Celebrating Always

       Celebrating with Ruth Ayres and others today. Come visit to see how wonderful it is to celebrate all the delights of the week! 

    

      Congratulations on this wonderful coming book, Ruth!

      What a week of sadness in Texas! I've written about it more than once, trying to find some goodness in this weather tragedy and there are things to celebrate about those who have stepped forward, or have done the jobs they were meant to do but as heroes who possibly slept less than ever. They continue to help as do many everywhere.

      Except for the concern of those who have met such tragedy, I had a good week with visits and bookstore work, writing and reading. My usual good days! The grand-girls spent Friday with me because they had the day off from school. Most of the time was spent in performance! They created a few song and dance shows for me with new performance ribbons and an old plastic toy microphone I have. BTW, this mike was used often in my classroom, no matter the pretending, even my middle schoolers loved it! 

      My son called this am to firm up the plans for a ticket he was sending to come visit them later in the month! I am excited!

Kindness Creates More Kindness

          Celebrating with Ruth Ayres and others today. Come visit to see how lovely it is to celebrate all the delights of the week! 

        As I wrote last week, I'm taking the next week or more off to travel to my brother and sister-in-law's home in mid-Missouri, to view the eclipse! I am excited. My daughter and the granddaughters, perhaps my son, will join us and we are preparing for an amazing experience! I hope some of you will be able to view it where you are! 

        My brother owns an antique store in the town where we'll be and he has been preparing for the girls to help him with a lemonade/snack stand so they can help him. They have been so excited about this that their papa built them a stand for here in Denver so they could practice. Then, their mama helped with ingredients and decorations. I'm celebrating my brother whose kindness started the girls, then their parents, thinking of how to make this a wonderful experience even before we leave on our trip. Here are pictures from this morning.  Kindness is contagious!

Posing for me! They're ready!

Serving a customer. 

The Menu

Sunshine meant time for the umbrella.

Monday Reading - Kind Deeds

         Visit Jen at Teach MentorTexts and Kellee and Ricki at UnleashingReaders to see what they've been reading, along with everyone else who link up.  This past week was certainly exciting. My list to books to read grew longer, although I was proud that I had read many of the award winners, and that is thanks to all of you who share the books you love. Don't stop!

In The Footsteps of Crazy Horse - Joseph Marshall III, with illustrations by Jim Yellowhawk

              All my life I’ve heard the stories of Crazy Horse and especially the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and usually it was from a sorrowful perspective of the loss of General Custer and his men. This time, Joseph Marshall has written a wonderful book for middle grade readers from the perspective of Native Americans, particularly Tasunke Witko, known as Crazy Horse. Jimmy McClean, a Lakota boy, although his name does not show it, is being teased at school because his name doesn’t seem to mean he’s Native Lakota, and because he has light hair. His thoughtful grandfather, Nyles High Eagle, takes him on a summer trip to learn about Crazy Horse, and the heritage Jimmy can be proud of. Marshall uses oral stories from the Lakotas to tell this story as Jimmy and his grandfather visit important parts of Crazy Horse’s life all the way to the heart-breaking surrender. Jimmy gains perspective about the sadness of loss on both sides, but pride in the way Crazy Horse led his people, in his courage in war and in thinking of his people. Each chapter’s heading is a lovely painting by Jim Yellowhawk, and there is a glossary and bibliography. A map at the beginning of the story helps the reader trace the paths of Crazy Horse. Children reading this will enjoy the journey, and learn that history should be approached from all points of view. 

          I’m catching up on books that came out last year that others loved and I never read, and also managed to read one more from 2016, Saline Yoon’s terrific Be A Friend, newly arrived, and one that could be paired beautifully with Stick and Stone. And, I just realized that a theme of each of these picture books is kindness, doing the right thing, even when it's hard.

Some Special Thoughts

               The weekly Slices of Life can be found at the blog, Two Writing Teachers, created by Stacey Shubitz and Ruth Ayres. Be sure to visit and read, read, read!

         I have mixed emotions about my slice today.  I have just returned from a wonderful family trip with my daughter and two granddaughters (almost one and three years old).  We spent half a week with my side of the family and the other half with my husband’s side.  All too brief was this visit, but filled with so many good memories.  We swam, we saw and petted goats, we played on playgrounds, and we rode on a merry-go-round, in a mall, Ingrid’s first ride!  Imogene began crawling all over, so her exploration was phenomenal.  Ingrid got to play and sing her songs on a real grand piano, and beat out rhythms on an African slit drum.  Because of the drought, we were sorrowful because no lightning bugs appeared, so that will have to be on the next adventure.  We ate ice cream every evening and talked into the night.  My daughter and I got to talk and talk, then talk some more. 

            Ingrid became so excited seeing wind turbines, and wanted photo after photo of them, so we slowed and took all that she wished – click, click.  “Grandma, can I see?”  We looked for red cars and buses and cows, and saw quite a few.  We noted all the colors of the cattle-black, black and white, brown.  We sang songs and looked for anything we could find of interest on the plains of Kansas.  There are many things of beauty, yes, even in a drought, even when it’s over a hundred degrees, even on the plains. 

            If you notice that I’m speaking of small things and being present in the moment, that is what one does with a three year old.  And when one does that, we grown-ups also notice things with a new brightness, a new appreciation.