SOL 18/31: Picking New Books with My Oldest Book Club

 

 

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• Today's post is handwritten (see image above) so I could play with my new Sharpies and typed for efficiency.
• I belong to several book clubs, but this is my 28th year with this particular book club, MI Bookwomen. 
• After years of voting on books, we returned to an older format that allows the host to choose the book. 
• I picked The Correspondent, but so did someone else, so I went to my second choice, This Tender Land. 
• Our book club is trying out a completely Zoom format this year because so many of us have moved away. Previously, we used a hybrid in-person/Zoom format.
• True confession: This book club did not choose Isola, but I'm reading it for another book club and loving it so much that I fudged and put it on this list. James IS our April book club pick and I haven't read it yet. So many have loved this book!  
• Share a favorite book that you read recently or long ago in your comment.    

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 17/31: A limerick is not a quick write . . .

 

There once was a grandson named Jack

Of good books he never did lack 

We went to Walmart

He pushed round a cart

'Til wind sent us scurrying back.

 

If you read my Fortunately, Unfortunately post yesterday, then you know that grandson Jack was the hero of the hour who notified our visiting guests that high winds were ten minutes away! 

In the evening, this Grandma asked if it was okay if I indulged him with a quick library run, even though we had gone that morning. He had a hold he NEEDED badly. It was only after arriving home that I learned it was volume 10 (he has Volumes 7.5 and 8 checked out, but is still waiting on volume 9). I'm always game for a library trip, even if it's the second one in a day! 

Jack's current book obsession!

Jack ends the day with Dad's dark chocolate cream pie!

SOL 16/31: Tale of a Crazy Weather Day

Fortunately, on Sunday afternoon, we (daughter, myself, niece, and sister-in-law) were anticipating a kid-free Monday morning.

Unfortunately, the crazy weather patterns moving across the country meant no school for daughter's three boys.

Fortunately, we seemed to be escaping the worst of the weather patterns in the morning with nothing dire headed our way. We headed out to the library and then stopped at Walmart for a few items. 

Unfortunately, my daughter and husband were unable to reach us about deteriorating weather conditions because Walmart has lousy internet service.

Fortunately, a woman at the other end of the aisle where grandson and I were shopping called out frantically to us, "Ma'am, ma'am, severe winds are ten minutes away." We hurried to the front of the store and I got in line to check out.

Unfortunately, niece and sister-in-law were clear across the store & we couldn't reach them by phone. 

Fortunately, I dispatched grandson to share the impending imminent wind announcement. We checked out, hustled to the car, and headed home. 

Unfortunately, in the interim, son-in-law's work asked them to shelter in a stairwell to avoid high winds and a possible tornado, increasing daughter's worry about us being out and about. 

Fortunately, according to my husband, angelic intervention reached us in the form of the lady at Walmart who warned us to head home immediately.

Unfortunately, daughter was quite distressed by the time we arrived home. 

Fortunately, the storm passed by without too much altercation and we all settled in for a quiet afternoon. We even enticed Grandpa to stay with the three grandsons so we could make a quick trip downtown to a favorite gift store. Then we all headed to our favorite pizza place for dinner. 

Unfortunately, the restaurant was almost empty and shortly after our pizza arrived, we learned why. High winds arrived with rain literally blowing sideways. Son-in-law checked the weather app and we learned we might be there for a bit. 

Fortunately, we enjoy each other's company and the time to wait out the storm passed quickly.

Unfortunately, when we arrived home, the sheets to cover their new blueberry bushes had blown completely off the plants even though they were secured by heavy chunks of wood.  

Fortunately, we laughed about the exposed berry bushes and daughter recovered them in anticipation of low overnight temps.

Unfortunately, windy conditions make our 42 degrees temperature feel like 27 degrees. (Hang in there, berry bushes!)

Fortunately, tomorrow will be sunny with no chance of precipitation, good news since we'll be driving our company to the airport!

Unfortunately, winds will make it feel colder than the actual temperature. 

