SOL 2/31: Eggs in the City with the Grands

They pick me up at 7:50 on the dot. I hop in the car, notepad and pencil in hand. I am a reporter interviewing them for for why they love this particular restaurant:  

Grandson (9 3/4):  "Because their pancakes are really good and there's a very good view!"

Granddaughter (turning six next month):  "I like the eggs on the motorcycle."

Granddaughter (4 1/2):  "I really like the eggs on the motorcycle and the pancakes and that's it!"

Son (41):  "I like being together on Saturday morning." 

We leave their mom home to enjoy some extra rest, but their new puppy prevented that.

We drive to our destination, somewhere the grands wanted to take me the last time I visited, but it was a forty-five minute wait. We sit in the parking lot with other early risers waiting for the doors to open. 

I peruse the extensive menu and finally settle on the Goldie Locks (egg, bacon, and pancake), Blake orders the Fried Chicken-n-Waffle, and all three grands choose the Chocolate Chip  Pancakes.  The Mickey Mouse pancakes arrive with blueberry eyes, strawberry eyebrows, a blackberry smile, and a dollop of whipped cream. The breakfast banter slows as everyone digs in.

As our table is cleared, an employee arrives with a huge basket of candy. As they waffle about which treat to choose, the employee tells them they can select two. I wonder why no one mentioned this basket of treats when I interviewed them!

We wander outside Eggs in the City for a photo opp with the eggs on the motorcycle. 

Meet Gerald and Bob (named by the grands)! 

This is my fifteenth year participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge, writing every day during the month of March. Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for creating this challenge and providing the space and support for us year after year. And thanks to this magnificent community for sharing stories with me and encouraging my writing life. 

SOL 1/31: Back for Year 15!

A Cheer for Day One 

Every year I wonder

if I can possibly do it again 

and then I show up!

No particular plan in mind.

No posts written ahead of time. 

I'm here to reassure the pantsers

(those who fly by the seat of their pants)

that this elephant of a month of writing

can be tackled one day at time,

one slice of life at a time. 

Life provides the stories.

Slicers provide the inspiration. 

Your stories are waiting.

Show up every day and write. 

You can do this! 

This is my fifteenth year participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge, writing every day during the month of March. Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for creating this challenge and providing the space and support for us year after year. And thanks to this magnificent community for sharing stories with me and encouraging my writing life. 

Slice of Life: Celebrating the Little Things

Yesterday was a day for finding the lost. 

It all started with a lost file filled with ideas for when I do my writing stories workshop. I had checked all the logical places - my one drawer file, the boxes of files stacked beside the bookshelves and behind my recliner. I was in my closet yesterday morning when I reached for a file box stored under my jeans. I pulled it out so I could use some of the empty file folders stashed in it. To my complete surprise there was my family history file! I think it's time to make space for a filing cabinet in my bedroom so I can eliminate all the sundry places a file can hide.

Last night after returning home from the evening workshop, I started looking for the list of names from the workshop I gave on February 12. I always offer the chance to get on an email list for monthly nudges and ideas to keep writing. So I thought I could enter names from both workshops and bring my group email up-to-date. Trouble was, I had no idea where that piece of paper was. I rifled through the pages from my presentation, not there! And then I picked up a blank book I've been using. My new strategy is to use those books instead of putting them in a box for sometime special. I casually flipped it open and there were the three people who wanted to be added to my monthly inspiration email. 

The third item appeared when I wasn't even looking for it (although I have spent plenty of time the past few days searching for it). I picked up the laundry basket and there between the tub and the laundry basket was my missing sock. And I had been positive that  both socks were in the laundry, so I had been looking inside pants, blouses, shirts, thinking it had found a hiding place.

All in all, it was a very satisfying day! 

Slice of Life: Late Night Discovery!

It was definitely past my bedtime, but we all know how easy it is to keep scrolling. And then I struck gold with a delightful play advertised on Instagram, to be performed by the North Carolina Theater for Young People at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. I love theater for young people and have fond memories of taking my own children to summer children's theater at the University of Houston. And this production is the world premiere of this particular play. And this particular play features the Lincoln sisters who live on Deckawoo Drive and a certain "porcine wonder" who loves hot buttered toast!

If my clues led you to guess the Mercy Watson series by Kate DiCamillo, you are well versed in early chapter books. Our grandsons also love the Tales from Deckawoo Drive series by the same author. These short chapter books with their joyful laugh out loud humor have been favorites of our boys for some time. 

The play did not disappoint. We giggled, we encouraged characters with our applause, and we met the performers after the show. A perfect introduction to children's theater for our three North Carolina grands, ages 4, 6, and 9! We look forward to a long association with the North Carolina Theater for Young People at UNCG, all thanks to my late night scrolling.

Program

 

Mercy Watson and the boys 

 

The Lincoln sisters, Eugenia and Baby

Slice of Life: Wildlife Sightings

I'm fortunate that my next-door neighbor has a large backyard adjacent to our dining room table where I'm often seated eating, reading, or working on the computer. After two weeks of being inside due to ice and snow (and the flu), these wildlife visitors gladdened my heart!

1. The blush (a poetic collective noun for a group of robins, particularly used for flocks of them gathering during winter, often foraging together) of robins gathering in the neighbor's yard as the snow receded bit by bit.

2.  The mama deer advancing slowly through the same neighbor's yard, waiting for her tardy twins to catch up. When I coughed, she heard me and we had a lovely moment of connection.

