March 28 – 7:24-7:55 p.m. California

28 March 2025 TwoWritingTeachers.org

It’s Opening Day for Major League Baseball. Thanks to T-Mobile, we got a free subscription to watch MLB for this season. Tonight’s game, the Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Chicago Cubs, is bringing back lots of memories.

We haven’t lived near a ballpark for over 20 years. When my kids were young, we were all baseball fans. They still are, so when we go to Minneapolis and Seattle, we usually go with our kids to a game.

Baseball started for my girls with the 1998 Arizona Diamondback expansion team. We lived just down the freeway from Bank One Ballpark (now called Chase Stadium) and we were all delighted when Phoenix was chosen for the new NL team that year. My husband took my kids out of school for afternoon Opening Day games more than once those next six years.

Other memories around the Diamondbacks are fond. My kids were 7 and 9 when the team started, and the franchise was very family-friendly. We would bring a van full of us, plus the extra three seats were filled with neighbors or school friends. There were $1-seat sections in the ballpark back then, $5 parking, and home-packed dinners. It was a cheap family outing, and we did it dozens of times those first years.

To the 1999 AZ Diamondback team,
you have all gone your way, retired now.
When we watch tonight, I have
memories of those strong years.
Our family favorite was Luis “Gonzo” Gonzalez
who entertained us with his hitting streaks.
Then Randy Johnson’s no-hitter and record
number of Ks, and Jay Bell’s grand slam
that made a fan a million dollars.
All-Stars, all of you.
Thank you for the memories.

Tonight’s game started at 7:10 PT.

By 7:24, the Diamondbacks scored their first run: 1-0. They lost the lead in the second inning, though.

At 7:26, Keith said, “I’d be okay not watching the whole game.”

I said, “Well, I want to watch until at least 7:55. This is my Slice of the day.” We turned it off a little after 8:00. Then later, we watched the ninth inning.

My guess is we won’t be using the T-Mobile perk too much, but it’s nice to know it’s there when we want to watch a little baseball.


Postscript: The Cubs won the game, 10-5.

March 27 – 6:52-7:23 p.m. California

27 March 2025 TwoWritingTeachers.org

Tonight I came out as this sweet slice of my day began. The sun was just setting. The weather was perfect as I read and commented on some Slices of Life from my friends. This month is almost finished, and I will be relieved when it’s over. However, I have enjoyed every day in March, and I love getting to better know my writing friends through their writing.

6:52 p.m. Wednesday

One of the blog posts I read this evening was Barb Elder’s “Cowpoking: Writing Advice”, with an added sijo poem. I tried a simple draft using this form.

Breezes blowing through the bent
palo verde tree shiver and ride

the waves of air whispering
in this perfectly springing day

Soon it will be too hot and I
will remember this evening

7:23 p.m. Wednesday – Good night, Sun

 

March 26 – 6:20-6:51 p.m. California

26 March 2025 TwoWritingTeachers.org

When today’s time began, my sister and I were sitting around the table. I had invited her over for a Reuben, both of our favorite sandwich. We had finished eating, and I was busy munching on cookies she had brought over. (I ate the sweets after dinner at least, but I had too many, and no walking afterwards. Tonight, my lowering A1C post from yesterday seemed just a distant memory that I don’t really believe.)

I left the table, and within the 31 minutes, I:

  • read three books to Indy (my sister’s granddaughter)
  • watched a bit of Baby Shark’s Space Adventure (it nearly put me over the edge)
  • began helping my sister attach a document to an application she made for a county building permit

And that was the end of today’s slice. I hit some snags, had to change passwords, and more. It took 40 minutes for me to figure out how to attach that document!


Heather Morris wrote a delightful poem yesterday about a bad habit that brings her joy. After my dinner, I wrote a poem about one of my worst habits; but unfortunately, it still brings me joy.

I want to eat healthy. I do.
But my bad habit is deep;
I eat too many sweets.

The Glucose Goddess
inspires me somedays,
but too often doesn’t

I will keep up the fight,
finding ways to eat healthy
keeping just a little sweetness

March 25 – 5:48-6:19 p.m. California

25 March 2025 TwoWritingTeachers.org

For dinner, I ate some raw carrots and then a BBQ pork sandwich. Then I took a 10-minute walk around my yard.

The last two times I’ve had blood work, my A1C was in the prediabetic range. The number went up a tenth of a point each time. I don’t want that to keep happening, so I decided this time I needed to do something about making it go down instead of up. Have you heard of the Glucose Goddess? She is Jessie Inchauspé, a French biochemist and author.  She suggests some ways to eat to avoid glucose spikes, which hopefully will help the A1C go down. (I’ll have it tested again in April, so I’ll let you know if it worked.)

