Slice of Life – Changes at Hadley

August 8, 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

After watching our niece play one of Ariel’s mer sisters in The Little Mermaid at The Old Town Temecula Theater on Sunday (it was precious, by the way), we drove home on Monday.

About 45 minutes from home, we decided we needed a break and stopped at Hadley Fruit Orchards in Banning, California. As a child visiting grandma, we made a regular stop here to buy all our raisins, walnuts, almonds, dried apricots–all things fruit and nuts. This is the old building, still on the premises:

Today, Hadley is owned by the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and is located in a new building next to the old one. My grandma used to live on the other side of the highway, within walking distance.

Imagine the scene below without Chipotle, or the parking lot, or the landscaping, or the skyscraper casino. (Or the outlet malls behind me.) That’s what it looked like when I was young. Yesterday I wondered what it would be like if my grandma could be here and see all the changes. That is always fascinating to me to imagine changes over generations.

The inside has changed a lot too. There are still plenty of dried fruits and nuts, but there are also every imaginable snack food and drink and candy and souvenir and so much more. I wanted to buy a dozen different things, but instead…

I just bought a date shake. Everyone needs a date shake when they go to Hadley.

Slice of Life – These Hands

August 1, 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

These Hands

crochet potholders for Karli’s first apartment
pick up tiny yarn bits from the floor
stir the oatmeal on the stove
mix thin set and then grout in perfect ratios
scrape and sling grout into needed crevices
chip at and free the roller from dried-on paint
scrub suet stains off the front porch
photograph beautiful monsoon rainbows

wield tools like:

  • a tiny thin needle with thread
  • a power drill turning in a three-inch screw
  • a knife cutting thick slices of watermelon
  • a paint brush to reach tiny corners
  • this keyboard I’m writing on

These hands wear rings–the wedding band for more than 40 years–
and they hold your hand while we watch Jack Ryan before bed

Slice of Life – A month blew by

June 27, 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

Today I find myself sitting in a Comfort Inn in a little town in Oregon. Here is the lovely view from my hotel window this morning. (A parking lot is a much more common view!)

We’ll soon get on the road to the home of my longest-loved best friend.

It’s been a month since I’ve been here. Here are some of the June highlights.

On June 5, my sister and I sat on the lawn at the Colorado State Capitol. I became more convinced that the second amendment is obsolete and should be repealed.

A week later we were on the road through the redwoods in northern California.

Happy Flag Day #Takebacktheflag

On our official anniversary, we had seafood in Eureka, California.

Los Bagels  in Eureka had delicious sandwiches.

We drove up the Oregon coast.

Whaleshead Beach

Oregon was full of Scotch Broom plants, which grew along the roadways and at the base of trees. It was beautiful and strangely out-of-place amongst the evergreens. I looked it up to learn it is a fast-spreading invasive species and outlawed (as much as possible) in the state of Washington. I thought it was interesting and a sign of good enforcement that we didn’t see it in Washington.

Two types of Scotch Broom

The Rogue River, where Keith’s grandfather used to own a fishing resort.

Then the greatest reward of our road trip. I got to see my grandson.

He and his mom went to a fourth grade classroom in their neighborhood school once a month this year for the Roots of Empathy program. I was so happy to join them for their last meeting of the year, which included a birthday cake for Milo.

Here’s my baby making birthday cupcakes for Milo’s birthday. (She’s using my mother’s Kitchen Aid mixer, which is about 50ish years old now.)

There was so much birthday fun! The baby made it through what was probably “too much birthday” on many levels. He was a trooper, and the next day he came down with his first ever runny nose.

Good evening and goodbye to Seattle at Bitter Lake.

 

 

 

Slice of Life: Lucky 11:11, My Cactus Garden and #Here4theKids

May 30, 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

Do you often see 11:11 on the clock? It is such a curiosity to me. It always reminds me of my junior high students in Granville, Iowa, who told me it was lucky. I never had paid attention before that. I thought it had something to do with Armistice Day, when the armistice ending World War I took effect on November 11 at 11 a.m. in 1918.

