Skip to content

Month: June 2023

Georgia On My Mind

Published on June 27, 2023 
It is Tuesday and time to write a 'Slice of Life." 
Thank you  Two Writing Teachers for creating this supportive community
of teacher-writers!

We’ve been in Georgia for the past week, for the annual reunion of my husband’s family. He is one of 13 children, with only four still living, and this leads to quite the crowd. There are spouses, children, grandchildren, and even a few great grandchildren for the oldest siblings. The reunion was on Saturday, but we made a week of it, visiting with different family members and friends for longer meet ups. It is a wonderful tradition to start our summer.

Driving back today, I looked through photos and reflected on conversations…it led to a bit of a poem. I need to work on this still, but here’s my slice of life…

Georgia On My Mind

the June reunion takes us back
over many miles and memories

a steady rain as we drive
seems to echo the mind’s machinations
whispering yet insisting,
saturating

all the cooking from the heart
butter peas, crowder peas, green beans
cornbread, mac-n-cheese
okra and dressing
(made just like Mimi always did)
pies, pound cake, chocolate delight
so many family favorites 
be sure to have a bite of everything

thirty-five years of showing up
has worn down 
the suspicion of me, 
the one raised ‘east coast, Catholic,’
yet it lingers askance
like framing on old weathered barns 

maybe I’m one of those little stone houses
staying put
strong and steady 

in their midst yet on the periphery
I love it here

dear ones open up to me
sharing confidences
the buttered biscuit on the side
taking all the juices in

now I’m remembering all the kudzu 
creating funny monsters against the Georgian blue
or is it simply keeping secrets
saying, no, not now, no light on this
keep quiet about that

let me think on this
maybe I’ll share more later

simply remember
the chortle of the littles
as they ran and laughed
together

family is precious
Thank you for visiting my blog.  Clicking the title of any post will open a comment box at the bottom of the page. I love hearing from you.

Two Plus Two

Published on June 20, 2023 
It is Tuesday and time to write a 'Slice of Life." 
Thank you  Two Writing Teachers for creating this supportive community
of teacher-writers!

Big sister’s preschool is done for the year and we’ll be babysitting both granddaughters two days a week, all summer.  I have a fun backyard art project up my sleeve for these youngsters (2 ½ and 4 ½ years of age).

It begins with two old kitchen cabinet doors –

Remember these?

They were saved from those dazzling and naive days just a year or two ago, when we dreamed that the only thing the kitchen needed was a simple facelift. We began painting all the cabinets bright white. Ha! This was BEFORE the reality check of the ceiling buckling and the subsequent big remodel. (Note: “bowed” is not always a gift.)

Anyhow, we salvaged the doors and moved them to our garage, before the demolition. This summer, two of the doors will make a perfect canvas for art exploration. This creativity will be done outside, with these doors propped up against the fence. The girls will create and explore throughout the summer, making murals from these solid boards. We will use a variety of art techniques, watching the murals will change and grow over time. 

Here is Day One’s bucket of fun:

Day One is simply tape and paint. The girls will apply painter’s tape to the doors in any which way they like, and then roll on their favorite paint colors all over the door. I hope the girls enjoy this first morning of painting, on bright white canvases! 

When the paint dries, we’ll peel the tape off – and think about what to add next. More paint? Glue and some other materials? I’m not sure yet. We’ll decide as we go, layering the creativity. I’m excited to see where this leads. I promise to share photos along the way.

Two young ones + two old doors = summer fun at Nana and Poppa’s.

Happy summer!

Thank you for visiting my blog.  Clicking the title of any post will open a comment box at the bottom of the page. I love hearing from you.

Lesson Learned

Published on June 13, 2023 
It is Tuesday and time to write a 'Slice of Life." 
Thank you  Two Writing Teachers for creating this supportive community
of teacher-writers!

A word to the wise: do NOT babysit a two year old while simultaneously supporting a four year old on a class field trip. 

What seemed like a good idea from the comfort of our home was simply a figment of our imagination, a mind game, the proverbial ‘rich learning experience.’ The field trip to the National Zoo was on the day that local air quality plummeted due to Canadian wildfires – I offer this as an excuse for our hazy decision-making skills. 

