Celebrate This Week: My Favorite Colors - Yellow, Yellow, BLUE!

Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.

When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy. 

                        A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

1.  My friend, Coleen, bought daffodils for me which
provided much needed sunshine  during a mostly gray week.

2.  We discovered this dapper duck decked out in a yellow slicker

at one of our parks.  I know he was in Tuesday's SOL, 

but I think he's worth celebrating twice!

3.  A Friday phone call from Blake and Stefi announced that our  first grandchild is a BOY!   Love the FB announcement:  
"Baby BOY Behnke coming in with a roar - ultrasound tech
said he is measuring big and is VERY active #ohboy"  

Slice of Life: Triumphing Over Darkness

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, Beth, Anna, Kathleen, and Deb

                    for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.


How to Brighten January's Dark Days

Use the extra darkness for cozy reading time.
Cook large pots of soup to accompany cozy reading time.
Keep the white lights burning on the deck for as long as you need them!

















Watch happy movies.
Scroll through pics of spring color from last year.
Brighten the mantle with white lights, greenery, and cheery snowmen!

Smile.
Be grateful your dark days don't include several feet of snow.
Savor the jewels on the trees!
















Walk outside on the sunny days, the gray days, and even the rainy days.
Buy daffodils at the grocery store.
Celebrate the whimsical!

Celebrate This Week: Authors and Flights Home and Bears, and Moonshots!

Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.

When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy. 

                        A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

1.  A new bear!

Sometimes a new stuffed animal just claims your heart.  Wendy and I 

were exploring shops before dinner last Saturday when this little guy
whispered to me that he was the perfect size for my church bag.

I can't wait for Imi to meet him at church tomorrow. 

2.  Author event on Tuesday - Gretchen Rubin at the Seattle Public Library!

It was a crazy rainy day, but Sara still wanted to go.  Gretchen graciously

signed our books after her presentation and even posed for this pic with us.

3.  Blake's flight home from NY to DC on Friday morning!  

Stefi is glad he's home to weather the blizzard with her.

4.  Mystical moon shot!

I was running errands on Friday evening

as dusk fell when I spotted a breathtaking moon.

My i-phone shot doesn't do it justice, but it was gorgeous.

You have to know that we haven't had many clear night skies lately,

or maybe it's just that I'm rarely out after dusk!

Poetry Friday: For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet's Journey

Head over to A Teaching Life

for this week's roundup of poetry love.

Thanks for hosting,Tara!

I just looked and it's been almost two months since I posted to Poetry Friday.  Even when I don't post, I love stopping by and enjoying your contributions.  The book I'm sharing today was recommended by fellow blogger, Earl, in a comment to my November post about the the gorgeous picture book, One Today.

I requested this slim (only 112 pages) memoir, For All of Us, One Today:  An Inaugural Poet's Journey, from the library on Earl's recommendation.  I finished it this week while at the eye doctor with my husband.  Did you know that when Richard Blanco was chosen as Inaugural Poet that he was charged to write three poems in three weeks?  This memoir chronicles his journey from December 12 to the inauguration.  It includes "America," written for his first creative writing graduation course, and the three poems submitted to the Presidential Inaugural Committee:  "What We Know of Country," "Mother Country," and "One Today."  Each short chapter is introduced by a line from the poem, "One Today."

Blanco's words from the final pages of the book are inspiring:
 "...Indeed, our country is a sunflower with millions of petals around a center we can't always see or always understand, but one flower nonetheless, one story, the story we are all born into.  A story we all have to continue writing together until we are not just one today, but one every day.

"I had left Maine with a single poem to offer my country that I didn't quite understand.  I returned as an American, driving back home through the pines of Maine under one moon but with a thousand more stars and poems for me - for us all- to write, for us."

I loved this memoir, but if memoirs aren't your cup of tea, I must put in another plug for the picture book, One Today by Richard Blanco and illustrated by Dave Pilkey.  Run, don't walk to your computer to request it from your library or dash to your favorite indie bookstore to order it.  You won't be disappointed!  If my words haven't convinced you, then read this review at Librarian's Quest by blogger, Xena's mom, and enter her One Today giveaway to win a free copy of the book.

Slice of Life: Launching First-time Slicers!

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, Beth, Anna, Kathleen, and Deb

                    for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

I wander in, pleased to be in a familiar place.  The teacher desk is in the same spot.  My old microwave is on the counter.  We look at slices from my former students on the document camera. Then we begin ten minutes of "sacred" slicing time.  (I call it sacred because it's not okay to interrupt me unless you're about to throw up or on fire.  I'm writing too!)

