Nobody Expects Anything
Tuesday Slice of Life : May 24, 2016. At three o'clock this morning as I shoved last minute items into my carry-on, I reached for one of my favorite books for travel reading and squeezed it in beside my work already packed. I've read and re-read every page in that...
Empower Students
Language is the instrument of knowledge. Knowledge is power. Hence, language proficiency empowers.
On a May Afternoon
Tuesday Slice of Life : May 10, 2016. The sky is summery Here, there is a puff of white The sun is warm on my face But a brisk, nippy breeze Reminds me of winter A profusion of blossoms Arrayed in a myriad of color Some brilliant, some now faded Nod as they welcome a...
Two! Not ‘tow’ : Not ‘to’ : Not ‘too’
Students often use the wrong homophone, to or too instead of two. Or they misspell it, tow being the most common misspelling. Several things make this misspelling likely to happen. The w is silent The consonant team tw is not very common The vowel team ow is common,...
Transformations
Digging
Seamus Heaney, described by Robert Lowell as "the most important Irish poet since Yeats," was perhaps the best-known poet in the world in our age, a master story-teller, the recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature. From "Digging" My grandfather cut more turf...
On an April Day
The sky is summery, the wind is nippy Trees have donned their garb of spring Arrayed in brilliant color, flowers are nodding That’s what it’s like on this April day a poem for April 2016 National Poetry Month, a literary celebration inaugurated by the Academy of...
Spring
Cold melts away Sun rises earlier Grass grows green Leaves unfurl Blossoms lift their heads Daffodils dress in yellow Crocuses in purple Tulips wave red, yellow, pink Robins pull worms Songbirds sing Squirrels scamper Summer's coming Writing about my writing Why I...
Vintage
Paint to me is part of story telling, whether brush strokes on canvas, transforming walls or giving a new lease on life to a vintage beauty. Rachel Ashwell My granddaughter, a high school senior, motioned me over beside her on Sunday and complimented my outfit (made...
The Strength of My Friend
During her middle school years, my daughter, inspired by Isaiah 40:31, composed the following poem. I saw an eagle Soaring above the land Looking so free Compared to a man. His strong wings were spread As the gray clouds grew In stormy wind Without fear he flew My...
Bookending My Days
“If you want to be reminded of the love of the Lord, just watch the sunrise.” -Jeannette Walls, Half Broke Horses
Once You Have Tasted
#SOL16. No.30. “When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” Leonardo da Vinci Da Vinci's words seemed to leap from the page of one of those travel...
Dishwashing Made Easy
#SOL16. No. 29. Dishwashing is a slice of life common to most of us, right? Well, it was the subject of my casual reading the other day. Yes, you read right. Your eyes did not skip a line. I was reading about dishwashing. You see, I downloaded a forgotten book (read...
In the Old Country
#SOL16. No.28. Melted snowflakes Maple-wood smoke Hints of cinnamon, cardamon, cumin In the mysterious Old Country That no one knows anymore Every winter a hundred years long Every spring a miracle Water like music, music like water In the Old Country Whose name and...
Alive Forevermore
#SOL16, No. 27. Easter Sunday 2016 I am he who lives, and was dead, and Behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. Revelation 1:18 This I believe. A foreboding darkness Covers the land Jesus hangs On a cross As life ebbs He cries It is finished Bowing His head He dies The...
Easter Past
#SOL16, No. 26. I have been following Mark E. Weston's Heartland Series, stories from his boyhood. His writings are making me pause and remember. So for my slice today, I've written a poem remembering Easters of my girlhood. My title, Easter Past, borrows from Charles...
The Marmalade Cat
#SOL16. No.25. Yesterday, I published a memory from my first grade year -- "The Day My Teacher Died." Today I am writing a piece that is a snapshot of my thinking as I crafted it. However, before I begin unfolding my thinking, lest my narration of the crafting make...
The Day My Teacher Died
#SOL16. No.24. Prologue: This is my true story. The account is completely accurate. Names have been changed and a detailed added, but I will share more about that tomorrow when I write about the writing. The cat. It was a big marmalade cat. When I see a marmalade cat,...
Lunar Lunacy
#SOL16. No.23. It is the very error of the moon. She comes more near the earth than she was wont. And makes men mad. William Shakespeare, Othello Sharon and I sit in the Brian Center dining hall with Mick, waiting for his dinner tray. Mick, in the final stage of a...
For the record . . .
#SOL16. No.22. I My granddaughter (MZ), a high school junior, dropped into our kitchen unannounced on a Monday evening, full of life and energy as only that age is. The dropping-in is normal since we are neighbors and our back yards run together. We chatted and I...
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