Slicing for A Friend

        I'm slicing with the Two Writing Teachers community today. It's been almost exactly a year since I posted here. I have years of fond memories on this site, have shared hilarity, experiences, and sadness here. I've made friends and sometimes met those friends in person! I've written in March with students and then after retirement, without, a kind of mourning to know that my teaching days had ended. I'm still reading and reviewing, sharing on Mondays and Wednesdays, and writing poetry as well as reading it, sharing that on Fridays. 

         This post is a return, perhaps not every Tuesday, but I have received several "asks" from a long-time slicer friend, Terje Akke, whom I'm sure you know, who blogs at Just For A Month. This is for my over-the-ocean friend.

          I've become quite immersed in a few things this year that take more time than I ever imagined: 

          Politics! Since the 2016 election, I have become involved more than ever before, writing letters, calling, donating where I can. I won't make this a huge diatribe in this post, but I am alarmed at the happenings in the past two years, and won't stop trying to make things better. 

         A Used Bookstore! I've been a customer at this bookstore for years, drove into the city from my home in the suburbs to visit it. I moved to my new home six years ago last December. Hard to believe it's been that long. A few years ago, after I retired from teaching middle school at an independent school for gifted children, I volunteered at the store. It is a non-profit, kind of like a coop, and run entirely by volunteers. We have a couple who are managers, but they too are volunteers! Super, right? Well, more and more time committed, and now I am on the board and the volunteer coordinator. Kind of like having another class, ha! I love working with all these people and each is as individual as my students were. It's lots of fun and oh my, the books! I try hard not to bring home some every week, but it is a challenge. I work a shift regularly, too, and love interacting with customers, helping them if they want it, but many, including the kids, just want to browse. I'm also in charge of the children's sections and that is a love that doesn't stop.

My Experience Broadens My Knowledge

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

         

         I had cataract surgery last Thursday. I've put it off for over a year but knew it was worsening and I had to do it. I was scared but I did it and now I'm so pleased. Each day, and now today, it's totally better. I took a drive last night and can see everything without that funny ring around the lights! My insurance paid for nearly all of it and my doctor had a coupon that limited the after-care meds to sixty dollars. 

        I tell you this because my mind before and after has been questioning and researching. What if my doctor did not work hard to help patients with the price of the meds? I was told that this one bottle of drops would have been more than three hundred dollars! And I have three different prescriptions for drops! I have been watching the news and interviews from people who are paying so much for medical care because they don't have insurance. I am alarmed by those who believe that the Affordable Care Act, or something similar, is not what our country needs. 

          And then I discovered this site! There are others, too. The highlighted words are: "Of the more than 39 million people worldwide suffering from unnecessary blindness, more than half are due to cataract - which can be surgically treated. Most of these people live in the developing world, where poor nutrition and limited access to eye care can mean a life limited by needless blindness."  This article tells of a doctor who's restored the sight of thousands of people across Europe and Asia.  Here is a link to an organization that helps people in the U.S. who do not have the coverage for this surgery. Yes, the U.S. has people who need the surgery and cannot afford it, too. 

         I guess readers can call this a Public Service Announcement. I am grateful for my experience, but want everyone with a need to have it, too! 

  

Daily Slice Search

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        I wrote about this same topic last Saturday, celebrating my daily walks. Yesterday was a grey day, full of snow in the morning and bitter cold. Luckily the sun did appear and my daughter and granddaughters came to spend the afternoon, just hanging out and visiting. It was a sunny day after all.

        This morning, still cold but I was determined to get out and continue my walks exploring the various parks within my neighborhood. There are many and this time, a short drive brought me to Crescent Park, a bigger park with a hill built in that I hadn't walked up yet. I make it a goal to look for beauty and surprise, and if I take the time to "look long" (see poem by John Moffat here) I do find something to love. This morning, I found, sometimes in my imagination!

growth

a gathering

a place to sit

A Reader Blooms

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      Because I'm not teaching anymore, it's exciting to talk with young readers at the bookstore and help them find a book they will enjoy. Often they're searching for a book "like" one they've loved before. 

