especially Happy second on the 2nd hugs Kathy

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    1. Thanks Kathy. Those mushrooms are really special, huh? Happy 2nd on the 2nd!

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  18. A very nice look back Valerie! Nice to learn more about you! I also have old photos with me at school ... even on the first day of school of my life. I have to find them! Hugs!

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    1. Thanks Ella. I also have a photo from my first school day, that was in January 1952! Hugs back to you!

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    2. January 1952? Really? Do you also include the kindergarten years? My first day of school was September 15, 1966. I was 6 years old!

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  19. I was 5, in England we used to start school after the 5th birthday. In 1966 I was a Student and my daughter was born!

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    1. My dear Valerie, I am really speechless! You have such a young soul and such a free spirit! I never guessed your age! I could swear you were around 40 ... and suddenly I became the junior! 😅

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    2. Thanks Ella - the body gets old, but the mind stays young!

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  20. I love the old photos in the artwork and the stories with them. You looked so cute shined up for first day of school. The bottle heads and decorating the windows in the hallway must have been such a fun project for your students. I would have loved your class. Happy 2nd on the 2nd.

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    1. Thanks CJ. I always did fun projects with the kids, as it was important that they learned to work together and make things which were fun for everyone. I loved school as a kid, and always wanted that 'my' pupils should feel the same!

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  21. Love the back to school theme of your artwork and lovely to see the old family photos as well as the ones of the fairy toadstools. The one with the trees growing around the footpath looks as if you would be walking into a magical kingdom at the end.
    Have a great day.
    Avril xx

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    1. Thanks Avril. It really was a magical place we visited!

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  22. I love old photos, such beautiful memories!

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  23. What a fabulous post.
    Love your art and your photographs, fascinating to see.
    I always think old photographs are just so special.

    Pleased that your internet is back and working ok.

    Happy mid-week wishes.

    All the best Jan

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    1. Thanks Jan. Old Photos are really Special, that's true. Have a great week!

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  24. Wonderful back to school art and great photos Valerie!
    Hope you don't get any problems with the internet!
    Alison xx

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    1. Thanks Alison. The Internet was very patchy the past few weeks but now it's fine.

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  25. Loved the information about Erika. Your husband was a hottie:)
    Really enjoyed your pieces and of course the pics of the animals:)
    Hope all the kids and instructors stay safe.
    Hugs

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    1. Thanks Sandra. Of course he was a hottie - what did you expect?! Stay safe!

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  26. You look cute in those photos. I hope you had good experiences teaching art in school. My brother had such a hard time teaching art in high school. The kids would NOT pay attention.

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  27. Fabulous school pages - what a great idea to share your AJJ school themed designs for this strangest of school returns. Here in the small Czech village the 1st September return couldn't happen because several of the teachers were infected by the Covid-positive visiting leader of a teachers' workshop a week before the start of term... and in the UK the government's indecision rages on about whether students and teachers MUST wear masks or whether they are FORBIDDEN to wear masks as they return to school. Hopeless!

    In any case, I really enjoyed seeing these pages - you can probably guess I'm drawn to the ones with the wonderful vintage photos - so evocative of their times. And fabulous fungi in your own photos too, as well as the berries which caught my eye.
    Alison x

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    1. Thanks Alison. e have the same battles here. The kids in our county all had to wear masks for the first weeks - the parents protested. Now they can be without masks in lessons, an the kids say they feel safer with masks. And thousands of idiots who are principally against everything protest and scream that it's all just a conspiracy....I just try to be sensible and do my own thing to keep myself safe! Have a good week, stay safe!

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  28. Fantastic Back to School pages Valerie, I love the fun stick children! And awesome family photos, your husband was a very handsome man. Gorgeous photography today, love the fairy colonies! Take care of yourself.
    Hugs, Tammy

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    1. Thanks Tammy! I used to draw stick-people on the chalkboard to illustrate things at school, it's fun. Those fairy colonies are pretty, huh? Have a great day, look after yourself!

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  29. Que bonito, saludos desde el norte de España.

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  30. So many beautiful memories and photos ~ Your husband was very handsome, and the pictures of your mom and Erika are wonderful. What a terrific thing to know that you've touched the lives and taught so many. ~ Blessings to you

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    1. Thanks Karen. I love old photos, and I have lots of memories to keep me going! Have a good and safe day!

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  31. Gorgeous photos and creative pages. I like the one with the head and the ones with vintage photos. My fav is the one with your late husband. He was quite a looker, wasn't he? I can't imagine life without my Terry. It must take a great deal of courage to go on after such a loss. Caring hugs, Teresa

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    1. Thanks Teresa! Peer was a great guy, that's true. It's not easy to carry one, you just have to. Have a great week, hugs, Valerie

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  32. A brilliant look back at your School days theme and those lovely photos! I had a friend who taught at Tower College but after you must have left! Hugs, Chrisx

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    1. It was good place to teach! Have a great week, take care!

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  33. Beautiful creations here, Valerie. I love the pictures of your family and you - all beautiful (including your late husband). How scary for Erika, I hope things all worked out for her. I am pleased to know you were an art teacher - I know you molded the hearts and minds of many - just as you do today in your posts. Visiting you is soooo nice! Hugz

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