More than ever before, though, I am seeing 11:11 a.m. on my phone. (Never 11:11 p.m., for I am long in bed by then.) I’m spending way too much time on my phone in the mornings is the only explanation I can come up with. Is it a sign of being lucky that I’m retired that I see it so often?

 

Yesterday
Another morning this week

And on a recent trip, at the bike shop while my husband talked to the owner, I stared at the clock throughout the 11:11 minute. Then as I thought to take a photo, I caught this one. Look at that time: 11:12:01. Just missed it.

On another note, my cactus garden is coming along. (By the way, Kim, I neglected to answer you about whether there was a saguaro cactus in there. It is not a saguaro, which is much bigger in diameter and not native to our desert. I’m not good with the names of the cacti. I do love saguaros too; one of my favorite places is Saguaro National Park.)

I added the rocks around my cactus garden recently

Here are some Ocotillo stems I planted this week. They look very dead now, but I hope they will take root. See the tiny green leaves on one of the stems?

This is what it should eventually look like:

Image by Christine Kohler from Pixabay

This weekend my sister and I are going to Colorado to ask Governor Polis to do something sensible about guns.

Weeds

Our yard is choked with
foxtails and storkbills
Superbloom year
Dried out, they prick and poke
Our solution: weed the yard

Our nation is choked with
assault rifles and handguns
Superbloom of fear
Locked and loaded, they destroy and kill
#Here4theKidsActions solution:
Weed the nation of guns

Let’s start in Denver on June 5

Slice of Life – On Planting Cacti and Kindness vs. Niceness

May 16, 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

Keith and I planted a barrel cactus this week. Last year I planted that blue agave in the background.

Now my sister has brought over some clippings from other cacti. This evening, in the coolness and shade, I will plant these pieces and then trim the area with rocks to make a little cactus garden. More photos later.

Another thing on my mind this week is kindness and what it really means. See chapter 2 of White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better for more.

Kindness vs. Niceness

“Your nice is actually evil,”
Saira and Regina say,
“Kindness…is a killer to your niceness.”
Most of my life I haven’t considered
the two as being contrary–
though I do know the fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, self-control
No mention of nice, nicer, nicest,
niceness, niceties, overnice…

One of my mother’s stated goals for all
her seven kids was that we would be nice.
A lifetime has brought me here, for
I became a nice success.
Now I find myself with further
unlearning to do.
So much of my niceness is driven by fear–
fear of standing out
fear of sitting in
fear of disappointing others
fear of making waves
fear of not being liked
fear of lacking strength
fear of fear of fear
to be, to do, to say the kind thing
sometimes kindness isn’t nice
always kindness isn’t easy
fear doesn’t have to be the winner
be kind


I just went outside and finished step 1. The rocks are a bigger deal. Maybe tomorrow.

Slice of Life – I’m Just Very Fearful

May 2, 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

“I’m just very fearful,” the white woman said at a school board meeting. (See video at the end.)

Actually, I’m not very fearful. My white privilege has put me in a position where I don’t have to fear living in my skin. I have two amazing daughters who have their own families now. And, bonus: this week my younger daughter and her dear husband are working from our home. Their  offices have been moving around our place based on several factors–whether or not they are in a meeting, which porch has the perfect sunniness, where the wind shelters them, and today they’ve moved indoors because of the cold morning.

I get to spoil my cubs with good cooking like this morning’s breakfast of Lemon-Blueberry Dutch Baby.

On a more serious note, “I’m just very fearful” about the people who are so afraid of losing their position of white supremacy that they are killing others.

I remember when my kids were little there was a report, likely after a census, that predicted when the number of non-white people in America would surpass the number of white people. It was going to be by the year 20?? (I forget). It hasn’t happened yet, but lately I have noticed the impending change has cemented the culture of “white supremacy,” proving it is alive and sick in America. The fear that white supremacy might come undone seems to feed the ubiquitous gun culture too. This fear has gripped the lives of so many that now they are shooting neighbors and innocent travelers, not just nefarious intruders. Racism, white supremacy, religious fundamentalism, the history of the second amendment, and guns–they are all eternally entwined.

The following poem is written in the voice of a member of Moms for Liberty. (Watch the video below in Kenny Akers’ tweet. The quote “I’m just very fearful” comes from her statement at the school board meeting.

