Nice Celebrating Good Things

    Celebrating with Ruth Ayres at Discover Play Build.  and linking with others who share their celebrations, too. I am grateful to Ruth for helping us celebrate together!  

     It's been two weeks since I shared, and despite the chaos reigning in our government, I remain hopeful and committed to protest in any way I can. There are good things in my own life, and I'm happy about that.

      I loved meeting with what is now a writing "partner" (our group has dwindled to two) and it felt as if we helped each other focus on some goals, and add to ideas for revision of our projects.

       I've written a poem each day for a while, and now in February am writing each day for a challenge that Laura Shovan offers each February to help celebrate her birthday. You can read about it here on Laura's blog. http://laurashovan.com/2017/02/poetry-friday-10foundwords-2/  I've received rejections for a poem and a picture book story, am planning to look again, and try again.

Celebrating Everyday Joy

  Celebrating with Ruth Ayres at Discover Play Build.  and linking with others who share their celebrations, too. I am grateful to Ruth for helping us celebrate together!  


        A busy week with the grand-girls, walking and loving 'slightly' cooler weather, finding beauty everywhere, bookstore last Saturday subbing and regular Thursday. It all fills me up day to day. I feel my life is really a good one. Then on Tuesday I had terrible news, the tragic loss of a young family member. I'm respecting their privacy, am heartbroken for the family. And I want to say love each day, be kind and continue to celebrate the moments of your lives. 

        I am excited to be traveling Sunday to a poetry workshop at the Highlights Foundation with leaders Georgia Heard and Rebecca Kai Doltich, plus others you may know from teacher conferences and blogging. It is my third time there, and I nearly didn't try to go. Suddenly, way back when, I decided to see if there was a spot left, and there was. I will take joy from this all the rest of the year. Take joy when you can!

      Pictured here are books and bees, a granddaughter's hide 'n seek, one's guitar lesson, and a katydid upon my kitchen window! 

#SOL16 - 29/31 - The Joy of A Tree

SOLC #29/31 - 

      I'm slicing with the Two Writing Teachers community for Day Twenty-Nine of Thirty-One of the Slice of Life Challenge in March.  Thank you Stacey, Tara, Anna, Betsy, Dana, Kathleen, Beth, and Deb.  
       Wow-two days to go! Congratulations to all who've sliced twenty-nine days!

It's spring break for my granddaughters and they spent all day Monday with me. I'd love to tell you all the fun things we did, and it was a great day, but something happened near the end I'd like to focus on. 

Do you know this book? "In our bones we need the natural curves of hills, the scent of chaparral, the whisper of pines, the possibility of wildness."

— Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods  Louv's website is here.

              In the afternoon, the girls and I decided to go to a nearby park. It is a large open space park with scattered trees, broad walkways, and a nice playground. They took off. I had been there before with Imogene, the four year old, but Ingrid, six, had not experienced it. They loved every bit, and had the whole place to themselves. Here are a few pictures from that time. It was a sunny and airy day, a happy time pretending different things and trying new equipment.

A Week of Moments

              Celebrating small things is a gift each day. And to share with Ruth Ayes at Discover, Play Build each Saturday is one of those gifts we get to open each week! Thanks Ruth!
                                                       Tweet at #CelebrateLu!

I've been finishing reading the Poetry Friday Posts, and the final one, by Jone MacCullough, is a William Stafford poem, Noticing. One line reads: "and splendor discovers/itself in this world out of such quiet things".

Here are some 'quiet things' I discovered this week, perhaps a bit noisier than Stafford writes:

30/31 Time And Choices - Weaving More Than Yarn

Thank you to
       Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Anna, Dana and Beth for 

keeping us going, keeping writing about teaching along with your lives, slicers' lives, and all the myriad behind-the-scene details that enter into this month. Almost done, nearly there, what a journey!

Thank you to so many slicers who read my posts, who commented, and to those who wrote such words of inspiration that I had to re-read them, or copy and print them, or bookmark them for my teaching archives for future use. Your words will live on. Isn't that a wonderful thought?

I'm linking up to Two Writing Teachers for the 30th slice of 31!

Wow, next to the last day, and for one of the first times, I haven't yet linked my post. There aren't enough hours... I wove more than yarn yesterday into my life. My first day of spring break filled me up like a deep breath!

topsy-turvy weather - nearly always in Colorado

        Come join everyone slicing at the Two Writing Teachers blog with Ruth and Stacey!

       Last Friday I wrote about a snowy day and shared poems about snow.  This past Saturday we spent the day with our granddaughters and the temperature rose to 60 degrees.  We are used to change here in Denver but this was quite a difference.  It was a lovely day with the girls and I thought I'd share some photos of our time.  
        Ingrid will be three in April and is a wonder to be around.  When she lies down for her nap it is our custom to read two books of her choosing.  She still loves Goodnight Moon and lately Red Light, Green Light also by Margaret Wise Brown.  This time the routine was the same: "Which two books today, Ingrid?"  "Gramma, can we do three books?"  "No, you know what we do, two books."  Ingrid replies, "How about two and a half?"  Well, we did do that, and a few poems too.  It's quite fun to be a Gramma!


           According to accuweather.com, "Amarillo, Texas, and Jackson, Tenn., have more snow than Chicago this season. There have been mornings when temperatures in Louisiana and Florida have been colder than Maine at the same time."

Snow-still on the scene!

So we stayed in the yard to swing.

Grandpa held baby Imogene.

Who continues to be serene.

While Ingrid wishes most for spring! 

                                                          Awake, thou wintry earth -
                                                          Fling off thy sadness!
                                                          Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
                                                          Your ancient gladness!
                                                                             ~Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn"