SOL 16/31: Party Time at Leigh Anne's Place!

It's an invitation I've expected and anticipated. It's party time at Leigh Ann Eck's place. I'm not a big time party goer, but I've come to look forward to these yearly gatherings at A Day in the Life. I hope you'll join us sometime this month.

Here's our mentor text for this year's party:

“Depending On When You Met Me” by Devon Gundry, Soul Pancake

Depending on when you met me, I might have been: a checker’s champion, the kid who squirted Super Glue in his eye, a competitive Ping-Pong player, Tweedle Dum, a high school valedictorian, a fake blond, 1/12 of an all-male a capella group, a graduate of the Vanderbilt School of Engineering, a nomad, a street musician, or a pigeon assassin.

Depending On When You Met Me by Ramona 

Depending on when you met me, I might have been: a 4-H blue ribbon holder, the mom who super glued her thumb and forefinger together, a high school graduate standing beside Carl Albert (the 46th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives), a traveler in Paris, a college graduate setting aside her chosen career for an 18 month stint in Hong Kong,  a blogger sitting in a rental car on the shores of a lake in Indiana mustering the courage to join the All Write blogger dinner, a teenager with a dream job as an employee of the Youth Conservation Corps, a poetry lover born in Mrs. Truttman's 2nd grade classroom, a prospective employee of MISD who asked the secretary if they handed out oxygen with the list of possible questions one might be asked in the interview, a book club creator (in 1987) determined not to become one of those moms who say "I haven't read a book since I had children," a teenager who attended her first two concerts in one summer (Elvis Presley and The Carpenters), a twenty something who met her intended on a blind date, a grade schooler who walked several miles to the public library more than once a week with her BFF to compete in the summer reading program, a traveler in Italy with three good friends, the young mom whose family ate pizza and had a babysitter once a week for the four years she was in graduate school, a little sis whose love of reading was nurtured by her big sis, a blogger who loves to write in the wee hours of the morning and then go back to sleep, a grandmother of four who will become the grandmother of six in July, a blogger giddy with excitement when Georgia Heard joined our table for dinner, a teacher who brought the books on her nightstand to an interview and dared to ask the interviewers what they were currently reading, the proud owner of a Plymouth Volare named Spunky (my first car at age 23), a slice of lifer born when I joined SOL ten years ago (at the urging of my sixth grade students).

SOL 15/31: I Went to Island Books!

Island Books is our lovely, local, independent bookstore. Since last March, I've called in my book orders. They charge them to me and the books are placed in a wooden bin outside the front door of the store. It's a good solution for our pandemic times, but this morning I ventured in for the first time in over a year (except for the time earlier this month when I made a quick stop for an essential purchase, some new reader glasses)! I've had my second vaccine and passed the two week waiting period. The store was almost deserted with only one other customer in the children's section, and I was double masked. Safe enough.

It was a delight to be in this space again! I headed straight for the children's section in the back. We're going to visit my son and his family this week. It's essential for this grandma to arrive with books in my suitcase. I read lots of book reviews and make note of recommendations from fellow bloggers. But there's nothing like the thrill of discovering a new book and reading it cover to cover. I was excited to read more than a few new-to-me picture books. I finally settled on a board book for almost one year old Ruthie and a humorous book for Teddy who turns five in June. Do you have any new favorite books for these ages? This book-buying grandma is always open to suggestions.

The other four nursery rhymes featured are Old MacDonald Had a Farm, Hickory Dickory Dock, The Itsy-Bitsy Spider, and The Wheels on the Bus. Each rhyme has one large lift-the-flap on the page opposite the rhyme. You absolutely can't go wrong with Eric Carle's brilliant illustrations.

Cole uses his training as an assistant knight to save the town from the dreaded Underwear Dragon. This book made me think of Polar Bear's Underwear. Everyone knows that any book with knights, dragons, and underwear is sure to be a hit with the preschool crowd!

SOL 14/31: Serendipity

A comment left on someone's post can lead to a possible new slice. I wish I could give credit to the post that led me here, but I can't find it and I failed to save it to my padlet of saved slices. 😞 

But someone's post mentioned a Tupperware dish the family always used to make dressing. And we make dressing (not stuffing) at our house and we have a big Tupperware bowl that we always use for this purpose too! I begin the day before Thanksgiving crumbling biscuits and cornbread into the bowl in anticipation of this dish that holds more importance than the turkey at our Thanksgiving table. 

