SOLC17 - Five of Thirty-One - Digital Sunday

SOLC #21/31 - 

      I'm slicing with the Two Writing Teachers community on Day Five of Thirty-One of the Slice of Life Challenge in March.  Thank you Stacey, Beth, Deb, Betsy, Lanny, Kathleen, Lisa, and Melanie.  

     Today I'm also going Margaret Simon who hosts a meme on Sundays, Digilit Sunday, where people share different themes about digital sharing. Today's theme is, appropriately, "SLICING OUR LIVES."  Here is the link.

      Digitally, I've become more adept at navigating the tech world, and on this blog, reviewing more books which is great fun because I get a sneak peek at books coming out. Today, I'm also sharing a peek at a new non-fiction book and as part of the blog tour, offering a giveaway, too! Find that link here also on my blog this Sunday morning! 

     I am retired, stepped away from teaching middle school gifted students in an independent school two years ago. There I taught everything but math beyond pre-algebra in a self-contained classroom. Each student there chose a personal topic around which I, with the student's input, created the curriculum. I was busy!

    And now, free time abounds, and I feel as if I'm busier than ever. The fall after I stopped teaching, I began volunteering in a local used bookstore. It has been open for over forty years, and is run entirely by volunteers. Isn't this a dream job for a retired teacher! About this time a year ago, I became the volunteer coordinator. It's a job certainly of coordination, of stepping in when someone cannot make his or her shift, of finding problems that volunteers have and trying to figure out a way to alleviate that problem. We have two four-hour shifts each day Monday through Saturday, and one shift on Sunday, which I'm doing today! Among other things, I keep a calendar of regulars and openings. I send a Monday email outlining the week, who's subbing for whom (if any) and who needs something. It's been fun, frustrating and I've made mistakes, no doubt about it, in the writing and in the planning. I still haven't met everyone, but am trying to form a caring community as much as possible. Our one commonality is what you will guess: we love reading, books and bookstores, ours especially! 

Celebrating Family Time

              I celebrate each Saturday with Ruth Ayres at Discover Play Build - Week number 96! There are many others who celebrate, too. Come join us!          Tweet at #CelebrateLu

        This time I'm also sharing with Margaret Simon for Digilit Sunday at Reflections On The Teche.

         I hope you who are on Facebook with me will not tire of my ocean vacation pictures. I traveled home yesterday, glad to be here, will savor these past two weeks for a long while! It's a time to celebrate when we can all pull away from our busy lives to be together, loving the ocean, the favorite restaurants, Ingrid seeing her first manatee, Carter's birthday gift parasailing, nature's gifts everywhere, and those sunsets. I created this slideshow on Picasa, a favorite of mine for collages, this time a little movie, and then uploaded to YouTube. 

Sunday, and A Little Tech With the Poetry

          For April, Poetry month, still writing haiku and haiku-related poems. With a few exceptions, I've stayed with haiku.  Some of us are supporting each other using the hashtag #digipoetry. Join us.

          Find the many Poetry Month offerings rounded up by Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup.  Irene Latham's Progressive Poem is becoming quite exciting. You can find all the poets who are participating at Irene's blog, Live Your Poem. Be sure to check on Brian at Walk The Walk to read the latest line, and then the entire poem!

          Margaret Simon of Reflections On The Teche hosts a meme for others to share tech ideas, Digilit Sunday. This isn't very tricky, just a way to use images and add text or other designs. I wanted to use this picture with my haiku today, and make it special, so turned to Canva, an easy app to design with pictures and words. Click either image to enlarge.