currently

I am...

Reading:  When He Was Wicked (Bridgerton #6)

Listening to:  the petals falling off one of the flowers from last week's bouquet

Loving:  I'm making a playlist at school of all the earworms I have during the course of a month.  Talk about eclectic!

Thinking:  there is nothing on my mind

Feeling:  a little tired

Celebrating:  there are four days between me and vacation

Grateful for:  plan-free vacation next week

Weather: it is 53° and overcast

Enjoying:  I wore cuffed white jeans today because the rules of white don't exist anymore

A quote I want to share:

day twelve

Free verse (freedom from fixed meter or rhyme) is an irregular form of poetry in which the content has no rules of verse.

The bell rings

and I find myself

rushing out the door.

To nothing.

The sweet relief

of going home, though.

Feet up, Book open

Quiet reverie.

day eleven

 Kimo is a three-line, non-rhyming poem with the first line having ten syllables, the second seven syllables, and the last line six syllables.

The vaccine welt on my arm is now a bruise

At least it's not very sore

Dad hugs in ten more days!

unconscious mutterings

  

Unconscious Mutterings

Week 892 - April 4, 2021

I say ... and you think ... ?  

1. Song :: the month-long playlist I'm making of my earworms (at school)
2. Glass :: half full?  half empty?
3. Boat :: sail away
4. Junk :: clutter
5. Sheet :: bed
6. Knit :: my hobby--yarn!
7. Gift :: present
8. Truck :: loud
9. Small :: tiny
10. Title :: proper

sunday stealing

 

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Monday Morning Meme

1. You have just been hired to clean your own home, what is your first complaint? there are no cleaning supplies

2. Are you able to ignore a ringing telephone? yes

3. How often do you allow a ringing phone to go to voice mail?  always for unknown numbers, never for family or friends or others in my contacts list

4. Do you answer your cell phone, out in public, every time it rings? Or do you silence it and get back to it when you’re in a more private area? silence--I only ever answer my parents' calls in public

5. How often would you say you’re on your home phone? Your cell phone? I got rid of my landline about a year ago--so I'm always on my cell phone

6. Do you like talking on the phone or do you view it as a necessary communication tool? I like talking to Allen on the phone but otherwise, I don't really enjoy it and hurry to get done

7. When did you last go for a bike ride? more than ten years ago

8. Do you own a bike? no

9. Given the most popular New Year’s resolution of losing weight, would you consider putting bicycle riding as one of your exercise options? Why or why not? maybe a recumbent bike-but I never have losing weight as a resolution

10. If you had to name a smell that always makes you nostalgic, what would it be? What sorts of memories does the smell evoke? clove or Merle Norman cosmetics make me think of my mum, Youth Dew makes me think of my Grammy

11. What did you do over the weekend? No detail is too small. This is your journal, so tell us about the mundane tasks in your life.  My friends and I had a fully-masked, socially distanced get-together to talk and then I went grocery shopping and then after putting everything away, I watched some DVRd shows and knit dishcloths and then I read and then I baked some chicken for supper and then I read some more and then my bestie took me to pick up some patio chairs that wouldn't fit in my car but fit in hers and then we sat, socially distanced and fully-masked and tried the new chairs out, and then I came inside and had a cup of tea and read and knit until around midnight and then I went to sleep

12. If it weren’t for my blog, I’d _________. never journal on my own

13. When was the last time you replied “because I said so”? Do you find yourself saying that a lot? Or do you prefer to tell people WHY you want them to do something for you. I'm not sure I've ever said that and meant it--but it would have been at school, had I said it.

14. What is the worst gift you’ve ever received? I really can't think of anything

15.  Tell us the worst gift you’ve ever given. What was the reaction of the recipient?  again, I can't think of anything

postsecret

 

 PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. I like to post one that speaks to me each week.

day ten

 Haiku is a nature-themed Japanese poetic form that consists of three lines, with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third.

Birdsong woke me up

Definitely signs of spring

Nice start to the day!

saturday 9

 

The Bones 

1) They lyrics compare a relationship to a house, saying that despite superficial problems like peeling paint or broken glass, the foundation can still be solid and strong. What home improvement project is next on your list? I have a plan for decluttering--I know, I know, I say it all the time but I have a plan this time!

2) Maren Morris sings that she knows she and her lover can face any storm. Are you afraid of thunder and lightening? no

3) The video for this song shows Maren and her husband, singer/songwriter Ryan Hurd, on the beach in Maui. Would you rather go for a long walk along a beach or a hike in the woods? either is appealing

 

4) "The Bones" won Morris and her collaborators (Jimmy Robbins and Laura Veltz) the 2020 CMA "Song of the Year" Award. Here's your chance to pat yourself on the back. What's something you have done well lately? (Go ahead. We want to hear about it!) I've been baking and cooking more lately

5) The song was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Country Song. For the awards show last month, Maren put a lot of work into her look, including lightening her hair and lipstick and reshaping her brows. She was surprised when saw on social media that people confused her with reality star Khloe Kardashian. How long does it take you to prepare to face the world (on an average day, not for an internationally telecast awards show)? not long--I don't really do much primping

 