I also use this dish when I make meatloaf. It gives me plenty of room to hand blend the hamburger and oatmeal before adding the sauce and egg and spices mixture. I've tried using the Kitchen aid mixer for this process. It just doesn't work. Nothing beats the hand mixing process and the big yellow (or is it orange?) bowl is perfect for this task.

The third all important function of this bowl is to make Muddy Buddies. This Corn Chex concoction of melted chocolate chips, peanut butter and powdered sugar absolutely requires the big yellow bowl for the all important "shaking" step. I could probably create a timeline history that shows my children growing up as they shake the contents in the big yellow bowl. Sometimes the Muddy Buddies get divided into smaller containers, but more often than not, the morsels of chocolate goodness stay in the bowl until it's emptied and someone decides to scrap the sides of the bowl for the last bits of chocolate and powdered sugar.

And that's the three purposes of our big Tupperware bowl that I mentioned in a comment. And then I remembered a fourth use! It always comes out when we make homemade ice cream. It's perfect for holding the paddle as we all stand around, spoons in hand, eager to scoop up that first delicious bite. 

And so I knew that I had the seeds for a "Tupperware bowl slice" and then a three year old memory serendipitously popped up on my Facebook feed and provided a 5th use for the big Tupperware bowl. Check out the pics for almost two year old Teddy's creative demonstration.

If by some miracle the writer of the slice who mentioned "dressing" and the yellow Tupperware bowl reads this slice, then that would be a double serendipity! Please leave a link to your post. I want to save it to my padlet of slices I love!

 

Sunday morning 10 am PST update: 

Wonder of wonders! Miracle of miracles!  The writer of the slice showed up and left us the link. It's a double serendipity Sabbath! And it's my good friend and fellow blogger, Diane who blogs at Newtreemom. Isn't it amazing how we can call someone we've never met a good friend? But blogging builds strong relationships. When I was still teaching, I shared some of Diane's poems with my students (with her permission, of course) on Poetry Friday. Here's the link to Diane's post that sent me meandering among Tupperware bowl memories: 12071. You'll definitely want to add it to wherever you keep mentor slices. It's that good! And it's about so much more than Tupperware bowls.

SOL 13/31: The Unchosen

I'm ashamed to admit that I own this many unread books! These are some of the titles I considered when putting together my three recommendations for our yearly book club retreat  (which did not happen for the second year in a row). In my defense, I did not buy all these books. I acquired many of them from library book sales or little free libraries. But as I was starting to return them to various shelves around my house, I decided to create a spot for the unchosen, the ones that got away, the ones I still want to read when I'm faced with the "what should I read next?" question.

The saddest addition to the shelf is the one on top, added last night after our vigorous Zoom gathering (which did not include the generous snack spread, the physical passing of books around the circle, the lively banter).  Okay, there was some lively banter, but Zoom can be so exasperating when we all decide to talk at once. I was so sure that Miss Benson's Beetle was a shoe-in for this year.  It clicked so many boxes for me: an author we've read before, a journey, a chance to learn something new, not too long and not too short, a book about the transformative power of friendship, a deft balance of hilarity and emotion, a pure joyride and a perfect escape. I fear that my moment to promote this book did not do it justice. Never fear, Miss Benson's Beetle, your spot top and center on the shelf ensures that you'll be chosen soon!

I may return to the unchosen shelf for an expanded slice before the month is done. But it's Saturday and the grand boys are coming for a day at our house! Feel free to add your own recommendations if you spy some favorites on the shelf.

Slice of Life 12/31 and Poetry Friday: Book Spine Poetry

Inspired by Lynne's post, I collect some of my favorite poetry books in preparation for April. I stack them in order of size (largest on bottom, smallest on top). I plan to introduce each book with a short celebratory shout out. But before I can even snap that picture, I begin to play with the titles!

It's March Slice of Life 

It's Poetry Friday

It's Book Spine Poetry!

If you're not familiar with book spine poetry, here's a quick definition from Google: "Book spine poetry is considered “found” poetry; that is, a poem made up of words from other sources. You, the poet, aren’t writing the words, trying to fit a form, or looking for words that rhyme. Instead, with book spine poetry, you simply arrange books so their titles create a poem."

Sketches from a Spy Tree

When Green Becomes Tomatoes

Firefly July

Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle

What the Heart Knows

Devotions

One Today

The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog

Handsprings

 Dictionary for a Better World

I Am the Book

Falling Down the Page

Healing the Divide

 

Here's another way to organize my baker's dozen of favorite poetry books.