      It's also a wonderful thing to see how much Ingrid and Imogene love books. They spent their final vacation day with me yesterday and part of the day was spent reading together. Ingrid, in third grade, had some struggles at the beginning but is reading well now. She just finished Wonder, partly because she's seen the movie and also because her teacher read it aloud before the holidays. She wrote a letter to an author yesterday about a poetry book I just bought for her and Imogene. We read the book first, discussed it, then Ingrid wanted to write. 

     Imogene is in kindergarten, has loved books from the beginning, yet has resisted any talk about learning to read. The books are read to her, then she takes over, going through the books again, and again, creating the story in "her" words. I don't know why the resistance, but it's been there, until this year. She has been pulled out in a small group to help her learn more and that teacher has done something magical to inspire her. She's beginning to read! And now she points out words that she knows! 

      Often, when the girls are with me all day, they end up creating notes for their parents. This time, Ingrid had already begun, and Imi said she wanted to write a letter to her Mama. She chose a coloring page from the net with a big heart and two roses on it. And she colored it with concentration, filling all the parts in. Sometimes she doesn't do that, but this time, the motivation was there and every part looked good! In the past, she has just written: "Love, Imogene". This time, she says to me, "I want to write more. Will you help me spell the words?" I don't have a picture of the note, too private, but it involved several sentences, a need to show her what a comma looked like, and the spelling of "anything" because she wanted to write, "Mama, you can do anything!"  

       Words for those who work with children come to my mind: sharing beautiful books, patience, and finding authentic reasons and audiences to write.

Slicing Up The Days

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         It is hard to watch the news. I know many of you feel that, and have felt it for over a year now. I am trying to keep up, send letters, contribute to those organizations who are fighting for our freedoms. And I am finding time to take a break, to keep my spirits up, to find that the world does hold joy when one looks. 

I saw a piece this past Sunday about the plight especially of the children in Syria where not only are soldiers being bombed, but the hospitals who are caring for the injured, and many are children, badly injured, dying. But they also showed doctors and nurses who stay, despite the risk to their own lives. 

I see journalists carrying on to find truth, what we in our country count on, and I wish I could tell them all "thank you".

I see my grandchildren, eager to live their lives in play, whether moving into college searching and passionate about photography, or navigating new social changes of 3rd grade, or discovering that letters can turn into words, they are learning that growing older can be 'life-changing" and just plain fun, too. The girls spent much of the day with me today, last day before returning to school. It was play, play, play! I contributed snacks, project materials, and some Christmas books.

 I talk to my family, proud to know they are aware of those things important to our country.

And I am lucky that I have the time to be out in nature, visiting all over my neighborhood, even in my own garden. We've been unusually warm recently. I saw a ladybug today and took one picture of the rose hips, colored beauties, bird food! 

Searching for good things helps, knowing that I can make my days better helps. Reading and writing, that too creates joy.

rose hips in one part of my garden 

            

Finding Stories - Connecting

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          Brief, hopefully a story to consider in contrast with your own lives. I enjoy talking with people, learning as much about them as I can when we have even a brief encounter. I had a wonderful time at the poetry retreat last week at Highlights with time to visit with others in the group as enjoyable as the work on poetry was.

          Yesterday I posted this picture on FB, with these words: 

"There is joy found when leaves fall. Now I can see more of the sunset!"  

And I was reminded of the quote which I have on my refrigerator. 

       You know that I focus on the good things in my life, and that was brought into a new focus last week from my Uber driver to the airport. This driver was a young man with an accent, and I discovered he had immigrated from Togo (east of Ghana) three years ago. He came alone, misses his family, but told me things were going well. And then he said that he was lucky to get my call for a ride. He came from work and was nearby, so could pick me up fast. And he did. He had just finished his night shift at a nearby factory, told me that he worked as long in the morning as he was called for more rides, then slept a few hours in the afternoon, then back to work. He felt lucky. We had a nice conversation on the way, about Denver and the mountains. Enough of a slice to remember, right?

       

A Reminding Story

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I have two posts today, am participating in a blog tour and giveaway of an adorable book for young ones, HERE!

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    This is a story, a slice from my life years ago that I mean to connect from that long ago yesterday to today and to tomorrow, too. I am alarmed at the recent call for boycotting of those who think differently than others, to demean them instead of defending their right to speak out. It is not always agreeable to give someone the right to act or speak words that differ from one's own or what one imagines to be "most everyone", but they do have that right. 

