Poetry Friday - Free for Play

     Poetry Friday is hosted by Matt Forrest Esenwine here at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme! Thanks, Matt for hosting and for celebrating those beautiful poems and poets in Lee's new Night Wishes!  

      I am thinking of all of you with the terrible fires and now flooding in our country, plus educators working so hard to do well for your students. It's a challenging time and I am hoping for better in less than two months!

     
          I moved into my 'now' home in 2012 and while I love the inside, the real reason that cinched my decision is this 100 years plus cottonwood in my side yard and all the trees surrounding me in the green space plus the library that is a block away. Those of you on social media with me probably recognize the tree because I really believe I might take more pictures of it than most anything, except for the grandchildren! Well, every few years, I need to have the arborists out, to check the tree's health and to trim some of the branches, those dead or dying and those hanging a little too low over the house. Yes, I have a motive for telling you this. The people who do this are wonderful and Tuesday, my yard and the outer garden one was covered with tree debris. They cleaned it up beautifully. But I am used to picking up sticks from this and other trees anyway and there were a few left. I started thinking about all the times my children and my grandchildren have played with sticks. I even remember a few times so long ago creating a structure with large sticks, then filling it up with snow for a snowball fight. They, thus my tree, is a treasure for more than one reason.

My Play Weekend

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

         “It is a happy talent to know how to play.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

      You probably already know, for sure, that a large slice of my life includes my two grand-girls. A part of my heart will always be occupied by them and by my grandson, now in another state and growing up so fast. He's fifteen and about to get his driver's permit! Wow!

      Saturday and Sunday I stayed at my daughter, Sarah & son-in-law, Dave's home with the grand-girls so that the parents could go away for these short two days to celebrate their fifteenth anniversary. They have a new dog, a rescued two year old cattle dog, so we all thought it would be better to stay at their home. He was great, and now I know him better, a nice thing. We did not go anywhere, but spent the days together. We played, they played, I read, they played, I cooked, they played, I did laundry, we played, we read, they entertained. We watched some funny mini-movies that held magic and fairies in a bit of mystery, And then we read more books, and the girls played some more. We didn't have to go anywhere, and usually we do, but it was one of those weekends when there was no expectation except fun.

Slice of Life Play

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

      "Sooner or later we all discover that the important moments in life are not the advertised ones, not the birthdays, the graduations, the weddings, not the great goals achieved. The real milestones are less prepossessing. They come to the door of memory unannounced, stray dogs that amble in, sniff around a bit and simply never leave. Our lives are measured by these."

-Susan B. Anthony

#SOL16 - 10/31 If It's Wednesday

SOLC #10/31 - 

      I'm slicing with the Two Writing Teachers community for Day Ten of Thirty-One of the Slice of Life Challenge in March.  Thank you Stacey, Tara, Anna, Betsy, Dana, Kathleen, Beth, and Deb.  
       Ramona at Pleasures from the Page wrote a lovely post yesterday celebrating Simple Pleasures, and asked what others' simple pleasures might be.  I loved the way she wrote, and knew one thing I was likely to choose, about one of my granddaughters.   

      If it's Wednesday, after school, that means Imogene, my four year old grand-girl comes to stay, to travel to a park or to play or to read, OR all three. 
       I have various toys still at my house, a box of blocks and one of legos, a bucket of matchbox cars, and a tiny box of cheap plastic wild animals. Imi comes in after school, has a quick snack and starts playing-something. I have grown to understand that this isn't the time to talk much; it's like a decompression from school, rather like the commute home that many say they need. I usually ask if she's had a good day; she usually says "yes". And I ask what was a good part of the day. Today it was that Penelope, her friend at school who had a bad eye accident, got to take off her eye patch. Yes, it's a great school, and yes, Imi does lots of interesting activities, but she also loves her friends, and this eye accident has been much on her mind. 

Praising Play - Poetry Friday

         Tara Smith hosts us today at A Teaching Life. And she's helping us to end our week so wonderfully with a poem of Mary Oliver's. Thanks Tara!

             Among all the gloomy news and escalating conflicts, I've been reading too about the importance of play for children. There are also articles urging "play" for adults. All of us will benefit when we take time to explore, have fun, be outdoors in nature and laugh! 

           One article from The Washington Post is found here about children's play.  And another story is found here from NPR concerning adult play.

Ready, Set, Go!

It's a “Mother, may I”,

seesaw

day.

Cartwheeling, jumps,

swing and

sway,

four square, kickball

hopscotch

PLAY!

Linda Baie © All Rights Reserved

photo credit: Children dancing in circle bronze statue via photopin (license)

Autumn brings old memories

Time for the weekly Slice of Life at the Two Writing Teachers blog.  Tweet at #SOL14  Thanks Stacey, Tara, Dana, Beth, Anna and Betsy!

      I usually don't work Mondays, so today I played a little bit, taking pictures and really just being out in our fabulous fall weather. It was especially windy, and leaves blew, and blew, then blew some more. Some branches are stripped! My garden filled up with leaves, as did the evergreens. I posted a poem on Margaret Gibson's kidblog site, where they gave a challenge to write a choka, which is a double haiku, for the National Day Of Writing. Check it out from her students! That pushed me to sit in the yard and take a 'burst' of photos on my phone so I could capture leaves falling. See, I really did play! That one leaf in photo two looks like a butterfly!