Adult titles

Devotions by Mary Oliver  

Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness and Connection Edited by James Crews

Anthologies

Firefly July: A Year of Very Short Poems selected by Paul B. Janeczko

Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle...and Other Modern Verse edited by Stepehn Dunning, Edward Lueders, and Hugh Smith (the oldest book in the stack, copyright 1965, introduced to me by Dr. Ted Munson in the 70s at Oklahoma State University)

I Am the Book poems selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins

The Proper Way to Meet a Hedgehog and Other How-To Poems  selected by Paul B. Janeczko

Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems edited by Georgia Heard

Poems by One Poet

When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons by  Julie Fogliano

 Sketches from a Spy Tree poems by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer 

What the Heart Knows: Chants, Charms, and Blessings by Joyce Sidman (also the only book that comes with it's own red satin bookmark)

Handsprings poems and paintings by Douglas Florian (I love each seasonal title in this collection, but chose this one because spring is coming soon.)

An Illustrated Picture Book of Just One Poem

One Today by Richard Blanco (The Inaugural Poem for President Barack Obama)  

A Book by Two Poets

Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z by Irene Latham and Charles Walters

 

Head over to my juicy little universe

 for this week's roundup of poetic goodness.
Thanks, Heidi, for hosting this week.

SOL 11/31 and Sharing Our Stories: Celebrating March 9th!

We knew that this was our week! I am the last of the three Rees to receive my 2nd vaccination.  I passed the two week mark on Sunday. 

I send a text on Tuesday: "Let's get together! I'm open for Wednesday or Thursday. What works for you?" 

Shelly's quick reply, "Wednesday. All day."

And then around noon on Tuesday this text from Karen: "I'm at MI post office trying to figure out what is going on with my change of address."

I pick up the phone because when texts are going back and forth at the speed of talk, I prefer talking.  "Can you fit in a walk? It's a gorgeous day." 

She says, "I need to find a bathroom first." 

I reply, "You can come here." And so for the first time in almost a year, Karen walks into my home.

We decide we'll walk to Shelly's place. We're both vaccinated, so we can walk without masks and beside each other. 

Thirty minutes later we call Shelly from her parking lot to tell her we're here! She asks, "Do you want to come in?" Even though we can gather inside, we decide that a gorgeous day like today must be savored. So outside it will be. She brings us water and cups since I'm thirsty. We give each other long hugs that we've been saving up for over a year.

Karen updates us on her ongoing post office "change of address" saga which began in November. Shelly tells her own post office story of the missing medication. We laugh like we always do and marvel that we're together, in person (not on Zoom or FaceTime), unmasked with absolutely no social distancing. 

We talk about Shelly's upcoming Passover presentation to her scholarship ladies. And before long, we go inside Shelly's place to see her Passover plates and cups and learn about Passover Seder. It's been more than a year since we've gathered inside, unmasked! Our hearts are ecstatic!

The Three Rees*! 

(*Retirees) 

 

 

To savor the magic of story, link your post at Sharing Our Stories.

SOL 10/31: Ten Early Morning Musings

Sharing ten murky meanderings in search of today's slice:

1. If I'm waking at 3 am, then it must be March Slice of Life (a time of year that wreaks havoc on my sleep patterns).

2. If I read a few slices and don't start commenting, then I can go back to sleep.

3. If I look at Day 10 from ten years of slicing, I might get an idea for today's slice.

4. If I read a slice that captures a perfect day in my life, then I'm stopped in my tracks with memories of that day.

5. If I could find the words I scrawled somewhere just before bed, then I could write about yesterday's perfection.

6. If I had brought my Slice of Life notebook upstairs, then the words would be exactly where they should be.

7. If I had noticed the paper pinned to my bulletin board earlier in the day, then I might have nominated a different book to our ballot for next year's book club list.

8. If I get Deacon King Kong back from my daughter, then I might get it read in time to join Moira's Seattle Times Book Club on April 28th. 

9. If I move a few books around, then I could create a shelf for all of the books I wanted to nominate for our book club's 2021-22 ballot.

10. If I tear off the sticky note to self about Friday night's book club gathering (after recording it in my planner), then EUREKA, I find the seed of an idea that I scrawled just before turning out the light Tuesday evening. 

I'm saving that seed for another day, posting this slice, and going back to sleep.