I glance out the window - no cherry trees, just the brown slats of a portable and the metallic gleam of a ramp.  We write, and I think of all the students before us who have filled pages with slices to celebrate the ordinary moments of their lives.  I celebrate being back in Room 104, with writers putting pen to page, pencil to paper, and fingers to keyboard.  I eye the familiar - my classroom library in colorful bins, the rug I purchased at the thrift store - but also notice the  unfamiliar, an Oregon pennant on the wall. 

I reach for the chimes and a light brush of the fingers signals the melodic end of writing time.  This group of sixth graders has just completed their first slice of life.  Hurray for Mrs. Gaffney's slicers!

And on Monday, I receive this text from their teacher:  "Thank you for doing such an awesome job Friday with Slice of Life!  Kids came in begging to write!  Yay! :)"   I must mention that this group was prepared to begin slicing by her earlier lessons.  I just happened to be the lucky person to launch their journey!

Celebrate This Week: Checking Things Off the List!

                              Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.  
                                          When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy. 

                         A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

This has been a week of checking things off the list.  I finished reworking the sister-to-sister (visiting teaching) ministry in our congregation.  I mailed several packages - one to my son (with the item he couldn't fit in his return luggage and some cookies from mom), one to my teacher niece, Kara, and one to my BFF, Jan, with the snowflake ornaments made by her mom.  I wrote my Christmas thank-you notes.  With the help of my husband, my son, and my son-in-law, we finally made the transfer to a smaller laptop, intended to make traveling with a computer easier.  However, there was nothing easy about weeding files and figuring out how to make all my photos fit on a laptop with a smaller memory.  We moved the photos to an external hard drive. Thanks to the guys on my team who guided this process and put up with my grumpiness along the way.  

It's also been a week of embracing the humor that life brings!  I got this text from my niece on Thursday:  "I got a package from you the other day.  We were hosting a dinner party and I got busy and didn't text.  Who made the snowflake ornaments?"   Uh-oh!  The snowflake ornaments were supposed to go to Jan.  We prepay and preprint our labels at home and it appears that I put the labels on the wrong packages.  I emailed Jan, curious that she hadn't wondered about the teacher postcards and magazines that she received.  The reason that I hadn't heard from her was because she hadn't opened the package.  She set it aside, knowing  that it was her mom's snowflake ornaments.  Here's the note I sent her:  "Hello udder sister, I heard from Kara who got your snowflake ornaments.  So that makes me think you got her teacher postcards and magazines.  I'm a mess!   ~Your goofy sis    And here's the reply from my BFF (also known as udder sister):  "I'll contact Kara & we'll ungoof it."   Only one problem, Kara ate Jan's fudge!  There wasn't any fudge in Kara's package since it was a flat priority envelope!  I celebrate that the people I love are willing to "unroof" my mistakes!

Finally, we had a wonderful celebration Tuesday afternoon at Books Brownies & Beyond as we listened to the ALA YMA's webcast.  We were thrilled that two of our titles received Newbery Honors - The War that Saved my Life and Echo.  We were surprised that a picture book won the Newbery award.  I read Last Stop on Market Street to the group, we revisited the Newbery criteria, and discussed what made this book distinguished.  We are excited to move forward from our Mock Newbery focus to a biography/memoir focus.    

There's no better way to celebrate books than with a lively room of fifteen middle schoolers!

Slice of Life: Stories are Everywhere!

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, Beth, Anna, Kathleen, and Deb

                    for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

It's a Monday morning at the post office.  The line is long, and the lady in front of me offers to let me go ahead of her since she has stuff to address.  I tell her I'll go ahead, but knowing our post office she may be finished by the time we advance to the window.  I promise that she can have her spot back if that is the case.  

Only two windows are open, one employee is helping a patron with a difficult passport issue, and the other employee is helping a patron with two very large boxes that are being prepped for shipping.  I  remind myself that I'm lucky to be retired (with enough time to not be rushed all the time) and look around the small space at other people in line with me.  I smile as I watch a man fold a Seahawks scarf and tuck it into a flat rate envelope.  I imagine the college student at the other end excitedly receiving this Seahawks gear, just in time for wearing before our next game.  

I remember the year Sara and Will were living in NY and she let me know that I had mailed my son-in-law Seahawks clothing for Christmas,  but my own daughter didn't have any.  I remedied that situation with an evening trip to a nearby mall and tucked her new Seahawks tee into a flat rate priority envelope for quick delivery.  

I smile at the man and comment, "Someone's going to be mighty happy to open that package!"  He responds, "It's for my 82 year old mom.  She left it here over Christmas and has called three times to remind me to mail it."  I quickly revise my imagined recipient, add 60 odd years, and know that Seahawks fans are dedicated no matter what their age.  I think of that man's mom gladly receiving her scarf several times throughout a busy Monday.

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the lady behind me did finish her preparation before I reach the window, and I invite her to return to her original spot in line.  Who says a morning at the post office can't provide a slice of life?  

