Sunday, July 12, 2015

Celebrating Endings


              Celebrating Each Saturday with Ruth Ayres at Discover Play Build.  Finally time today to celebrate this past busy week.                   Tweet at #CelebrateLu



             Celebrating one part of endings: I wasn't able to post yesterday because I was having my book sale! While there weren't many customers, I did manage to sell and/or give away about half the books. Next step, donating the rest. My house is rather back to normal, with three extra shelves added in from school, I was able to still keep many. I imagine I will keep looking for others to give away, but for now I'm tired and want to celebrate and read, not just keep messing with books. I also celebrate that I've purged many school papers, kept some to look at a little more closely, but not too many. Time to 'do' instead of "clean out".  


            Celebrating blogger friends: In her very busy days, Carol Wilcox at Carol's Corner took the time to come to the book sale and take away several boxes of books to share with her colleagues. She lives quite close to me, and I am lucky to have connected with her. 

            Celebrating family and the imagination of children: My daughter, Sarah, & Ingrid came over to help with the sale. Because customers were on the light side, we had a wonderful visit. A family came riding by and one of them happened to be a classmate of Ingrid's. She came to stay and play. They had a great time in my back yard, came to tell us they were pretending it was the forest and there were all sorts of adventures happening! 





            Celebrating the return of my library room: Remember the picture when the floor was covered with boxes and bags of books? Not anymore! The student chair is one I had in my classroom all the years.

           Celebrating slowing down to notice: I am reminded of the poem by John Moffitt "To Look at Anything". It begins-
            "To look at any thing,
              If you would know that thing,
              you must look at it long:            You can find the rest of the poem and a little bit about John Moffitt here.  I've used the poem more than once with students, writing and looking outside. Here are two pictures, a marvelous insect and a new kind of bike rack I noticed this week.


          Celebrating books one more time: I have the perfect window in my kitchen that looks out on the front porch. Ingrid and I have fun imitating The Hello-Goodbye Window (Juster and  Raschka). If you don't know the book, find it and take a look!

         It was a good week doing other tasks and enjoying being home too. I hope you all have a great next week, too!

20 comments:

  1. So enjoyed the chance to visit yesterday. Thanks, a million for all of the books! I know my teachers will be absolutely thrilled! And it was so fun to meet Sarah and Ingrid. And I'm impressed by your office! Mine still looks more like your before picture, as does my living room, and I'm going back to school in about ten days! I definitely think we should go to the Tattered Cover soon, though! Thanks again!

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    1. You're welcome, and it was great to see you. Now we do need to sit for an hour or so over lunch! If you hear from any teachers soon, let me know. I'm glad for them to take more for their classrooms!

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  2. You are motivating me, Linda. Love how gracefully you are transitioning. I have some friends who are Pen Women in Colorado who go to schools where the kids are in need. Perhaps I can connect them and you and they might want to deliver books to the schools they go to for poetry. What types of books do you have left? Send me an email if you like. I am still at my gmail account. All best for a glorious day. Hope to see you again some day. Janet F.

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  3. Playing Hello Goodbye Window! How I adore that story. I do hope those books find the right homes! I was purging papers yesterday too. Old financial records that could now be shredded. Had my son on the shredding machine. He didn't find it as entertaining as I hoped so there is still some to get to today. Feels great to clean out but lots of time! sounds like your book sale was all kinds of lovely - full of visits and family.

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    1. Wish you could drop in, too, Carrie, would be happy to offer more books for your students! Yes, that Hello Goodbye Window is an all-time favorite, and now I have the window too! It was a lovely day yesterday. I need to do some shredding in the future, too.

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  4. Hello-Goodbye-Window is a wonderful book. To make it come alive with your own window is such a sweet idea. Admirable how efficiently you have been able to sort, organize and say goodbye to your books. No doubt they will find new readers who appreciate them as much as you did.

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    1. I think one could call this book thing a quest, Terje. I wanted to be done so I didn't have to worry about it anymore! I do love The Hello-Goodbye Window too, as you can see. Thank you!

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  5. Linda,
    I loved seeing the "after" picture of your library. I bet it feels good to be one step closer "normal" (whatever that means!). I do hope that someday I can sit on your porch with you. Lovely celebrations.
    Shine on,
    Ruth

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    1. Thanks Ruth, it does feel good. I guess normal this time just means a bit more organized with what's staying and what is not. I'd love to have you on my porch, too!

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  6. Linda, so fun to hear that Carol dropped by for your book sale. I love the way the books were organized in baskets on your porch. You changed the top of your blog. Maybe you did it awhile ago, and I'm just now noticing. Love the student desk in your office and the hello goodbye window with Ingrid's sweet smile. Enjoy more time for reading this week!

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    1. Thanks, Ramona. Carol is busy, & I have been too, so it was great to see her if only for a little while. The hilarious thing is that we're going to meet for lunch at Tattered Cover. You know what that means! I just started All The Light We Cannot See, so am excited to spend some time reading for sure. Yes, I changed the blog, but very recently, so you didn't miss it. Thanks for noticing!

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  7. What a great and busy week for you! I wish you lived in Indiana so I could have come to your book sale! I have been working in my daughter's classroom and there are so many books that need to be replaced because they are so old, yellowed, and cracked. I would have given those books to kids a long time ago. Plus the school I left just hired a new teacher and the teacher before her didn't leave on good terms and she left her with nothing!

    I love your porch and of course the first thing I noticed was not the books, but the quilt on the back of the bench! Being a "retired" quilter, I am always drawn to them! I think I noticed one and asked you about it in another picture you once posted! Have a great week, Linda!

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    1. Well, I wish you lived closer too, would be so happy to give these books to a new teacher, Leigh Anne. As for the quilt, an old one I found somewhere. I do have lots, from my mother, my mother-in-law & an aunt. I do use one on my dining table so probably you saw it. Thanks for stopping by! Hope you have a great week too!

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  8. So much to celebrate, Linda. How lucky children will be to have books from your classroom, read and loved by the children in your wise care all these years. So glad that you connected with Carol, too. Wish I had been able to come visit, too - you, Ingrid, and all those lovely books to choose from - what fun that would have been!

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    1. Me, too, Tara. Would love to share with you, too. It was a very fun day!

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  9. You have a beautiful porch and library. What a lovely sale. I wish you many days of being able to slow down and notice, and many days with Ingrid in your "Hello-Good Bye" window. (I love that story!)

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    1. Thanks, Kendra. It is lots of fun having that window!

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  10. Great celebrations, Linda!
    I love the book sale idea! And thanks for sharing the poem - the line that stuck to me was to "look long". I'm thinking about that!

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    1. Thanks, Michele. As I wrote earlier, it was a very fun day. So glad you like the poem, a special one for just that: "looking long".

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