In my slice of the day today (and several more slices throughout the day), I tried to finish reading The Probability of Everything by Sarah Everett, winner of the NCTE Charlotte Huck Award in 2024. (However, I got hooked on watching Person of Interest tonight, so I didn’t finish the book. Tomorrow!)
Here’s a poem I wrote inspired by the book.
Joy, even with an impending asteroid strike, is a hallmark of hope. It is not foolhardy, for we are made to feel happysad sometimes, to see the stars when they seem hidden, to be brave and keep dreaming, even if afraid. A heart can hold love in unlimited quantities; don’t crumb your joy and love because of fear.
~”Joy is not made to be a crumb” line from Mary Oliver’s poem “Don’t Hesitate”
This is the event we raised $265 for on Saturday–a spell-a-thon, a collaborative spelling bee, that we are hosting a week from Saturday. Each three-member team gets a word to spell, and they can write it out and choose the best version to spell aloud. The teams also raise money by gathering pledges.
In today’s 31 minutes (plus about another 30), D and I went to four businesses in town and asked them to be sponsors. We had great luck. The newspaper committed to free advertising when we thank our sponsors after the event. Luna Sourdough Bread gave us a $40 gift certificate for the raffle, and Más o Menos, the coffee shop I went to last Friday, became a sponsor and donated a gift bag for the raffle. Hopefully we’ll hear from the fourth business too.
Last year this event raised $5000 and was split evenly by the three libraries. It’s my first year on the committee. It’s been very rewarding. Maybe this year we’ll earn even more.
Today I arrived at church at just about 9:45. Time to hug and say hola or buenos dias to some of the folks. The service was getting ready to start and R and I sat down.
We sang new worship songs that I have never heard, so I was busy with my translation app trying to learn new words. Church has a whole new meaning where everyone is speaking a different language than mine. My mind is constantly engaged and busy trying to translate what is happening. It makes the time fly by, but I’m not always worshipping.
My strength, my rest
Sustained in love
I will trust in you
We arrived at the Farmers Market in 29 Palms at 7:45 a.m. to set up. I began early to daydream about what to enjoy for lunch. Right across the way was a taco/pupusa stand. In another direction was a New York Style Bagel bakery stand.
The market wasn’t crowded, so MJ and I took turns shopping. I bought a huge bag of vegetables, with the largest bunch of celery I have ever seen.
The reason we came to the market this Saturday was to sell raffle tickets for a beautiful watercolor painting, valued at $400, donated by a local artist, Esther Shaw. The painting is of the Oasis of Mara. The proceeds from the raffle, and the Spell-a-thon in two weeks, will go to the Friends of the Library groups in the Morongo Basin. It’s our largest fundraiser and the only one where all three groups work together to accomplish it.
It was sunny, but so cold. I had four layers on the top, two on the bottom, a wool stocking cap, and gloves. We figured people were staying home today. “This is going to be so painful,” MJ said, “It’s only 9:15.” Her comment reminded me that my slice of the day started at 9:16, so I decided to keep track of how much money we would collect during that slice of time. (The only money we had made up to that point was what the Friends of the Library bought ourselves as we set up.)
Maybe MJ’s prediction was the magic word we needed because, in spite of the cold and wind, it got busier.
MJ is a former lobbyist and all-around outgoing fun person, full of listening ears and hugs for all who need them. She would catch someone’s eye and not let go. She’d ask, “Will you help with the kids summer reading program?” (How can they say no to that?) Well, some did, some said they would come back later, and some (actually many) stopped. They asked how they could help. We met so many kind and generous people. By 9:47 a.m. we had collected $47, including the tickets we all had bought.
MJ inspired me with her persistence and confident mastery of the “elevator speech” sales pitch. I began to say “Good morning” with a little more enthusiasm, trying to bring it up from the depths of me. I worked on my elevator speech, and sure enough, people responded. “Tell me more,” they’d say. And sometimes they would buy raffle tickets. We met people from all over the country, Canada, and even some from Italy. The morning passed so much faster than I expected it to. When I thought about what we would be doing, I could only picture sitting and waiting for people to approach us. I probably would have sold a couple dozen tickets. Instead we never sat down and ended up selling over 350 tickets. By 1 p.m. we had collected $265.
Bonus: There were so many cute dogs at the farmers market. This blue-mohawked poodly one was one of my favorites.
When lunchtime came, I bought some bagels to bring home, and a bean and cheese pupusa to eat there. It was delicious.
About once every three weeks I have a job to do in the kitchen. It takes a little longer than 31 minutes, but I was working on it during today’s slice of the day.
I had already enjoyed my tea latte and played my two NYT games. Then I went to the kitchen to bottle my home-brewed kombucha.
Bottling After First Fermentation
After about 5 weeks or so, it’s ready. I bottle it in old kombucha bottles.That is a lovely and healthy SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) on top.Removing the SCOBY before bottling.SCOBY along with about two cups of the kombuchaFresh lime juice and ginger to flavor the kombucha
Next Batch Started
Sun tea for the next roundTo the sun tea, add part of the SCOBY, the two cups of kombucha, and a solution made with 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar.Next batch is in the queue. The newer one goes to the back
I learned something new this time. There is a second fermentation after bottling, which should add carbonation. After I added the lime and ginger, I left it in the bottle with a little breathing room and a tight lid. It will take 3-10 days in the dark. What? I never knew. We’ve been drinking it flat, and wondering why it didn’t taste sharp and bubbly like the store bought kind. Now I have a bottle in the second fermentation trying to get carbonated. I’ll cross my fingers.
Since I’m certainly no expert, and I learn something new every time, here are some helpful resources. Maybe you’ll be interested in starting your own brewing operation.
Esta mañana fuimos a Más o Menos, una cafetería en Joshua Tree. Tomé un té con leche.
El año pasado quise hablar español con un amigo hispanohablante. Finalmente conocí a alguien. Hablamos y comemos juntos. Y también vamos a la iglesia de hispanohablante. Ahora, me doy cuenta de lo mucho que no sé, pero cada día aprendo más. (Es más fácil escribir que hablar.)
Margaret Simon is hosting Poetry Friday at Reflections on the Teche. The Inklings are writing Hermit Crab poems today, and Margaret has an Aurora Forecast poem to share. Sign up for the April Progressive Poem too. Her post and this sweet picture that came today inspired me to write a dictionary definition of my grandson.
I’m writing a poem a day for the Stafford Challenge this year. Sometimes I write a short poem as soon as I get up, other times I write one late at night, sometimes it’s for another purpose, like the Ethical ELA Open Write or the April daily Verselove.
Today, I found myself reading the text of last night’s not-SOTU speech during my slice of the day, 7:40-8:11 a.m. I decided to write a blackout poem, using parts of the 21-page speech of lies, an odious novella of almost 10,000 words. (More fun facts: The word “gonna” is used 22 times, 99 sentences started with the word “And,” and it took 99 minutes to deliver, the longest in U.S. history.)