     Here is a brief explanation from the U.S. Court site of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

      Years ago when I began teaching, my first year as a first-grade teacher, one of my student's family's beliefs did not include any kind of celebrations. Not birthdays, not saying the Pledge of Allegiance, not celebrating those fall holidays of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. In the years since, I've had many students who need time to celebrate or to observe various other holidays from their chosen religious beliefs, students who have needed to find a way to pray at certain times of the day, even on overnight trips.

Friday Night Lights and More!

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         Like others, I travel to see one of my children and the rest of that family. And like last year, I had the pleasure of going to a Friday Night Lights game to see my grandson Carter's marching band, and the football game, of course! This time, I want to give a shout out to how wonderful teens are, and the parents who support them! We traveled about three hours to Abilene, an 'away' game, and yes, parents came too, with the trailer and the grill to feed them first! They do this every game, home and away, and I am in awe of their work and dedication. I didn't get a picture of the kids sitting and eating and having fun before the game because I was serving, too. But each time I offered a plate, with a tortilla ready for soft tacos, each one smiled and said 'thank you'! Everyone should spend time around high schoolers at least once in a while. They're enthusiastic, hard-working, and make me happy to see them. We also went to the South Plains Fair to see Carter's photo in the entries from his school, and to eat funnel cakes! The fair was just as you imagine it: entries to amaze, crowds of excited kids, deep-fried everything, the knife salesman and the animals! I haven't been to a fair in a long time, and it was fun!

          Here are some pics from my trip, all too quickly in the past, but filling me up with good memories! 

Barb and Nathan, parents extraordinaire!

Barb and another parent prepping!

Nathan preparing the meat!

One More Time and Tiny Slices

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The afternoon knows what the morning never expected. ~ old Swedish saying

      The last time I wrote on Tuesday was to take a moment to consider the help that was/will be needed for those who were devastated by Hurricane Harvey. Yes, just two weeks ago. Now, it's time for us to add our help to those in the path of Hurricane Irma. Oh, what a frightening weekend this past one was for many in her path! I am happy that those I know in the Caribbean and in Florida are okay. Some do not have power, but they have had little to no damage to their homes.

           I realize that others are not so fortunate. In that recent post, I spoke of my goal to find schools and libraries that needed help, and one friend from Houston has shared that her older children's high school and middle school are okay, but the younger daughter's elementary was destroyed, and it won't reopen in another site for two more weeks. I have and will continue to help them, and will see if those in Florida have a specific need, too. In the midst of these busy start-of-school days, Mother Nature has once again forced us to take notice, but in an un-gentle way! I am hoping that Captiva Island has not been hit too hard by Irma!

           And Monday I spent some time watching the ceremonies to remember those who died on 9/11. After sixteen years, I know that many of us remember and remember and remember with sorrow.

       I feel very busy, yet little has changed except I've had a few extra things to do, like manage to get an arborist and crew in to trim my old and needy cottonwood tree or call a plumber to fix a minor problem. I've also made a few regular doctor appointments, managed to get my hair cut and train some new volunteers (The bookstore schedule is nearly full!). I snatch every moment I can to read and write. I have a story and several poems I'm working on and excited about. And in my usual week, Ingrid and Imogene are regular visitors. Some days, it feels as if my life fills with the tiniest of sliced hours, but each part is sweet, just like my summer beach time and that key lime pie, of course!

Much To Do, and Continue to Do

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. ~Anne Frank

         Much of my life is often involved with nature. Last week I celebrated nature through the amazing experience of the eclipse. This week, nature showed us she still is in charge no matter what we have created or learned to do that we believe makes life better. Whether we live close or far away, we'll need to be helping coastal Texas for a long time. 

        I imagine you've all seen the long list of places that welcome donations. And I have given. But I will always be a teacher, and while I've watched the news often, all I've seen about schools is that they're closed, at least for this week. And I think there must be a lot of schools and teachers who will need to fill classrooms all over again with equipment and supplies and books! The priority now is to save people and help them save their homes if possible. But soon, remember the teachers, too. I've wished many good wishes as the new year is beginning, and now hope we can all help those teachers in need, and therefore, the kids! 