Early on in the adventure, waiting for the school bus with preschoolers and teachers to arrive, the littlest nature lover found a couple acorns on the ground and held them in one hand and yummy goldfish snacks in the other. Moments later we learned Lesson One: never ever ever take your eyes off the two year old. It is extremely challenging to ‘support’ preschoolers at the lion exhibit while simultaneously discovering that the acorns have been chewed and swallowed. Grab a paper towel – quick, spit it out – finger swipe inside cheeks – here, gulp water – swish and spit – hey, squirrels eat raw acorns all the time.

On with the field trip!

Moments later, barely recovered, we studied snakes with big sister and classmates in the reptile house, and repeated Lesson One: never ever ever take your eyes off the two year old. She was no longer at our side. Stroller was empty. It is true: time really does stand still when a child goes missing. Seconds of absence feel like hours. I ran a few steps back, retracing our steps, and THERE SHE WAS!! Little miss had slipped away without our knowing for one last reverential look at the Komodo dragon. 

This field trip aged me. 

There was only one lesson: 

Lesson One: never ever ever take your eyes off the two year old. 

It took two hard tries, but the lesson was learned and never to be forgotten. This field trip was not a situation where we were watching both big sister and little sister. From that point on, we kept our focus on the two year old, and let the teachers and ‘bonafide’ chaperones work with the preschoolers. We tagged along at the back of the pack, wished the class farewell when they returned to their bus, and we made our way back to our car.

The madness of the morning had one final and ridiculous crescendo moment in the parking lot, when two old fools could not figure out how to fold up the jogging stroller – a tool that our son thought would make things so much easier for us, out and about at the zoo. Where is the videotape of our ridiculous gyrations? Rest assured, “Squirrel” was locked into her car seat and plied with real, edible snacks while this wrestling match ensued. The whole debacle finally concluded with a somewhat humiliating text exchange with said son, and clarification of what gizmo is pressed and pulled in order to fold up the stroller beast. 

A long nap was had by each of us upon our return home.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  Clicking the title of any post will open a comment box at the bottom of the page. I love hearing from you.

Sentences Together

Published on June 6, 2023
Hanging Sculpture with Beads by Nick Cave – Tampa Airport

I know I am not the only one who reads a great book alongside a vacation, and the two end up a couple forever – when I think of the book, I remember the vacation; when I reflect on the trip, I remember my reading. I just returned from a very special weekend trip, and Louise Erdrich’s The Sentence will be forever infused with this trek. On the plane ride to and from, traveling by myself, I got lost in her magical and thought-provoking story. 

My trip was a girls’ weekend, and a novel one at that. My cousin (Gem) and I traveled to Florida to visit our mothers’ last remaining sister – our dear aunt. Gem and I were close when we were teenagers; I have always adored her. We didn’t really keep close from our college years onward. Life is like that. No rhyme or reason, really. I’d say probably due to our physical distance – she lives in Massachusetts, and I am in Maryland. 

Then we dreamed up this trip. 

We had a very special travel companion, Gem’s twenty-year-old daughter (Vine). This was the first time that Vine had met a family member from this generation, since my cousin’s parents had both died before she was born. The three of us rented a car together in Tampa, and an airbnb in Ocala.  My aunt and uncle are in their 80s, and we didn’t want to totally exhaust them by staying in their home. This was such a fun setup! It was very, very special to be with my aunt, hearing and sharing stories, looking through photographs, and piecing family history. Remembering and wondering, together. In the car and back at our rental, Gem, Vine, and I were able to talk talk talk and talk some more – getting to know one another more deeply.

Let me share a few photos from our walks. It is always a thrill to see different animals and nature.

In a fun coincidence, Louise Erdrich’s The Sentence has a mother-daughter relationship woven within the plot (which involves a ghost in a bookstore). I won’t give too much away – you should read the book.  All weekend long, mothers and daughters and those who have passed were our themes, as well, with memories coming up over and over. No ghosts, though – thankfully. 

Oh – another fun thread of the book is the word ‘sentence’ and its multiple meanings, with a special emphasis on writing beautiful sentences; there’s also witty writing about new words. I dog-eared so many pages of this book, trying to hold onto passages. I just returned home from the trip, and I am still processing all that my loved ones did and discussed – sentences keep popping up in my mind, special things we shared aloud with one another. How to hold onto all this? 

Yes, it was emotional – in good, rich ways. So wonderful! Gem and I will not let so much time go by without getting together again. In fact, we have vowed to write letters to one another – to continue to build our close friendship (cousin-ship?).

A great weekend – with a great book, as well. 

Thank you for visiting my blog.  Clicking the title of any post will open a comment box at the bottom of the page. I love hearing from you.