6) Experimenting with hair and makeup comes naturally to Maren. Her parents have owned the same hair salon for decades. She and her sister played there as children and took turns working the reception desk when they were in high school. Do you have a hair appointment scheduled? no, I do not but I could use a trim

 

7) Mom and Dad do not go out of their way to play Maren's songs in their salon. They don't want to "bombard" clients with her music, just because she's their daughter. But, if one of Maren's songs happens to come on, they are naturally very proud. Where were you the last time you had to listen to someone else's choice of music? (Bank, doctor's office, friend's car, etc.) Did you enjoy it, or did you wish you could change the station? the grocery store and I love the music

 

8) Maren says her favorite foods are tacos and tortillas. When did you most recently eat Mexican food? wow--I can't even remember

9) Random question: What do you call that thing in your living room? Is it a sofa, couch, or a Davenport? a couch

finished reading

 

I will never be friends with winter.  But I have a new appreciation for the season--what a lovely book.

From the publisher:

Sometimes you slip through the cracks: unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a break up, or a job loss can derail a life. These periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. For May, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her own medical issues led her to leave a demanding job. Wintering explores how she not only endured this painful time, but embraced the singular opportunities it offered.

A moving personal narrative shot through with lessons from literature, mythology, and the natural world, May's story offers instruction on the transformative power of rest and retreat. Illumination emerges from many sources: solstice celebrations and dormice hibernation, C.S. Lewis and Sylvia Plath, swimming in icy waters and sailing arctic seas.

Ultimately Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times. May models an active acceptance of sadness and finds nourishment in deep retreat, joy in the hushed beauty of winter, and encouragement in understanding life as cyclical, not linear. A secular mystic, May forms a guiding philosophy for transforming the hardships that arise before the ushering in of a new season.

day nine

 Cinquain an unrhymed, five-line poetic form defined by the number of syllables in each line—the first line has two syllables, the second has four, the third six, the fourth eight, and the fifth two. 

Weekend

Time to relax

Visit the Breakfast Club

Rest, read, rejuvenate, and snack

Refresh

the friday 56

The Friday 56

Rules: 

*Grab a book, any book. 

*Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's ok.) 

*Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) 

*Post it. 

I'm reading The Kill Artist

From page 30:

Rami stepped outside the guardhouse and watched the old man pounding down the drive.  He was bald and thick, with steel-rimmed spectacles.  His face was dry and deeply creviced--like the Negev, thought Rami.  As usual he wore khaki trousers and an ancient leather bomber jacket with a tear on the right breast, just below the arm-pit.  Within the service there were two theories about the tear.  Some believed the jacket had been pierced by a bullet during a reprisal raid into Jordan in the fifties.  Others argued that it had been torn by the dying fingers of a terrorist whom Shamron garroted in a Cairo back alley.  Shamron always insisted gruffly that the truth was much more prosaic--the jacket had been torn on the corner of a car door--but no one within the service took him seriously.

friday 5

 

III III III III III

1. Who are your three latest celebrity crushes? George Clooney, Sam Hughen, Jesse L. Martin
2. What three strange things have you done during the pandemic? I stopped watching tv and movies, stopped going on whirlwind road trips, stopped going out to eat
3. What three goals do you have for the weekend? sleep, catch up with some friends, read
4. What three things are you avoiding? cleaning, recycling boxes, cleaning
5. What three things are you feeling pretty good about? my second vaccine, lesson planning, spring

three on thursday

Click here to join in

Thing one: there are seven more school days until vacation. 

Thing two: Tonight I am super tired and sort of have the chills, I had my second vaccine yesterday.

Thing three:  Spring weather has arrived--it was 60+ degrees today!

 

day eight

Haiku is a nature-themed Japanese poetic form that consists of three lines, with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, and five in the third.

day seven

  Lune style: A lune variation counts words: 3 words in the first line, 5 words in the second line, and 3 words in the final line.

Book group met

discussion was lively and interesting

in person again.

unraveled wednesday

 

Join Kat @ AsKatKnits for some fun!

I am listening to When He Was Wicked (Bridgerton #6) and knitting up some dishcloths--I needed some instant gratification knitting  (Rav link) 

wordless wednesday

 

ten things tuesday

Ten spring quotes:

1)  Here comes the sun, and I say, it's all right. ~The Beatles

2)  The first blooms of spring always make my heart sing. ~S. Brown

3) It's spring again. I can hear the birds sing again. See the flowers start to bud. See young people fall in love. ~Lou Rawls

4) Spring won’t let me stay in this house any longer! I must get out and breathe the air deeply again. ~Gustav Mahler

5) Spring adds new life and new joy to all that is. ~Jessica Harrelson

6) A little flower that blooms in May. A lovely sunset at the end of a day. Someone helping a stranger along the way. That's heaven to me. ~Sam Cooke

7) Spring will come and so will happiness. Hold on. Life will get warmer. ~Anita Krizzan

8) Love is the flower you've got to let grow. ~John Lennon

9)  The beautiful spring came, and when nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also. ~Harriet Ann Jacobs

10) Always it's spring and everyone's in love and flowers pick themselves. ~e.e. cummings

day six

 Kimo is a three-line, non-rhyming poem with the first line having ten syllables, the second seven syllables, and the last line six syllables.

A former student stopped in to visit

It's great to see her success

I miss my homeroom kids.