Learning to Snowshoe The thermometer on my phone told me it was seven below zero (-7) as I awoke to drive 40 pairs of snowshoes to a remote terrain in an adjacent county last Saturday morning. This is part of my new job. We had about 40 hikers signed up to join us at a…
I have been told am “old school.” Seriously, I have been told that in the middle of a day of substitute teaching for someone I knew well who had asked me to take her class for several days in a row. It was a tough time. The class was hard to corral; behavior problems abounded….
I tried my hand at some songwriting last week, inspired by a ukulele sitting on my kitchen counter. My husband told me to keep my day job. Still, I like that it prompts some cherished and warm memories in the cold darkness of winter. We’ve been to the Hawaiian islands three times in the last…
Today is Poetry Friday. Early this morning my sister-in-law contacted me to make sure we were okay. She keeps tabs on us from afar, partially through reading my daily blog posts. I have not posted in two days! You have to go all the way back to July to see another block of time void…
Acrostic poems aren’t as easy as they seem. At the end of my last garden club meeting in mid-January, I gave the students a mini-lesson on writing acrostic poems. We had just discussed and planted flower bulbs and I wanted to incorporate some language arts into are lesson. The directions were simple, as I used…
Today is Poetry Friday. We are headed into the time of year when I really miss writing poetry with students. For six years, I led a Third Grade Writer’s Circle at the elementary school my boys attended. It started when my youngest was in Third Grade; I was trying to support the love he and…
For close to two years now I have been watching clouds with concern. In July of 2017, I started a post that went like this, ” I said it again last night. The sky looks like fall. Heavy, billowing, opaque clouds have filled the sky at odd moments or during odd seasons in the last…
A Morning Encounter A sliver, A slice, A smile. All these I saw in the early morning light, just before dawn through the branches of our maple tree. It caught my eye, that shining sliver of light, glancing in my window at me, so perfectly outlined in the Eastern morning sky of cobalt blue. Imperceptibly…
An Ode to Milkweed Milkweed growing oh so strong, welcoming Monarchs with your fragrant song! Leaves so tasty, green and bright, filling caterpillars with certain delight! Life will grow on leaf and stem, then flutter off to begin again. Milkweed, milkweed growing strong, thank you for bringing Monarchs along! Haiku Niagara Falls Spewing,…
The Joy of Christmas Cookies Purple Mittens, Green Trees, Sparkling White Stars, Blue Snowflakes, The Sweetness of sugar and Anise extract adding a layer of licorice to the mix. Finding Grandma’s old recipe fills the kitchen with family for the joy making cut out cookies. Rich, thick, brown syrup made from sugar cane, Ginger spice…