Slice of Life – Page 2

Slice of Life 26 – Plants and Food and a Lifelong Love #sol24

25/Mar/202425/Mar/2024 Denise Krebs10 Comments

Forty-seven years ago my husband took me on a date to Quail Gardens. Today, for the first time, we returned. Now it’s called the San Diego Botanic Garden. So often today we were reminded of something from our first time here. Just a few of the dozens of photos I took:

A staghorn fern. Wouldn’t this be fun to have mounted on your wall?

Peaches and Cream Angel Trumpet – Isn’t that the cutest name?

The bird-of-paradise (lower left hand flower) was one of the first plants we saw. I told my husband just this morning I had read a Bird-of-Paradise poem, and he asked me to tell him about it. So I looked it up and read it to him! (Written by our own slicer Joanne Emery.) Speaking of birds, today was the first time I confirmed my email on Merlin and used the app to listen to the birds in the garden. Thanks to Fran and Kim, my bird lover friends and fellow slicers. There were a lot of song sparrows, but the most interesting time was when I record this Red-Shouldered Hawk and Yellow-rumped Warbler who seemed to be carrying on a conversation.

We got new hats–mine with a quail and Keith’s with a roadrunner. Notice this is after I lost one of my earrings. I didn’t realize it until a couple hours later.

After this we ate (a sandwich) and ate (a chocolate oatmeal bar) and ate (ice cream) and ate (a made-to-order donut).

It had Heath bar pieces and caramel on top of a warm cake donut.

Then we went to the beach to walk a couple more miles.

The water was 58 degrees. Here are some surfers getting ready to go in.

Inspired by Barb’s recent pantoum, I gave it a try today.

To Keith

Years later and even more I belong to you
One of our first dates was to Quail Garden
It took seven years for you to break through
For you to convince my heart not to harden

One of our first dates was to Quail Garden
You say I had on white shorts and a red tee
For you to convince my heart not to harden
You had to be patient, and you were with me

You say I had on white shorts and a red tee
Don’t know how you remembered what I wore
You had to be patient, and you were with me
Though it took me time, it is you I adore

Don’t know how you remembered what I wore
There’s magic in the moments you give
Though it took me time, it is you I adore
Red roses and quail on a day to relive

There’s magic in the moments you give
It took seven years for you to break through
Red roses and quail on a day to relive
Years later and even more I belong to you

Slice of Life 25 – Dinner in Leucadia #sol24

24/Mar/2024 Denise Krebs16 Comments

This afternoon we drove to Encinitas for a little getaway. As soon as we got into the hotel room, the rain started pouring. We waited a few minutes for the shower to pass. Then we left to get some dinner.

We ended up at Solterra Winery and Kitchen. It was busy, so we sat at the bar and watched March Madness games. Interesting sidenote, I do not drink. I made a decision early in my young adulthood to not drink. My husband has spent 40+ years with a teetotaling wife, and he enjoys an occasional glass of wine or margarita. I just enjoyed my water tonight with the mushroom flatbread we ordered.

Leucadia, a beach neighborhood, is the “art and soul” of Encinitas. (I read that today. It is a cute little neighborhood.)

As soon as we got back to the hotel room, the rain picked up again for another really heavy shower. We were thankful we managed to get dinner wedged in between those bookends of heavy cold rains.

I wish I would have taken a video of this tree. The bark was so loose; so many bits were swaying in the wind.

A found poem from my first photo

Ever feel like life

is too short to drink cheap wine?

Drink water

Slice of Life 24 – A Prayer on Palm Sunday #sol24

23/Mar/202424/Mar/2024 Denise Krebs13 Comments

St. Joseph of Arimathea Episcopal Church has chosen this prayer as their vision statement:

O God, lover of all souls, we desire you.
Move us to act justly, to love mercy, and
to walk humbly as we carry on Christ’s work
of reconciliation in the world. Amen

Yes, please. I want this. I’m so happy to be a new member at St. Joseph.

Today is
Palm Sunday.
Can all those
who enter here
be more like
Jesus?
Here’s to
leaders
who ride
a young
donkey
rather than
a war horse.
Here’s to
those who
are quietly
strong and
don’t have
to beat their
own drum
and sing
their own
praises.
Here’s to
whispering,
re-creating,
resurrecting
leadership.

Slice of Life 23 – Up on the Roof #sol24

22/Mar/202422/Mar/2024 Denise Krebs14 Comments

I spent a lot of time on the roof today. It was at one of my sister’s places. Her houses are really rustic and stay together with a bottle of glue, a hammer, and a prayer.

A huge part of the roof over the living room was down to the plywood recently. In the background is the mound of flat roofing that had not been put on properly and was blown into a pile in a big storm last week.

