Saturday, July 8, 2023

SJT: Rejoice in a Sun-Kissed Summer Season


               Carol Varsalona is hoting this month's Spiritual Journey Thursday with the theme, Rejoice in a Sun-Kissed Summer Season.
 

I fully intended to write on Thursday, but here I am, one day late with nothing to say. You see, my sun-kissed summer season was stolen from me last year when we moved from our home of 25 years to be closer to daughter and her family. And then this year, summer's leiusre was plucked right out of my hands again when daughter and husband and three boys made the decision in May to move to North Carolina. They arrived last week. We join them in two weeks. Life is hectic and chaotic and far from leisurely.

So I did what any self-respecting blogger would do! I searched my archives and found this slice of summer written ten years ago, We Dream of July and Summer Tomatoes. In the interim, I'll cling to the hope that I may settle in for some leisure and sun-kissed tomatoes (from the farmer's market) in August.

We do have cause for rejoicing. Daughter and son-in-law sold their home and found a home in NC in record time. They closed on their new home today and their truck arrives on Sunday. We found a place just two minutes away from them. Stay tuned for more of our summer adventures (when I can find the time to write).

Saturday addition: As I lay in bed last night, I recalled many happy memories we've already made this summer. I'm including a few pics just so you know it's not all doom and gloom and purge and pack at my place! 
 
Check out our ice cream licking, rocket stomping, blooming roses and dogwoods, snuggling for stories, inspecting the classic car and art at The Lodge, swinging and sliding at St. Edward's Park, FaceTiming with Lily (who'll turn two tomorrow), playing at the Children's Museum, and waving goodbye to these boys on their way to NC!

 


 
 




 
  
 
It's easy to see why we're following these boys to NC!

Sunday, July 2, 2023

Poetry Friday: The Moon in June

I did not manage to post on Friday, but I'm sneaking in a couple of days late to share a favorite children's book of moon poems.

I wasn't sure if I could find it and was afraid that it might have been lost to one of my moving purges, but I located it stashed among the poetry books and fell in love all over again with the rhymes and jingles collected and illustrated by Ann Schweninger. The twenty-one verses she collected are illustrated with her luminous watercolor.

I think I checked it out of the library and then had to have my own copy. Used copies are still available on Amazon if you're interested. I've included the first and the final pages from Schweninger's book. Published in 1979, it's a moonlit treasure (and a discard from the Burlington Elementary School Library).

The Man in the Moon as he sails the sky

Is a very remarkable skipper 

But he made a mistake when he tried to take 

A drink of milk from the Dipper.

 

He dipped right out of the Milky Way

And slowly and carefully filled it;

The Big Bear growled, and the Little Bear howled

And frightened him so that he spilled it.

I see the moon,

    And the moon sees me;

God bless the moon,

    And God bless me.












Join us for poetic goodness and fun with the June moon

as Irene Latham prepares to launch her latest book, 

The Museum on the Moon, on August 8th.