SOL 31/31: Celebrating with a tricube and an acrostic!

 

 

 

Slicer friends,

gather round.

Celebrate!

 

Story threads

connect us,

bring comfort.

 

Thirty-first

day of March,

confetti! 

 

Rules for a tricube:

• Each line contains three syllables.
• Each stanza contains three lines.
• Each poem contains three stanzas.

 

 

 

And from my archives,

an Easter acrostic 

written for NPM and SJT

in  2017.

 

 

 

Everlasting joy
As we praise the God who
So loved the world 
That He sent His son.
Every soul has cause to 
Rejoice!  He is risen!

-Ramona Behnke

I like noticing where my poetic impulses come from.  You'll recognize some of the words come from John 3:16 and the song "For God So Loved the World."  "He Sent His Son" is a song in our children's songbook that I love.  "Rejoice, The Lord is King" and "He Is Risen" are two favorite hymns, made even more meaningful during this Easter season.   I look forward to the glorious Easter promise of the empty tomb which assures us of the gift of the  resurrection to all, "Because He did, so can we." For those of you who are celebrating this holiday, Happy Easter!

SOL 30/31: Rounding Up Four Weeks of Slicing

I frequently do an analysis of the topics and types of writing I've done on the last day of March. This year I'll do it a day early since tomorrow will be an Easter slice. I arrived at a significant milestone this year. I missed not one, but two days of slicing! 

I had decided that I wouldn't participate this year since I was doing a lot of traveling in March. But I made the mistake of reading a few slices two days in and decided that I needed to participate. So I jumped in on March 3rd and have now completed 28 days of writing. 

The lesson I'm taking away this year is to never let perfect be the enemy of the good. A missed day does not mean you failed at slicing. It means you missed a day and picking up again is progress in the right direction.

Here's a breakdown of topics for my 2024 slices for March:

Travel slices - 9

Friend slices -7

Books/book club slices -6

Poem slices - 5

Grandchildren slices - 4

Borrowed ideas from other slicers - 4  (Top 3 Lists, Tricube, Double Etheree, Leigh Anne's Word Buffet))

Slices about slicing - 4 

Nature slices - 3

Technical challenge slices - 2

The total does not equal 28 slices because some slices filled more than one of the above topics/categories. I have one slice that received no comments (March 16), probably because it was around the time my commenting problems began and it wasn't rescued from spam until the following day. If you have slices that received no comments, let me know. I would be happy to stop by.

This is my thirteenth year to participate in the March Slice of Life. 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 29/31: Top Three Lists

With only three days left to slice, it seems the perfect time to share a post of Top Three Lists. I've enjoyed these lists as a way to become better acquainted with fellow slicers and make connections. I've shared thirteen in honor my thirteenth year of slicing.

Ways to Spend a Rainy Day - Read, Nap, Watch a movie

Places  - Libraries, Bookstores, Museums

Collections - Mugs, Quotes, Heart-themed Christmas Ornaments

Middle Grade Books - The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z, Three Times Lucky, Gossamer

British Crime Series - Vera, Shetland, C.B.Strike

Flowers - Daffodils, Roses, Peonies

Cookies - Double Chocolate, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, Molasses Crinkles

Masterpiece Theater Series - Call the Midwives, All Creatures Great and Small, Unforgotten

Authors I Want to Hear - Ralph Fletcher, Jason Reynolds, Sharon Draper

Poets I Enjoy - Mary Oliver, Billy Collins, Ted Kooser

Influential Educational Books - Lasting Impressions (Shelly Harwayne), Read Write Teach (Linda Rief), When Kids Can't Read (Kylene Beers)

Presenters - Naomi Shihab Nye, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Janet Wong (Can you tell that I love poets?)

Novels-in-Verse - Brown Girl Dreaming, Home of the Brave, Out of the Dust

This is my thirteenth year to participate in the March Slice of Life. 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 28/31: I Miss Having a Firm Deadline!

As a retired educator, I miss the firm deadlines I used to have for pounding out my slice. One time that I enjoyed was writing in the morning before leaving for school. I sometimes found that finishing my slice made for a later arrival at school with less time to prep for the day. 

I wrote with my students during our Slice of Life writing time in class. I wrote in my notebook and then just had to retype it onto Blogspot (often with a few revisions) after school and hit post before heading home.

On particularly busy days, I would find myself at 8;30 pm (11:30 pm East Coast time), frantically racing the clock to finish a post in time. While it gave me a sudden surge of adrenaline, I was also filled with fear that I might not make the deadline. 

Fast forward a few years to  my early retirement: My absolute favorite time to comment and write is when I find myself wide awake in the middle of the night. That works well when I don't have early morning commitments and can sleep in. But more often than not, I do have something scheduled early in the day. And I try to be finished with my slice before evening rolls around. 

For a few days, I managed to write at night for the next day. Perfect way to avoid the stress of "What will I write thinking?" lodging in the back of my mind all day. 

This morniny I went to the library and then over to my daughter's home to read with the boys and play until their lunchtime. Since arriving home two hours ago, I've whiled away the time making a quick lunch, listening to the news, commenting, and trying to write a slice. 