In the meantime, here are some of the easy hacks for keeping your blood sugar on an even keel:

  1. Eat vegetables or salad first.
  2. Have a savory breakfast.
  3. Move after you eat.
  4. Choose savory snacks.
  5. Eat sweets after a meal only, not for a snack.
  6. Dress up your carbs–with protein, fat or fiber (e.g., avocado toast or hummus and pita).

Read more at glucosegoddess.com

 

 

March 24 – 5:16-5:47 p.m. California

24 March 2025 TwoWritingTeachers.org

When today’s slice of the day started, I was out taking a walk. It’s just a 1.5 mile loop around a mountain in my neighborhood.

5:20 p.m. — Here I am about 20 minutes from home.
The Joshua trees are beginning to bloom.

Take a short bit of my walk with me.

 

Have you seen a cat claw bush?
We like to avoid these–clothes and skin snags are common!
A tiny cabin along my walking trail.

After a 45-minute walk, I returned home at 4:43 p.m. Time to sit on the porch for a few while I enjoy my plants and take my shoes off.

The house plants have been out to get fresh air and water. It’s time to take them in.
The one outdoor plant–a mint–is coming out of its dormancy.

 

March 23 – 4:44-5:15 p.m. California

23 March 2025 TwoWritingTeachers.org

This afternoon I intended to write during my slice of the day about the Spell-a-thon we had this morning. I’ll do that another time.

When 4:44 p.m. came along, I was reading Elisabeth Ellington’s post about the Trans Rights Readathon, which started yesterday. She has a half dozen or more links to resources and information about the Readathon. I had heard of it before from Sarah Grace Tuttle on a Poetry Friday post.

I found myself lost for over an hour clicking on links, discovering books by trans authors, action items, and a hundred organizations supporting trans people in all 50 states. I signed up for the Readathon and pledged to benefit Iowa Safe Schools. I taught more years in Iowa than in any other state or country, so it seemed fitting to support safe schools for LGBTQ+ students in Iowa.

I hope you’ll read Elisabeth’s rich post, full of important information.

Tonight I’m thinking of R, J, T, and S and all the other LGBTQ students I didn’t even know I was teaching.

 

March 22 – 4:12-4:43 p.m. California

22 March 2025 TwoWritingTeachers.org

Today’s slice included getting things ready for dinner tonight. On the menu: baked potatoes, corn, sourdough bread, and meat (my husband is in charge of that). Our friends, K & L, were helping us in the kitchen. My sister-in-law is bringing salad. My sister is bringing cookies. We invited my siblings over to meet our friends, who are leaving tomorrow.

Potatoes ready for the oven
Corn ready to boil
Sourdough loaf ready for the pan
Ready to bake
Cast Iron Dutch oven
Ready for dinner

The rest of my 31 minutes was spent finishing the last few pages of the book How to They/Them by Stuart Getty because it belongs to K & L, so it’s leaving tomorrow. Here are two example pages with their important sentiments:

March 21 – 3:40-4:11 p.m. California

21 March 2025 TwoWritingTeachers.org
A staged photo my husband took after I realized I’d be writing about my parking job.

Our guests took us out for happy hour and a late lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant. As we left the restaurant at 3:45, they asked if we could stop at Walmart for a few items they needed. “Of course, we can,” I said. I am the designated driver, after all.

I passed all the empty parking places on my side of the row, so then I decided to back in to the loan empty space on the other side. It took much wiggling back and forth, and I had a car load of jokesters being entertained by my parking. At one point Keith hit the inside of the truck wall in the back seat where he was sitting. I jumped and stopped, thinking I had hit something (or thinking my husband had done his same old joke.) I finally got it parked.

Before we got out of the truck, Keith said, “Hey, where’s my hat!? I guess I left it at the restaurant.”

“We can go back,” I said to our friends, “while you shop.”

Keith and I started back, and he said, “I’m sorry I hit the truck. I’m under the influence…of being a jerk. It’s been a long ride on the jerk mobile. Got any medications for that? I think you might have been sympathy intoxicated back there while you were parking, though, so I shouldn’t have scared you.” (No one was really intoxicated. There were only two small margaritas ordered at our table.)

“Okay, no problem. I know you,” I said. “Just a warning, though. We are in my slice of the day right now, so anything you say and do during these 31 minutes are game for my blog post tonight.”