3. The return of the hawk to our neighbor's backyard. He /she gracefully circled the yard several times before flying away. I'm still trying to figure out if he/she is a Red-shouldered or a Red-tailed Hawk.

This post celebrates 15 years of blogging and marks my 1,500th  blog post. A huge thank you for the groups that have encouraged my writing life through the years (Slice of Life, Spiritual Journey Thursday, Poetry Friday, Celebrate This Week), but especially for my blogging friends. I treasure the connections I share with each and every one of you!

SJT & Poetry Friday: Attitude Musings

 With thanks to Bob Hamera for hosting this month on the theme of "attitude." Check out Bob's post here and the links to posts from other members of our Spiritual Journey Thursday community.

 

When I shared our topic for this month (attitude) with my daughter, she recalled an oft quoted saying of my dad (that I shared often with her and her brother): "You can get glad in the same pants you got mad in."

He also used to tell us that it takes more muscles to frown than to smile. He was an optimist who looked on the bright side of life. He was taken from us far too soon, but I've tried to keep him alive in the stories and sayings I share with my family. It amused me that my daughter thought of the same saying I did in relation to attitude. 

It's been a tough beginning to 2026. Conditions in our world leave me wondering what to do and how to cope. I find myself surrounded by friends and family with severe trials and the deaths of loved ones. My sister is having a slow recovery from her surgery. We've had two weeks without school (well, nine days, we'll see if they have school tomorrow). And to top it off, my husband got the flu and a week after him so did I. The good thing is that we didn't miss much since everything was pretty much cancelled after our ice one week, followed by 8+ inches of snow the next week.

I turn to a small book that I won during the 2014 SOL Writing Challenge. Handmade by fellow blogger Stacie Evans (Girl Griot), I fill it with thoughts and quotes, many of which come from our community of writers. 

I copied these words from Anita (Learning to Be Writers and Readers In the 21st Century) which she shared in her 10/11/2014 post:

"I am grateful for the energy to do what I can

The faith to let go when I can do nothing

The wisdom to know whether to intervene

To wait or to pray." 

And these words from JoAnn Early Macken, posted on Friday, September 19, 2014 to Six Teaching Authors Who Also Teach Writing:

 

 

I like this quote from Stitches: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair by Anne Lamott: "A great truth, attributed to Emily Dickinson, is that 'hope inspires the good to reveal itself.' This is almost all I ever need to remember. Gravity and sadness yank us down, and hope gives us a nudge to help one another get back up or to sit with the fallen on the ground, in the abyss, in solidarity."  

 

Finally, I'm sharing my golden shovel poem, "Moving Forward" that I wrote during the pandemic,  Golden shovel poems are inspired by a line of poetry or text, constructed so that the ending word of each line when read top to bottom composes that line. This poem utilizes a sentence opposite Irene Latham's "Compassion" poem on page 15 of  

Dictionary for a Better World.

Moving Forward

When I find myself at loose ends, it
is time to look for my purpose, for it is 
by being intentional that I can often
shake off the doldrums and begin the 
journey toward hope. The smallest 
movements to action can be the moments
of catalyst to move us forward. Drink a glass of 
water, go for a walk, read a book, make connections
with others, think happy thoughts, create something that 
you can share. These are the actions that will carry 
us during times of isolation, that help us 
"hear a humming," the call to muster through
the challenges of the day, to find the 
way to thrive, to "get on with it" in spite of tough 
times, to make today one of the good times. 

- Ramona Behnke, March 2020

"hear a humming" - from the poem "Freedom" by Irene Latham on p. 38 of Dictionary for a Better World

"get on with it" - Charles Waters quoting the landmark Monty Python group, p. 17 of Dictionary for a Better World.  

May you feel moments of connection and hope to carry you through the tough times. May the words I've shared bring solace and inspiration and the impetus to move forward, "to make today one of the good times."

I'm letting this post do double duty for Spiritual Journey Thursday and Poetry Friday. Molly Hogan is hosting Poetry Friday at Nix the Comfort Zone.

Slice of Life: Sometimes It's the Little Things!

Who knew that a good mood was so readily available? It's been a long ten days at my house. The last time I ventured out was to attend the grandsons' Pinewood Derby on Saturday, January 24th. I've cracked open the door a few times to snap pics and even opened the garage to watch son-in-law, Will, and grandson, Jack, clear the ice-covered driveway and then return a few days later to shovel the 8+ inches of snow. No school last week, a snow day on Monday, and then remote learning today. It's been a long haul for the mamas and even for this grandma. 

My husband got the flu at the beginning of our bad weather and I thought I had escaped until the end of last week when I came down with symptoms. That kept me from venturing out with hubby to the grocery store between storms. We're glad he was able to restock our provisions before the snow arrived, but to my dismay, there were no Pepperidge Farm Gingermen available. I'm not usually a fan of store bought cookies, but these crisp molasses ginger men hit the spot. I can even stop at one, especially when I'm on the last package. That crisp crunch of molasses, ginger and cinnamon with a sprinkling of sugar on top hits the spot every time.

Here's my poem celebrating ordinary things (inspired by Kim and Georgia) as I ventured outside for the first time in ten days !

Roll trash can to curb

Inhale crisp, life-giving air 

Spy cookies in bin 

I had no idea that a stroll with our trash can to the end of the driveway could feel so refreshing. I'm planning an outdoor stroll this afternoon on our neighborhood's cleared streets, (as soon as I get out of my pajamas). And then on my return to the house, I spy in our garage, not one, but TWO packages of Pepperidge Farm Gingerman cookies in a plastic bin. Ten days in and I'm an easy girl to please!