#sol24 September 17 Tree, Table, Book Club

 We gathered in a basement,

Are all book clubs in basements?

With grapes and cookies,

From 8 to 88 to discuss

Challenges of each stage of life,

Including cognitive decline.

Tree, Table, Book

We shared stories,

Our writing,

 Dreams of being published,

Compared thoughts about the characters,

Made bookmarks

To remember

To share our stories.

It was a first, for all,

An Intergenerational Book Club.

The book was uniquely suited

As if Lois Lowry had planned it!

We are all awaiting the sequel!

#sol24September10 Shopping for Santa?

 

When I heard James Earl Jones passed, 

I smiled and I remembered...  

Long ago, in the days before cell phones with cameras, 

I left school on December 23 with a huge list of 

what needed to be done for the looming holiday 

replacing lesson plans and curriculum concerns. 

The snow had already begun to fall, and the forecast called for 

lots of white stuff before the impending holiday.

 Part of me knew I really should head to the babysitter's to pick up my kids, 

but the other part of me hoped I had enough time to 

stop at the local Grand Union to pick up a few things.  

Like almost everyone else in town, I grabbed a cart and threw in the snowy day essentials like bread, milk, and eggs. I impulsively grabbed flour and sugar thinking I might just bake cookies while stuck inside. The lines were growing, so I pulled into the nearest one and impulsively grabbed a slew of the in-reach items.  A scored a couple of Swedish Fish, Twizzlers, M & M s, Hershey Kisses, Jolley Ranchers, Altoids, bubble gum, gummy. worms, pens, travel sized games and travel size toothbrushes for good measure. I was pretty sure this would be my last shopping before the big holiday and so I took full advantage of that impulse aisle! I suspect I was thinking about the excessive amount of sugar destined for those stockings or perhaps I was bemoaning the lack of weather appropriate footwear, but the voice behind me was comforting and familiar. 

"Helping the big man out?" he asked with a laugh as I threw the haul onto the conveyor belt. "Did you see these Santa candy dispensers?" he asked reaching for Santa Pez dispensers in the nearby aisle.  He carried only a handbasket, but was dressed for the snowy afternoon in an oversized coat. 

I surely smiled as I responded to the bigger than life local hero who popped 2 Pez dispensers onto my belt.  

"You needed them," he chuckled. 

Let's be honest. The novelty dispensers were 

a bigger hit than all the junk I purchased! 

I've long wondered how he retold the story

of his Grand Union encounter 

with a snow-holiday-stressed local teacher!

 snowfall outside 

#sol24 September 3 Wherever You Find Yourself

 

Schools have opened, pools have closed and the air has a certain chill; therefore, no matter what the calendar says, "summer" is over, and we must abandon slip-on sandals and lazy afternoons. In these waning days of summer, life moves slowly for most people, even though the days go way too fast for teachers and students! 

For some, the summer slow down has reached the ultimate in slow-motion events, The Annual End of Summer Tractor Parade! There really is something special about this parade that my cousin and #1 reader told me about even though this slow moving event could  make local kids excited about school!

                                                                    (Montgomery, NY)

For many of us (teachers and students probably fit in here), the summer slow down has led to abandoning damp swim suits for Scrabble. Life, or Jenga blocks!  We hit the stores for backpacks and shies and now find ourselves teetering on the edge of excitement and trepidation! Fall is like that! 

For some. today is just a new day or working and transitioning to sweater and jeans.

All of these are good options,

Wherever you find yourself today, I wish you a fall season that "falls in a good way for you."