A Couple of Nice Days

       I'm slicing with the Two Writing Teachers community today. It's always a pleasure to read what everyone writes about their lives.

        For those who celebrated, hoping your family was fun, and your feast a feast, no matter what you served.

        I am still sad and worried about the election result, am reading and doing what I think I can to keep things I believe are important for all Americans.  I've signed petitions, sent messages, donated to certain groups. There is so much to take in, and much to be sure I'm aware of. 

       And, I continue to live my life, work at the bookstore, have lovely times with family, including the grand-girls. Ingrid spent two days last week with me and I helped her shop for family members. She was given a certain amount of money and had to plan well to be able to afford gifts for each person. I shopped too and had Ingrid help me choose some of my gifts also. We had an early treat at Starbucks, and late lunch, then went home to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening wrapping. It was a joy of a day. The next day we woke to light snow, stayed home and I helped Ingrid write some poetry and create some turkey place cards for our Thanksgiving. Among all the other things I do to create a good life, I will always put the grandchildren first. FYI, after these two days, Ingrid and I picked up Imogene from school and spent the rest of the day playing and going out for dinner. And, one evening last week I had a good phone call from Carter. It was a nice 'grandchild' week!

At the store Anthropologie

Celebrating Happy Times

              I celebrate each Saturday with Ruth Ayres at Discover Play Build - Week number 97! There are many others who celebrate, too. Come join us!          Tweet at #CelebrateLu

         It was a good, full week, with daily walks, reading and writing and meetings with the new teacher I'm working with. There are many small things to celebrate, and at the end, one big thing, my husband, Arvie, who left us two years ago yesterday.

So today, I made a peach pie, his favorite dessert, and all week have been thinking of what he would be doing if here, the adventures he would "cook up", wondering always how he would like my new home and the way he would change it to make it "ours", and wonder how he would like me being retired, as he was for a while, the time to linger in the morning instead of rushing off to work?  I'm celebrating what a wonderful man Arvie was, all the "good" words one can say, and how his exuberance for living changed me too. I am blessed to have had the years we had together. Here are pics of him being the super grandfather he was when all the kids were younger. And one of that peach pie! Hug your friends and family every day; time goes so quickly.

Celebrating Imagination

              I celebrate each Saturday with Ruth Ayres at Discover Play Build - Week number 97! There are many others who celebrate, too. Come join us!          Tweet at #CelebrateLu

         The week filled up with those nice things one savors, good connections, good meetings, good times with friends. But today I celebrate the amazing power of imagination. You know how much I love my grandchildren, also think they're very cute, just as you all think of your own children, family, including dogs. It was National Dog Day on Thursday, did you notice? The wonderful pictures on FB made me wish for a dog again.

          In watching the grand-girls yesterday, I had the chance to contemplate the power of play, am celebrating only one thing today, the power of imagination. There have been a number of articles recently about the importance of play, that too much is being taken away and replaced by worksheets/seatwork, in pre-school too!  I kept Imogene yesterday, and she played. We read, we went to the park and met a worm on the way, imagined what it might be like to live in the grass, all alone. What did it eat? Where did it go at night? At the park, Imi started some game in which she paused, said a nonsense rhyme, a shout, then ran up and down the play space again. I'm not sure what she was doing, but she was smiling all the time. 

I missed this Caldecott-did you?

       The wonderful blog Gathering Books is holding an Award Winning Book challenge this year.  They, and others of us who have taken this challenge have reviewed many books from all over the world that have been acclaimed in some way by an award.  The best thing is I have discovered numerous kinds of awards that I've never heard of, thus also new books to put on a TBR list.  My list grows longer, and it's exciting to see what writers are doing beyond my own community here in the US.

Slice of Life Tuesday - April Means Poetry

  The Slice of Life Group Can Be Found at Two Writing Teachers with Stacey and Ruth.  Come read some beautiful writing!  One more thank you for the March challenge.  A friend gave me a book of daily writings from Rilke.  One day this arrived:  I live my life in widening circles That reach out across the world.  Rainer Maria Rilke  It seemed important to share with the slicers!

     Also, be sure to check on the Poetry Tag Group shown at the right!  And check on Jama Rattigan's blog post at Jama's Alphabet Soup  to discover so many Poetry sites in the kidlitosphere doing wonderful things!  Cathy, at Merely Day By Day, is joining Mary Lee, at A Year of Reading in a poem a day this month. Other daily poem writers include Amy at The Poem Farm, and Donna at Mainely Write.

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 I am pursuing a personal project about different ways of looking at children (mine, others, and grandchildren, too) growing up.  It will be a series of poems at different stages in a life, essentially saying goodbye each time.  I hope to put them together in a book with pictures of my grandchildren (now 10 ½, almost 3, 7 months) at the particular stage I am describing in the poem.  Part of this comes from my talks with my daughter, about pregnancy, the children growing and changing so fast.  Another part is that I love telling stories through poetry, and I love poems of goodbye, so I thought this would be a good way to combine both passions.  Someday I hope to put it all together in a book for my grandchildren.  It’s good to have a goal and an audience to write for.  You can find poem number one here, and number two here. 

(3)

Toddling into two-

on your way to three,

I find I miss your

halting steps,

holding my hand

only to move

off the curb.

Now you begin

learning no and then why

and I do it-

startling

pronouncements

of separation.

Your eyes prowl

for the next adventure,

now.

Wow, you are growing,

your baby steps going

into a run-and-jump song.

If this could be slowed

I would linger a while

keeping your baby smile

only for me.

Poem for My New Granddaughter

Slice of Life Tuesday, August 9, 2011

To Imogene-My New Granddaughter

When I wrote THE BABY’S COMING!

I didn’t expect after your arrival

to have my breath shortened,

to need that quick intake of oxygen

meant to overcome my surprise-

my surprise-

at your perfection.

Your head-smooth roundness-

nestles in my hand,

as my fingers gentle your cheek,

so soft I finally comprehend

the meaning of gossamer.

At only these few hours old

you open your eyes

and search my face,

begin to memorize your world.

You wait to be shaped.

I see your questions,

your desire to be protected,

the wish to be loved.

A small cry turns the calm

into need.

You nuzzle for your mother.

I give you over to her,

glad to have held

a bit of perfection

for that moment.