Treasured Times

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

         The last time I posted was about point of view, and I think I may always be considering it, trying to learn from others' opinions, too. This touches growth mindset too, doesn't it?

So, I had the extreme pleasure of joining Georgia Heard, Rebecca Kai Dotlich and an amazing group of poets at the Highlights Foundation retreat poetry workshop last week, "The Craft and Art of Writing Poetry for Children". And again, the time opened my mind to some new ideas, and affirmed old ones. Listening, "hearing" others' POVs excited and taught me. 

            Some of the group I had written with before at an earlier retreat, some are teacher/bloggers I've met at NCTE. Some are poetry Friday bloggers I've written with for a long time and was thrilled to meet and know better. And those new to me, so glad to make good connections, beginning friendships! 

Monday Reading Recap

           Every Monday, it's a pleasure to link up with a group that reviews books they want to share with others. Come discover new books!

          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.   

Tweet #IMWAYR

          I didn't post last week, was at a Highlights Poetry Workshop, a wonderful experience. I've read since then and before, but the time away was filled with poetry from everyone there, and from various books. But, I have finished some wonderful chapter books and a couple of picture books, all good!

         I am happy to share this older poetry book and biography. I loved Issa’s story, one of love-for haiku, and one of sorrow--much loss and rejection. With haiku on every page, accompanied by the original language and gorgeous illustrations, it is a biography that entertains the reader as well as teaches the writer.

           It’s a myth with basic facts about the evolution of wolves evolving into dogs as friends of men. Hudson Talbott has created a fiction story to tell the tale, about an "outcast" young boy and young wolf who eventually find that it is to the advantage of both that they survive together. And soon, there are more like this pair. Some facts are included in the story showing changes of dogs through many years, but I believe it would be a mistake to present this as truth. At least more research is needed, and some sources are given in an author's note. The author writes that this is a "myth of origin", and like other tales that have been created, he too has created one. The illustrations are lively and interesting.

A Celebration To Love

  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!  

from Madeleine L'Engle
       "Stories make us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving."

       I spent this past week until Thursday at the Highlights Barn for The Craft and Heart of Writing Poetry for Children workshop with Georgia Heard, Rebecca Kai Dotlich and a group of old friends and also new ones. That old song kept flying through my mind about keeping old friends and making new ones-one silver and the other gold. How in four days such special connections are made is a wonder to me. I wrote with some of the group three years ago and was thrilled to be with them again. I've met some at teacher conventions, but most I know through their blogging, thus, their stories! Today I celebrate stories, and those willing to share them during this oh, so brief, time. They shared them when they shared their poems for response, how the poems came to "be" in their lives, and what they meant to them. They shared at meals, on the paths as we walked and talked, then talked some more, telling about our lives, where and when and how and why.  I heard highs and lows from family and work and struggles still happening, as well as those from the past. Stories make who we are, and I was honored to hear them. 

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! 

Poetry Friday - Being Presidential

               Poetry Friday is with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater at The Poem Farm! This time, there is a wonderful sharing of a new Poetry Friday book from Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, and Janet is answering questions about it. Be sure to check out Amy's great post!

              FYI -  I visited Michelle at Today's Little Ditty on Thursday, with a poem about my granddaughter and school, written to Jane Yolen's challenge this month. Be sure to check Michelle's blog for all the poems she shares and on her new padlet that's collecting those written for the challenges.
            And, I am so excited to attend the Highlights foundation workshop beginning Sunday with Georgia Heard and Rebecca Kai Dotlich. Wow! And there will be PF people there that I can now meet, or reconnect with: Robyn Hood Black, Buffy Silverman, Catherine Flynn, Linda Kulp Trout and Charles Waters. Others I've met at other workshops like Heidi Bee Roemer. It's going to be an amazing time. (I'm a little nervous!)

              I discovered two poems by Naomi Shihab Nye that she read at the Dodge Poetry Festival in 2008. They feel even more poignant in this strange election year. The first is "Letters My Prez Is Not Sending" and the second is "Ted Kooser Is My President".  They can both be found in Honeybee, Poems and Prose, all by Naomi Shihab Nye published in 2008. I've enjoyed this book for a while. Naomi shares small pieces of prose sewing together her usual thought-filled poems. Enjoy!