First, we had to rebuild the edge by screwing the plywood down to the 2×6 fascia boards. Each of us was on different sides of the same ladder in the photos below. After I took a picture of her, she really said this to me, “I need to take a picture of you now. After they find us dead when we fall off the ladder, they will see that we were taking photos of each other.” That’s why I’m laughing in the photo of me. But, I did TRY TO BE EXTRA CAREFUL after that!

The photos of us are before we had tar all over our hands and on my hat, shirt, pants and the bottom of my shoes. Who knew roofing could be such a messy affair!? We pulled that giant mound of roofing back over the plywood, nailed it down, and put roof pookie over all the edges, seams, and on the nail tops (We also made a huge mess with it!) Then we celebrated by sucking up rainwater from the carpet in the living room. Hopefully, the next rain will not come into the house again thanks to our work up on the roof today.

Poetry Friday – Three Poems from March Open Write

21/Mar/202422/Mar/2024 Denise Krebs15 Comments

Today is Poetry Friday and Rose Cappelli is hosting with lots of bird watching fun and poems.

Today for Poetry Friday, I’m sharing the prompts (click on the dated links) and some of the poems I wrote this week for Ethical ELA’s Open Write.

Saturday, March 16, 2024 with James Coats

I was a quiet anarchist in high school, subverting the authority of those I deemed unworthy. Mr. B. was one of those who received my disdain. He promised a literary magazine of our creative writing that semester. As the semester wrapped up, we realized it was not going to happen. The haikus and sonnets and reviews and short stories were stuffed in a file on his desk. I asked for the writings he had collected. Then I typed them on ditto masters, copied, collated, and stapled them in my business class. I passed them out to my creative writing peers. That may be the only good thing I did to/for Mr. B. Mostly I was indifferent and disrespectful to a man I judged as lazy and unworthy to be in his position. That semester something good he did for me was refer me to my guidance counselor, a visit to see if something was up, if something was bothering me. There was. I wasn’t honest with the counselor, but I began to face my fears as a result of that visit.

Since my experience with Mr. B., I am always extra careful with students who are disrespectful to me. I know it’s not a reflection of who they are, but maybe it’s something they are going through. (And maybe, I have to realize, it may be something about me too.)

Sunday, March 17, 2024 with Katrina Morrison

Mondegreen is a series of words that result from the mishearing or misinterpretation of a statement or song lyric. Here’s a great example poem on Poetry Foundation by Randall Mann. How many of these song lyrics do you recognize?

Mondegreen

Hold me closer Tony Danza
We built this city on sausage rolls
There’s a wino down the road
Give me the Beach Boys and free my soul
The ants are my friends, they’re blowing in the wind
Wrapped up like a douche another lover in the night
I can see clearly now, Lorraine is gone
Saving his life from this warm sausage tea
This is the dawning of the Age of Asparagus
I remove umbilicals
_________________________________
Elton John “Tiny Dancer”
Starship “We Built this City”
Led Zeppelin “Stairway to Heaven”
Uncle Kracker “Drift Away”
Bob Dylan “Blowin’ in the Wind”
Bruce Springsteen “Blinded By the Light”
Johnny Nash “I Can See Clearly Now”
Queen “Bohemian Rhapsody”
Fifth Dimension “Aquarius / Let the Sunshine In”
Hot Chocolate “I Believe in Miracles”

Monday, March 18, 2024 with Wendy Everard – My Double Dactyl

Tuesday, March 19, 2024 with Rex Muston – My Junk Drawer Affirmation

Wednesday, March 20, 2024 with Shelley Martin-Young

Relax
Bad things are going to happen.
You won’t get Wordle in six guesses.
You’ll accidentally put light mayo
On the Reuben sandwiches; they
won’t get crisp on the griddle.
You’ll have to wait three months to take
delivery of your custom-built closet.

And then when you go to write
a poem about the bad things,
you will remember your life right
now is nothing if not relaxing.

So, you’ll spend time thinking
about those who aren’t able to
relax
due
to
war
hunger
poverty
child labor
lack of housing
human trafficking
climate disruption

And you wonder when you will
do more than think about them.

Slice of Life 22 – Rehoming Books Today #sol24

21/Mar/202422/Mar/2024 Denise Krebs7 Comments

Quiero aprender español, así que hoy la pregunté a alguien si ella podría ayúdame buscar alguien quien quiere aprender ingles. Tal vez podamos aprender juntas. La pregunté en ingles porque yo no hablo español. Puedo leer y escribir mejor de lo que hablo.

That’s all I’ve got in Spanish.

I’m not sure my paragraph above doesn’t have 101 grammar errors.