I’m just very fearful
Impossible to be cheerful
Replacement makes me tearful

I’m just very fearful
My white children will feel too awful
if you tell them their history is bad-full

I’m just very fearful
Do I worry he will grow up to pull
the trigger? — I’m just very fearful

Slice of Life – On Choices in Reading and Banning Books

4 April 2023 Slice of Life at TwoWritingTeachers.org

It’s good to be back here with you on just Tuesdays this month! One of the posts I read last month, I am still remembering with fondness today. It was at Trish’s Jump Off; Find Wings. She wrote a letter to Jane Yolen. It was warm and personal, and it sent me right away to the library to check out the two books she mentions:

  1. The Devil’s Arithmetic, by Jane Yolen, a powerful Holocaust story that treats young people with the ability to handle truth, even when it is difficult.
  2. Attack of the Black Rectangles, by Amy Sarig King, a story of censorship of children’s books, including The Devil’s Arithmetic, “for the good of the children,” Jane Yolen makes a heroic appearance in this book defending freedom to read. Attack of the Black Rectangles is based in part on a true event that happened to the author’s own child.

Since I had just finished the books, for my #Verselove poem today I thought about writing about censorship. I first wrote out some coherent thoughts. Because the prompt was to write in a grammatically ungrammatical way, I thought I would try that later.

When we ban and censor books
our children come to the conclusion
that we are afraid of them,
that we don’t trust them.
We make book sales go up,
not because of their content
but because of interest
sparked in the banning
What if we let our children and youth
decide what to read
based on their interests?
Not ours.

Then I went to change it up, to write as our mentor Jennifer Guyor Jowett did–writing grammatically ungrammatically–turning nouns into verbs, modifying nouns with adverbs, and so forth. It was fun, and I think the product is much better than the thoughts I wrote out first.  What do you think?

When we ginger
around delicating and timiding
our adolescents
and children
with afraidness and frailitude,
when we “don’t-read-that” them–
our hungry people young–
we lose and abuse them.
we disaster education
and failure
historying
noveling
poeming
storying
failing to represent their
sacred wholly wings
represented for flightfully
library wholeness


March 20 – Open Writing Poetry with You

March 20, 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org

This week it is time for Ethical ELA’s Open Write. It’s always so joyful to spend time with this supportive writing community. (Lots of us are part of Slice of Life and the group that writes poetry at Open Write, like Maureen, Joanne, Kim, Glenda, Britt, Fran H., Barb, Margaret S., Molly, Heather, and me…Have I missed anyone else? Please tell me in the comments).

We meet five days a month and every day in April, when it’s called #Verselove. Below I’m posting a poem I wrote yesterday. You can join in on this week’s past prompts– Saturday, Sunday, and Monday–or join us Tuesday and Wednesday for more writing wonderfulness.

On Saturday, I wrote a whole post about the inconceivable junction between artificial intelligence and poetry. [On an aside: You may want to read the essay, published today, on Two Writing Teachers by Beth Moore, “We Need to Talk About AI Essays.” Fascinating.]

On Sunday, we wrote a Pile Poem on Canva, using a beautiful mentor poem by Amy Kay.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Amy Kay (@amykaypoetry)

Mocha Productivity Being with my love Making beautiful things A heart decluttered, yet full Being Grammy to my sweet Milo Recognizing the birds in our yard Having our house become our home Being able to sleep as long as I want Many ways to make a vegetarian Reuben The four subtle seasons of the Mojave desert These freshly washed, tightly-fitting flannel sheets Finding a treasure that I need in a second-hand store Sweet memories of a time when I had young children at home Eating mint chocolate chip ice cream while laughing with loved ones A masala tea soy latte from my kitchen delivered with love from Keith

And today, on Monday, we shared poetry on Flip (formerly Flipgrid.) Do come over and join the conversation. Find the link at the Ethical ELA site. (There is an invitation to give opinions about the use of AI in the poetry classroom.)

In April, we will have daily prompts. Please join us. If you are interesting, check out these Tips for Verseloving, created by our founder, Sarah Donovan.

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. Thank you, Two Writing Teachers!