I think Parkinson's Law is definitely at work here. This article from Work Life defines the term for us: "Parkinson’s Law is the old adage that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion. The term was first coined by Cyril Northcote Parkinson in a humorous essay he wrote for “The Economist” in 1955." Read his original article here. I find it amusing that this term was coined the year I was born.

Just a few minutes ago, I looked at the clock and decided I would definitely finish this post by 2:30. That deadline is almost here. I posted this at 2:28 and just finished revisions at 2:36. And so, I rest my case. I am a writer who needs a firm deadline.

SOL 27/31:How to Spend a Gray, Mizzly Day

 Wake up earlier than usual to pick up before the housekeepers come at 8 am.

Arrive at daughter's house to stay with two grand boys while eldest grand boy goes to the doctor.

Look over tax forms before husband submits them.

Begin planning page for possible trips.

Receive text that another person can't make it to book chat today. The remaining three of us decide on rescheduling rather than heading out on this gray, mizzly day.

Join husband for a run to WalMart which is surprisingly uncrowded. (Who actually runs errands on a gray, mizzly day?)

Find a can of pumpkin in the pantry for daughter who is baking pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and has no pumpkin in her pantry.

Ask husband to run it over to daughter's house.

Call a friend who is not available, but will call back later.

Text another friend.

Think about where the green cutting mat might be that daughter wants to borrow so she can begin Ollie's quilt. 

Phone daughter. We ponder the mystery of our missing, green cutting mats. I fear that mine was lost in the move to Kirkland along with my laminated posters and the How to Eat a Watermelon poem that a parent illustrated and laminated for my classroom more than fifteen years ago.

Bake oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from dough balls in the freezer. 

Eat warm cookies with a cold glass of milk.

Sashay my way through several blog posts. For some reason, some of my comments are still disappearing even when I use WordPress reader. :(

Speak sternly to self. No more dilly dallying.

Write today's post so I can reward myself with the best activity for a a gray, mizzly day:

Stretch out in recliner with cozy blanket and read!

This is my thirteenth year to participate in the March Slice of Life. 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 26/31: Treasures from My Book Bag

I pop by the library on Thursday to pick up books from my holds shelf. As always, I stop by the children's display of new books and pick up a few new titles. We are going to Boone for spring break with daughter, son-in-law, and the three grand boys. With no time to the preview books before our trip, I stash the book bag in the car, count the number of books to ensure I'll come back with all the books I take, and wait for a ready audience. It doesn't take long.

 

These three active boys are more than willing to settle down with me for reading time. In fact, one of our rotating activity stations at the vacation house is, you guessed it, the reading station, with Grandma at the helm.

 

This book is a big hit with all the boys 

and our 7-year-old can read it independently.

The Go-Go Guys NEVER sleep! 

 

Here I am reading Go-Go Guys to our almost five-year-old.

He loved listening and looking at pictures from the top bunk.

.

I picked this one up thinking it would be great for the 2 1/2 year old.

But it is a favorite of the seven-year-old. 

 

With a birthday in just two weeks, our almost five-year-old loves this one 

about new friends and birthday surprises. .

He especially likes the foil and die-cut peek-a-boo pages.

 

 Our 2 1/2 year old could recite this one from memory 

and loved the touchy-feely pages. 

And there's a white mouse on every two page spread.

 

 

These titles are two of my personal favorites from the book bag.  

Milo Walking celebrates the wonder and possibilities of a daily walk 

with his mom.  There's No Place Like Hope is one I want to buy for my shelves.

"This sweet, rhythmic picture book is a gentle yet powerful exploration of how hope makes us loving, courageous, and connected to one another." (Amazon review)

This one's middle grade. You know why I requested it. 

I can't wait to read another delightful book by this beloved children's author!

I hope you enjoyed this stroll through some of the contents of my book bag. I am grateful for a library system that makes new books readily available and introduces me and my grands to so many wonderful titles.

SOL 25/31: A New Book Club for Me

Today's prompt came from Tammy's Sunday Coffee Share. I loved our Sunday chat over coffee (hot chocolate for me). If you're in search of an idea for writing, Tammy provides prompts at the end of each new tidbit of sharing. I chose this one.

Write about a community you are glad to be part of.

Book Chat is my new favorite book club. I was invited to join by my daughter's neighbor, Donna, via text. We hadn't yet met in person when she picked me up for my first meeting. Here's an explanation of Book Chat from our organizer, Maureen, to a recent new member:

"No book reading required! We just talk about books, ones we have heard about, ones becoming shows or movies, ones we want to read and then we share books if we happened to have read some since last we met."

Book Chat is a delightful group of women of a certain age (most of us are retired). I was delighted to learn that several members are also retired teachers like me. We meet at a local coffee shop so no one has to worry about hosting, cleaning, or providing dessert. We don't have a set date, but each meeting is set up via group text, usually with an option or two and we choose the time that fits most of the group. (Who knew a group of retired women could be so busy?) It's a very open and welcoming group. Each time I've attended, a new person has been invited to join. Since I moved to this area in July, this group is a wonderful group to poll regarding doctors, repairmen, alterations, shopping venues, places to visit, etc. When I can't attend, I send a pic of the books I would have shared. There is frequent sharing of physical books between group members. They tolerate my love of middle grade books.  I am fortunate to have found such a welcoming group of book-loving friends in my new community.