Mainely Write

I woke up at 2:00 AM and it is now 4:23 AM.  These are not hours one should be aware of.  Or - These are not hours of which one should be aware.  Oh, dear.  I'm getting tired when a preposition at the end of a sentence bothers me. I'm sneezing and coughing and stuffy.  I haven't been sick since a lot of time ago.  I don't think I'm going anywhere tomorrow/today.  Mucinex DM, please kick in.  I want to go to sleep. While sleepless, I did manage to be somewhat fruitful, crawling out to the computer and writing these for Poetry Friday hosted by Betsy at Teaching Young Writers .  I don't know why, but poetry and poet tree and po-or tree kept floating through my mind.  I stopped them for a bit to mull them over and try them out.  So this is very early morning poetry...and there is no poet tree in sight.  I am not sitting under it.  I'm in the kitchen 'neath a bright o'erhead light.  Oh, I'm tired.  I need to breathe. I'm posting this and then ma

In 15 Words or Less - my response to Laura Salas ' challenge for Thursdays....Go there to see the photo prompt and read other responses to it. Currents of thoughts, like water through a trap, with turning tides, return yet untapped.

This is not a real lobster.  Do not eat it. We have been doing a special Sunday School program for 6 weeks now, and will in two weeks be at our final day of the program.  I won't go into detail here, but suffice it to say it involves decorations, incentives (food and prizes), weekly letters home, puppets, scripts, activities and songs.  I have been writing and arranging all these for each week and have enjoyed every minute of it.  It is time intensive, though.  It means writing letters on Mondays; printing and snail mailing on Tuesdays; researching for and starting the script on Tuesdays; writing and emailing scripts on Wednesdays; making sure everything is in place for Sunday on Thursdays and Fridays; and getting extra letters for new people on the bus route for Saturdays.  This has left very little time for SOL on Tuesdays , Poetry Fridays, 15 Words or Less on Thursdays, and writing my own project manuscript. But now, there's one more thing. When a group of singers

Today is Poetry Friday, hosted by Jama at J ama's Alphabet Soup . Snow finally erased from memory I do a Double take as Bluettes skim The new spring grass.

Laura Perdie Salas does a "15 Words or Less" writing challenge on Thursdays, which I used to do pretty regularly.  I need to get back to that, because I really like it.  So today I went there and found, as a writing prompt, this gorgeous theater picture all golden and tall.  And so I wrote what it made me think of in 15 words exactly.  It came to me pretty quickly.  About 4 renditions before I could say it in only 15 words. I love being in old, elaborate, ornate theaters.  I wish we still made them that way. The acoustics are phenomenal, and there's so much to look at during intermissions! I drew this awesome picture in Canvastic....so I wouldn't have to use any one else's photo to illustrate it...I think it sets a classic tone for whole blog today.   I think you should look at Laura's picture though, too, as you may find that hers is a bit more to your liking! songs and declarations rise leaving golden voiceprints where they rest evidence that

I've taken most of our Slice of Life post titles and written a found poem...It's a triple part slice of life poem of appreciation...a gift of acknowledgement to slicers out there.  I apologize if I could not fit yours in this poem.  Some titles were just not fitting in the three categories to my liking, so I had to leave them out. I have read almost all the posts today and found so many good ones.  Lots about connectedness and connections in life, lots of reflective pieces on the past school year and Oklahoma.  Now I'm going back for commenting.  Wow.  What a group.  What wonderful slices.  Just thought you should know.  I appreciate you. See what I'm talking about.  Visit the "rest of the stories" here at Two Writing Teachers . A Triple Slice of Life - Appreciation Feedback: A Gift of Acknowledgement
 Oklahoma strong Storms Swarm This close; All gone, New game. Material Girl through a new lens 
Praying for Oklahoma, The bitter with the sweet


I came across a link yesterday purely by accident and just in time.  I could have dismissed it.  But I didn't.  I pursued it.  And in one day I got an answer.  One day.  Actually in less than 24 hours I got a yes.  It's not a huge deal but it is. Anyway, when you are done here, hop on over to the next Poetry Friday host's site to catch some more poetic blogging entries.  They're at Ed DeCaria's Think, Kid, Think! My husband had a birthday On the 15th day in May And I wished for him a good one I sang his praise that day As I poked around my blogroom I noted one old link I'd followed for a while But they'd drifted off, I think They hadn't posted in a while Since April's end last year So I went off to take a peak Don't know what drove me there This poster only wrote for May Then came to a dead stop They only wrote for A to Z Existing for one hop. I don't know why I did it But I clicked the site a bit And found a little b

It's a pretty day! My birthday card to my husband today: Happy birthday to the one I love the most in all the world! I'm so happy that you were born; I would not be the me I am today If not for that wonderful day! Your day is worth celebrating To me and to all who know you. Even if you don't want to acknowledge The passing of years, I still need to celebrate the fact That you came into this world  On this day in May And that meant  You would come into  My world someday, And we would make  Our world Together. I know he always reads my blog.  He's one of my secret readers who never comments!  We have no cake today.  I gave him his present yesterday.  The only thing left is this page and my e-card.  Those e-cards take him days to open for some reason.  He just sees that they are there and then leaves them unread until I bug him about it.  Here's my official bugging him about it #1.  It's a pretty day for a birthday. H