        FYI - Kate Messner has started fundraising with "Kitlit Cares" where many authors and illustrators are offering literacy experiences for schools and classrooms with a bid that will help the needs of the storm victims. Look here for the posts!

A Slice of What Used To Be

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   I retired two years ago, and I write less and less of teaching. Mostly I have old memories, old "things I used to do". The best thing is staying in touch with former students! But here at the beginning of the year, I do like to share at least one thing I did that may be helpful. This is a re-write from a post several years ago. 

       On the first day of school, I wanted my class to know that this would be a year filled with reading and writing, and I wanted them to realize that they were the ones that would be driving the year. I taught a mix of 6th, 7th and 8th graders and many of you know that personal choice was a top priority for all of our students, K through 8. One of the things I did on the first day was to share a poem or a poetic quote to help us leap into the year. I gave each student a copy, they taped it into their writers' notebooks, and then responded to it. In that response, I asked them to make one secret and very personal goal for the year.  Although I never knew what those particular goals were, I would re-visit students once in a while to ask how they were doing with it, and if there was something I could provide that would help reach the goal? Obviously, it involved trust. There were other times that students created goals that I did know about, but I felt that trusting that they could work to reach a goal secretly was inspiring and empowering. 

        Yesterday on Facebook, Michelle Haseltine (One Grateful Teacher) asked for ideas of poems for 7th graders for the beginning of the year. Here are two poems I used often and shared with her, both by Eve Merriam: "Metaphor" and "Thumbprint", highlighting the concept of Tabula Rasa, or "clean slate" and the uniqueness of each person. You can find them on the web easily, and I suspect many of you already know them. There are others that might fit you and your class, but these two are favorites of mine. And here is another, some call a poem and others name it a quote, author unknown. It's inspiring to me, too, every time I read it. It calls for courage, venturing into the unknown, just what each student does every year. 

        Don't you agree that they're brave?

As you journey through life,

      choose your destinations well,

      but do not hurry there.

      You will arrive soon enough.

      Wander the back roads and forgotten    

            paths,

      keeping your destination

      like the fixed point of a compass.

      Seek out new voices, strange sights,

      and ideas foreign to your own.

      Such things are

      riches for the soul.

      And if, upon arrival,

      you find that your destination

      is not exactly as you had dreamed,

      do not be disappointed.

      Think of all you would have missed

      but for the journey there.

      and know that the true worth

      of your travels lies not in where

      you come to be at journey’s end,

      but in who you come to be

      along the way.

      

            anonymous

    Best wishes as you all begin your journeys this school year if you are still educators. If not, the wishes go to you as well in your own unique journeys.

Slice of Loving Nature

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         I just returned from two weeks on Captiva Island, in a house by the ocean with my family. Aside from glorying in the ocean, swimming and playing every day, saying goodnight to the sun, I do what I seem to do everywhere, watch the animal life. I couldn't take pictures of the live sand dollars I found, but we brought them out briefly in order to wonder at their small waving tentacles. I couldn't take a pic of the black snake with yellow under the head I saw wriggling through the sand, but I'll remember where I think it lives, in an awesome tree outside the house that must be home for a wealth of small creatures. My regret is that I don't have the time to observe for months. I think I would see changes that would surprise, just as I do in my own home. I'm hoping that the grandchildren will continue to notice, love and respect their own natural worlds as they grow up.

That special tree where the snake disappeared.

Here are the animals I managed to capture, among so many others we saw. 

Live shell found, observed, and returned to the sea.