Celebrate This Week: Sharing my OLW

                            Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.  
                                          When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy. 

                        A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

I have a piece of paper that I tore out of a magazine with OLW possibilities.  No, the magazine didn't have OLW possibilities.  I had written the possibilities on this page.  Why not in my writer's notebook?  Well, because I couldn't find it.  I know losing your writer's notebook is a foreign idea to most of you.   But losing things is a daily occurrence for me.  And I've often written about how finding things is almost a daily celebration!  Last week, my daughter asked me about my OLW.  I shared my possibilities with her.  I counted them.  11 words!  She jokingly said, "Mom, add one more and you can change it to a word a month."

I did add one more (when I remembered it).  Another word that had been following me around, but hadn't yet made it onto the piece of paper.

Here are my twelve possibilities for my 2016 OLW: 

content

encourage

light

rejoice 

abide

journey

strengthen 

seek

nourish

lift

delight

gentle

I'm recording them here because I'm not sure that I'll be able to find my writer's notebook, this piece of paper, or my mind by next year.  But I love every single word on this list.  I'm set for the next twelve years.  I'll just revisit this list and choose.

 My word actually found me in December, but I kept looking.  Perhaps because it was such an old fashioned word, I wasn't sure if it would work.  But ABIDE continues to lodge in my heart.

It came to me in a book I was reading, Stars:  Reflections on Christmas  by Chieko Okazaki.  The chapter "Shepherds Abiding," breaks into three sections:  Abiding in the Field, Abiding in Faith, and Abiding in the Savior's Love.  I plan to visit these themes throughout the year.

I find myself humming "Abide with Me," as I work in my field:

"I need Thy presence every passing hour;

What, but Thy grace can foil the tempter's pow'r?

Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?

Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me. "

I promised myself a quick celebration.  Today I celebrate abide, my OLW of 2016.  I'm looking forward to the journey of a new year as I seek to abide in the field, in faith, and in the Savior's love.  

Slice of Life: Mock Newbery Results

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, Beth, Anna, Kathleen, and Deb

                    for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday and nurturing our writing lives.

Oh, how I love Tuesday afternoons!  It's the day when I meet with other avid readers for Books, Brownies, & Beyond, our  after school book club.  Today, with the help of Carrie Bowman, we evaluated the five titles we read as part of the YCTNN (You Choose the Next Newbery) at KCLS (King County Library System).

The KCLS titles we read (in alphabetical order):

Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley

Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan

Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai

The Thing about Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

The War that Saved my Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Voting Results for KCLS titles:
1st Place:     The War that Saved my Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

2nd Place:   A tie between Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan and 
                     The Thing about Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

3rd Place:   Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai

Three additional titles I added to our Mock Newbery reading list:

Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead

The Seventh Most Important Thing by Shelly Pearsall

Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper

Voting results for all eight titles read by Books Brownies & Beyond:

1st Place:     The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

2nd Place:   Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan and 

3rd Place:    Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper
                     (Very close race - Listen, Slowly by Thanhha Lai was just one vote less
                     and The Thing about Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin was just two votes less)

If you've been involved in a Mock Newbery this year, I'd love to hear your results.

Currently, we are anticipating the announcement of the Newbery winner and other awards on Monday, January 11th at the ALA (American Library Association) Youth Media Awards.  I'll be part of the pajama party since it begins at 8 am in Boston (5 am on the west coast).   I love listening to the live webcast.  If you'd like to join me, here's the link.  I won't be posting any pajama pics on Twitter, but I will be watching and listening!  

We'll watch the webcast on Tuesday afternoon at book club.  Fingers crossed that some of our titles will win Newbery, Newbery Honor, or another book award!  

Celebrate This Week

                            Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.  
                                          When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy. 

                        A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!

Inspired by Carrie's list of simple things, I choose a few simple moments to share:

Family dinner at Cactus followed by "family sit-in" on possible new couch!
Sara's long day of couch shopping with her dad earlier in the month
is rewarded with the stamp of approval by all family members.

Couch is ordered!

Watching movies together and playing games and telling stories!
I convinced Blake and Stefi to join me for "Places in the Heart,"
a personal favorite they had never seen.

Saying goodbye to 2015 at Slater Park (so happy to see the sun)!

Bumping into former students and parents of former students at the grocery store:
Mia, who works at QFC,
Julia, a junior, selling baked goods for a high school club,
Kacey, a junior at Western (majoring in early childhood & elem. ed),
and seeing parents of three former students,
(nothing beats teaching and living in a small town).

Still enjoying Christmas decorations
(undecorating can proceed at a more leisurely pace in retirement).

Still pondering my OLW, lots of possibilities for 2016,
TBA soon, maybe for Tuesday's Slice of Life.