SOL 15/31: Party Time!

Leigh Anne's party has begun and she asked us to assemble an analog bag or basket (new-to-me trend). I listed my collected items in handwriting and took a photo too. I can't wait to see what's in  your bag!

              Can you tell that I'm book obsessed?

 

 See you at the party!

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 14/31: If we sliced in February . . .

I get on my soapbox about this time every year. If we sliced in February, we'd be halfway there! But I digress, I started this post to share why I've been slammed ever since I returned from Roots Tech. Here's my bio (written by me) for the 15th Anniversary Family History Discovery Day:

Ramona, a retired educator, is a recent transplant to North Carolina after residing in the Seattle area for 23 years. She has a lifelong identity as a reader. However, her journey to becoming a writer of stories began in the 21st century with an incredible group of sixth graders. This journey continued as she encouraged the members of her congregation to write their family stories and committed to writing a family story each week in 2020. Join us for inspiration to bind the hearts of your family through family stories and  discover the key to ongoing success in this endeavor.

As we began a month of writing slices in the classroom in 2012, it was my sixth graders who encouraged me to post my slices to my blog. Up until that point, I had only been a lurker at Two Writing Teachers. What a wonderful fifteen years I've enjoyed as a slicer here at Two Writing Teachers. This is where I was born as a writer and what a journey it is! Here's the description of the class I presented today at our Celebrate Family History Discovery Day, written by my friend, Denise.

 

Ramona shares how she has taken "eating the elephant" of family stories and broken them down to small, manageable "bites" to record and save cherished family lore that might otherwise be lost. She is a teacher and cheerleader "extraordinaire" and will inspire you to save that moment you have in your memory and write it down for the next generation. 

 

What fun to be dubbed a cheerleader of family stories! Of course, two classes I wanted to take were happening at the same time as my own class. Why does that always happen - the conundrum of dueling classes, ever present at conferences? 

 

My niece and sister-in-law (visiting from TX and OK) and my daughter are coming to pick me up for dinner. As Bugs would say, "That's all folks!"

 

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 13/31: Currently I'm . . .

This is a familiar format, someone (I can't remember who) used it yesterday and credited their inspiration to Elisabeth. I'm combining it with Elisabeth's "write in six minutes" format. Can I do it?

WATCHING - nothing, too many other commitments on the horizon to spend time with TV

READING - Isola, an intriguing HF, for next week's book club meeting

LISTENING - trying to finish Project Hail Mary before the movie comes out 

FEELING - scattered with too many pots on the fire

PLANNING - a run through today of my Binding Hearts Together with Family Stories presentation 

LOVING  - that my niece Kara and sister-in-law Kathy will arrive Saturday from TX & OK for a spring break visit

WISHING - that my issues with comments disappearing would disappear. They didn't start until the 6th! Everything was fine until then. What happened? It's making me crazy. My apologies to so many slicers whose comments disappear when I try to post them and I can't figure out why.

That took nine minutes. Am I just a slow writer?

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 12/31 & Poetry Friday: "Holding the Light" by Stuart Kestenbaum

This post is doing double duty for Poetry Friday and for Slice of Life.  Linda Baie, a teaching friend I met through blogging for Slice of Life, is hosting our gathering this week. 

This poem, Holding the Light, appeared in a pile on my desk, copied at some past point in time because it spoke to me. I think one reason I love it is because it begins with the word gather (my OLW in 2023 and 2024). And the poem ends with a reference to gather. Because many of our hearts are broken, and the heart of the world as well, this seemed a good time to share this poem. 

 

 Holding the Light

Gather up whatever is 

glittering in the gutter,

whatever has tumbled 

in the waves or fallen

in flames out of the sky,

 

for it's not only our

hearts that are broken, 

but the heart 

of the world as well.

Stitch it back together.

 

You can read the rest of the poem here at poets.org. May this poem bring solace to our broken hearts and give us courage to "repair and stitch together what beauty there is" in our broken world. 

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.