Life By The Numbers

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1. One thing checked off the list, applied for TSA pre-check. It was fun to be at the airport without hurrying. I had my favorite iced chai, browsed at the bookstore, looked at some of the galleries all before my appointment.
2. Two days from now begins the Denver Public Library Sale. There are thousands of books to browse, but I usually stick to kids' books and poetry, sometimes biography/memoir.                                                                                                                                Two weeks from today is Independence Day. I have a new book that I imagine everyone loving. It's Blue Sky White Stars by Sarvinder Naberhaus, illustrated by Kadir Nelson. I haven't reviewed it yet, but it is gorgeous, a tribute to the American flag.  
3. Three poems have been written these recent three days! Now to return to them to see what can be better.
4.      Four days after Independence Day, I'll be on my way to the beach. Yep, I'm counting down!
5. The number of books I bought last week when I visited my favorite Indie bookstore, The Tattered Cover. Yes, I held it to five, but sat and read at least another five picture books while I was there.
6. Guessing, but I think I've worked about six hours in the garden since Saturday, cutting back plants that shouldn't be where they've moved, deadheading and of course, looking for bindweed! It truly is like the Energizer Bunny, just keeps going (growing)!
7. I have seven things I must do on Tuesday because Wednesday is the sale and a dinner party and Thursday is the bookstore: renew two things, pay two bills, grocery shop, pick up a dress from the alterations shop, write one poem, work on another piece I'm writing, dust. Notice that dusting is at the end!   

     An Aristotle quote:  "All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion and desire." Did I make the connections in number seven?

 

End of Year Thankyous

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   Ending a school year runs through my veins. Once a teacher, always a teacher. I hope each one of you who have ended or are in the midst of completing the year with pizzazz have a lovely summer break wherever it may find you. I remember both the excitement and the fatigue.

  This year my oldest granddaughter attended second grade in a new school and she's had

a fabulous year. This isn't about the school, but a tribute to the impact that teachers make on their students. I thought you would like to know. This teacher started the year in part of her literacy curriculum by reading aloud Sharon Creech's wonder of a book, Love That Dog. Well, those who know me know that I love poetry, so now I was in love with this teacher! But that's not all. She not only read the book aloud, but the class studied each poem and each poet, then began writing poetry in those styles. Wow. To have Ingrid come home to show me poems written in the styles of Walter Dean Myers and Valerie Worth was a gift worth having. I began to think her teacher was Ms. Stretchberry in disguise!

 I've read lots of poetry to Ingrid and her sister, but this teacher and her approach, however it played out in the classroom, has made an impact on Ingrid that I imagine poetry will often be something she will turn to. She still writes in her journal, she still makes up rhyming songs, and she still turns to a book I own that I also bought for her classroom last fall at their book fair. It's the recent anthology created by Kenn Nesbitt and Christoph NiemannIt includes familiar and not so familiar current and past poets and poems. After I gave it to the classroom, Ingrid says her teacher read from it every day, and there was a list to sign up for students to read it during silent reading time. Nothing like making something important- a list of whose turn is next!

      Nearly every time Ingrid has come to visit, she pulls out the book and reads more poems, sometimes sharing with me, often reading silently. During that time, all of a sudden she will laugh, and say "listen to this one. Sara (her teacher-they use first names) read this one and it is so funny." I sent the book home with her this week. She says, "maybe for the summer, maybe for always. . ."

 This is why I'm writing tonight. I'm thinking of all the Ms. Stretchberrys of the world who, like my granddaughter's teacher, has given something they might never know they gave, a passion for something. 

 Thank you!

Imagination Inspiration

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         I love windows, pictures of windows, sketching windows, doors too. And I love imagining what's going on inside those windows. A recent picture book I read is about a Mama Rabbit carrying her little bunny home. On the way they see lighted windows and the people in them, imagining a little more than what they see. The book is The Way Home In The Night written and illustrated by Akiko Miyakoshi. I'm in the midst of writing a picture book story that involves numerous characters, so when I read the book, I connected especially to those lit windows, imagining my own characters and what I might see if I "peeked" through each child's window. I've begun taking notes about each one, drawing a window, putting the notes "inside" the window of what I create about the particular child. 

         As a writer, I question all the time, and am wondering if that's what you who are reading do, too, when you write? Sometimes that questioning voice is tiring, and I want it to stop, and simply say "Okay, just let those words stay." When I re-read what I've written, I also wonder and wonder, "Is this enough? How much more is needed? What is it I want readers to understand?" See, more questions! 

          That's how my life is slicing lately, lots of writing, lots of questions, with a bit of cleaning in between and some good times with the family. Also, lots of looking in windows!

photo credit: hans pohl Monsaraz via photopin (license)