It's Slice of Life Tuesday, so head on over to Two Writing Teachers, Stacey and Ruth's for some great blog reading. I have not blogged every day in May, but I think I'm going to take some prompts from Jenni at Story of My Life , where she has a challenge to Blog Every Day in May.  I'm not going to actually DO the challenge, as May is just too busy AND I've missed almost half of May now anyway.  I got the idea of just hopping in in the middle from Mary at Mary-andering Creatively , since she just started it yesterday.  I'm just adding my own twist now in addition to coming in late... The Challenge today is to write 10 things that make you really happy.  I'm going to start listing, but I'm afraid there may be 100 things that make me really happy.  I don't know if since I'm not really doing the challenge, that I will stick with 10 things, or not.  I might be finished writing now.  Maybe I'll just be a channel for others to go to her site

In a somewhat cheating fashion, I wrote part of this yesterday and posted it.  Then this morning, I fully intended to just use Thursday's post as my Poetry Friday offering. But the poem had other ideas.  Instead, I cut and pasted just the poem into a new post.  Then, like I said, the poem had still other ideas because just after I did that, it decided to grow new limbs.  So I've put additional lines to the poem, per its request.  Thank you so much poem for making me late for both posting AND my shower. Harbor Spring It’s time... One by one they slip back Into the waters again happy greetings abound around the harbors and coves the docks awaken to the sound of boots to the curl of ropes to the scuff of traps to the rumble of men and boats activity not seen or felt for the long, deep cold days on shores ...it’s time! The smells of bait of salty air of fuel and musty foul weather gear all mingle together to make the sights and sounds fully real

I am trying to stay on track with a project I'm doing... So first I had to get this little boat to keep by my computer as a reminder to stay focused.  It's on my keyboard even as I type.  As long as I don't need the numerals two, three and four, I'm all set.  I guess I should move it a little to the side or middle. And then I made this cute Tagxedo, to remind me of what it is I'm supposed to be focusing my attention on... I had to draw the boat shape first.  Then I listed the names, decided on a font, etc., etc., and so forth. Not sure, but I might be distracting myself from the important task.  I'm going to get right back to it now. Just have to start the wash.  Oh, right, the paper shredder area needs vacuuming, too.  It was too full when I tried to empty it after shredding paper this morning.  I'll just quickly pop in the den and finish that job. And then - then you will see work on my project like I have never done - yet. Is there anyone els

May is just tooling along, just like March and April did.  What is with these spring months?  They just keep moving along like we are in a hurry.  Today is another beautiful day, and it is going to be tomorrow if I blink.  I would so like the days to slow down so I can enjoy them a bit more. These are the days I was looking forward to savoring as a retired teacher.  I no longer have to keep tabs on where each student is, what assessment I still have to give someone, do I have a good piece of writing from each person, and have I written all scores in the 20 places they need to be recorded (even though they told us having the "system" would make it easier - somehow it just added places to put information without cutting any of the others out). I want to bask in the sunshine of these days of not having to sort and pack up a thousand books to store over the summer - along with every other little scridge of paper, every block, every pencil, crayon, calendar piece, and oh, so m

"holding up our present to watch her unwrap it" My niece just had her first child last night, missing the opportunity to share my daughter's birth date of May 4th. Though technology can sometimes separate us as we hover over our devices and ignore social contacts sitting right beside us, technology is also marvelous in its ability to bring us together. And that is what happened tonight. My daughter lives 8 hours away, so being there wasn't going to happen for us.  But the computer brought us together today. First, the e-card through Hallmark, was scheduled to be sent months in advance. Second, the present shopping and ordering was online through Amazon.  Shipped directly to her, I never even saw it in person. And then thirdly, when it came time for cake and presents, we were there through FaceTime for the whole thing!  We sang "Happy Birthday" with her husband and in-laws.  We watched her blow out her candles.  She offered us some cake.  I got

Is there anything more cheerful and commanding than a robin's warble on a spring morning?  I wrote, rewrote, re-rewrote, and finally wrote. Spring robin proclaims This joyful day to be his Please share it with me ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I heard a robin, unstoppable in his cheery morning greeting telling the world of this glorious day  that was his and in that chirping message I also heard he would share it with me if I'd like. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Robin and I do Hereby joyfully proclaim This day glorious! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ a robin unstoppable in his cheery morning greeting proclaims to the world that the day before him will be glorious and it is his but he invites all to share with him the enjoyment of this perfect day ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Okay, there are four ways I wrote this.  I'm going to stop now! I think I like the last one best. Any thoughts?

Welcome to May!  May there be many glorious everyday moments for you this month! May Day   the sun rising copper clouds stretching rays forsythias pop yellow waving flags noon day sunlight enfolding wrapping warmth jackets dropping like fall leaves springtime litter greening, budding new shadows changing views night time noises spring peepers happy songs © Donna JT Smith, 2013