Here’s a little more about my day in English…

I had six boxes of books in my truck from the Friends of the Library. When they get too many mysteries or the books are outdated in someone’s opinion, the Friends don’t want to put them in the bookshop, so they need to be “rehomed.” I was helping my sister, who is the volunteer who handles that job of getting the books to nursing homes, community centers, and other places that can use them. First, I went to two of the Little Free Libraries in our town, but I could add only a half dozen or so to each. Then I went to a thrift shop that donates the money they make to a local nonprofit. They were delighted to receive all six boxes of books for their shop. It was the manager of the thrift shop that I mentioned my desire I wrote about in the first paragraph above. I left my phone number and she gave me the phone number of their volunteer coordinator.

I need to stop talking
about speaking Spanish
and just start doing it.

Slice of Life 21 – My Contribution to the Word Buffet #sol24

20/Mar/202420/Mar/2024 Denise Krebs10 Comments

Recently, I noticed a Dictionary.com “Biggest Smile Brackets for 2024.” It reminded me of the potluck word feast going on over at Leigh Anne Eck’s blog A Day in the Life. She has invited all Slicers who want to participate to her Word Buffet.

I voted for my own favorite smile-bringers from the 32 word list, using their bracket form. Here are the final four on my list that I am bringing as my contribution to the buffet:

shenanigans – A playful or mischievous act; a prank.
hullabaloo – 1) A loud noise or a condition of noisy confusion. 2) A confused noise; uproar; tumult.
boop – Affectionately poking someone on the nose, often accompanied by saying “Boop!” (That was boop as defined on Urban Dictionary) Boop is also used in online communities. I must say, I have never seen it used by any of my online friends or myself. Do you use the word boop in any situation? And have you heard of BOOP! The Musical, based on the cartoon character Betty Boop? It’s getting good reviews.
discombobulate – To throw into a state of confusion. synonym: befuddle.

And my fifth word is a bonus–not a silly word, but my favorite word; always a smile-bringer to me.

5. hope – 1) To have confidence; trust. 2) To desire and consider possible.

I wrote a dictionary entry poem about hope awhile ago, so I thought I would share it here today…

Hope

Definitions:

verb
1. to sip wishes
2. to whisper into promises and prayers
3. to envelop with open arms
4. to climb anticipation

noun
1. a thing with feathers
the hope of springtime pipping
2. a cool autumn breeze after a hot summer
the hope of cooler days
3. a moon out in the afternoon
the hope of an enticing evening

Slice of Life 20 – Junk Drawer Memories #sol24

19/Mar/202420/Mar/2024 Denise Krebs9 Comments

We were talking about junk drawers at Ethical ELA yesterday with Rex Muston. I was thinking of my life’s junk drawers all day. Do you have a junk drawer or two or three?

I could have written about my present junk “basket,” which also has a bunch of empty metal tea tins. I think they are so pretty and that they can be useful, so I add them to the basket. I haven’t put anything in them yet, so they just take up space and make it harder to find my tape and scissors.

I pulled the cans out today. Seven tea tins and one coffee. What should I put in them?

I remember one junk drawer from about 20 years ago. It hadn’t been cleaned out for way too long. I had two children finishing sixth and ninth grades, I was finishing my last year at the school where I had been teaching, I was packing and getting reading to move across the country. We splurged and hired packers along with the movers. Later that summer when I was unpacking yet another cardboard box, I found the contents of that junk drawer just poured out into a box with broken rubber bands, band-aid wrapper, dried up Super Glue, half a pack of sticky gum, broken cellphone charger cable, a key that fits who knows what, a Sharpie with no cap, plus dozens of other gems we had paid to move from Arizona to Iowa.

I chose to write my poem about one junk drawer from my childhood. I think I was six years old. In my memory, I can walk right to that drawer in the house of my childhood and find a rubber band, a paper clip, a bottle of glue, a roll of tape, and sometimes joyfully, a coin, a yoyo, a jack, or a marble. The they in my poem is probably my older sister and one or more parents. I don’t remember for sure, but I wasn’t in as much trouble as I thought I would be.

Down in the Mouth

When I saw myself in the mirror
I began to feel blue,
knowing I was going
to get in trouble.
I would talk a blue streak,
talk until I was
blue in the face
to convince them
I didn’t do anything
untoward.

You see, I had
been ruminating
through the
junk drawer to find
something,
anything
interesting.
Finally, I found it!

A tiny blue-topped
plastic bottle.
The bottle seemed
to be clear but it
had some dark liquid
inside. I didn’t
recognize it, so I
carefully untwisted
the lid, put my tongue
inside the cap, and rotated
it around and around.
When I noticed my
fingers turning blue,
I went into the bathroom.
When I saw my lips,
tongue, gums, and even teeth
were blue, I closed and locked
the door, hoping I hadn’t found
something poisonous. It
seemed to keep spreading.
I got soap, water, and
a washcloth and scrubbed–
removing a layer or two of skin
along with some of the stain.

Ah, there is always
something new to learn in
childhood physics and
chemistry. That day, I
learned the power of
food coloring and why
you only need a tiny
bit to do the job.