Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Slice of Life: Blinded by the Light , Bolstered by Books, and Basking in the Sunshine!

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 
to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.
Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, BethAnna, Kathleen, and Deb
                   for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

My day began bright and early with an 8 am PT appointment (no dire problems, just a sore knee that has plagued me for a couple of months).  As I waited for my warm-up time on the bike, I chuckled at the receptionist who kept shielding her eyes from the morning sun as she greeted each patient.  Someone recommended that she put on sunglasses.  After my warm-up, I transferred to a machine of torture right in the sunny window where I found myself using my hand to block the early morning sunshine.  You may wonder why they didn't just pull the binds?  Well, we live near Seattle and a sunny day in February is something to celebrate!  In fact, I celebrated by heading to the car wash right after PT.  We've had a historically wet winter with nearly 2 feet of rain in less than three months.  It's been the wettest rainy season in Seattle since 1894.  Today's newspaper urged citizens . . . "If your roof needs repair, your car needs a wash or your skin is in search of bronzing, rejoice - your atmospheric prayers have been answered . . .  The fickle Seattle sun is expected to make an extended appearance this week."  

So it was with trepidation that I headed down to the middle school this afternoon for Books, Brownies and Beyond.  Who knew if my young friends would spend another hour at school?  I wouldn't blame them if they ditched book club for some time in the sun.  But we had sixteen readers in attendance, eight girls and eight boys.  We're prepping for March Book Madness.  Today I asked readers to take a stand for Fantasy or Realistic Fiction.  We were tied evenly, with 7 votes for each genre.  Yes, some of our members didn't vote.  They couldn't bring themselves to choose one over the other and then there was Elsa, standing halfway up because she wanted to vote for both.  

After book club I basked in the sunshine, no jacket needed, and chatted with Carrie Bowman, the KCLS librarian who teams with me to lead our book club.  Wonder what we talked about?  Books, of course!  

9 comments:

  1. Ramona,
    Yay for sunshine. As an Ohioan I understand the significance of its appearance this time of year. Also, thank you for reminding me of March Battle. That is perfect for my reading ambassadors. I didn't think about it until I read your post.

    Thank you,
    Cathy

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  2. Happy sunshine to you, Ramona. We had a little snow last night, and it's all gone now. Perspective is everything. We all take joy in the few rainy days we have. Your Battle of the Books sounds like a lot of fun!

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  3. Sunshine in Seattle! Battling Books and Brownies! Sounds all good to me.

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  4. I understand the celebration of sun in February. So rare to see the bright light here in Estonia too.

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  5. Oh, I can just imagine what that February sun in Seattle felt like! All that rain can certainly challenge the spirit. How wonderful that you had all those kids show up for book club! I've always wanted to do a March Madness bracket for books, but I've never gotten it all together. It sounds like such fun!

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  6. Love your alliterative title, perfect for the post! Just when I think I could live in Seattle, I think of lack of sunshine and I know I'd be miserable. I need sun, I guess I'm solar powered. Love the work you do with the after school book club! Now that's the way to stay connected!

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  7. Oh, enjoy that sunshine, Ramona!

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  8. I live in Seattle too! What a beautiful day this week! Glad students showed up on such a sunny, sunny day!

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  9. PT for knee issues-ugh! I had total knee replacement 2 years ago but have been back and forth to my PT for other issues-left shoulder and right knee. I am back at yoga so that is good. Got to keep the joints fluid. Love that you have sunshine. It makes for a very pleasant day, doesn't it. Sunshine and books - can't beat that when you put brownies in the mix.

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