My father died two weeks ago. He was 99 years old. He had a good and long life. He gave me poetry, a puppy, love of literature, love of travel, love of food and cooking, and love of learning.
Author: wordancerblog
I am currently an ELA Curriculum Coordinator (JPK-5th grade) and have been an educator for 40 years. Over the years, I've worked with students in pre-school to 12th grade. The power of story, creativity, and curiosity have kept teaching and learning exciting and new. I'm always looking forward to the next chapter!
Cooking Inspiration from The Pasta Queen: Poetry and Passion
I have been binge watching Nadia Caterina Munno, the Pasta Queen. She is incredibly passionate about Italian food. Her show is a treat alternating from places in Italy to her kitchen in Florida. She is smart, funny, and spicy. What a personality! I love watching and listening to her.
Spring Break Artifacts
It is my last couple of days on spring break. I’ve slept late, ate good food, written poems about food, and took long walks capturing the beauty I saw with my camera. I am trying to do things that nourish me, that uplift me, that help to better understand my purpose. The sunshine and warm weather has definitely lifted my spirits, and I hope I have absorbed enough of its healing energy to bring back north to our muddy March season.
A Much-Needed Spring Break
Thank goodness for spring break. Thank goodness I have the next two weeks to recover and regroup. I desperately need two weeks to bide my time until spring arrives. I am taking seven steps get back in health again.
Mindfulness in Teaching: Be Where Your Feet Are
The author, Suzanne Dailey, noted that she and her girlfriends play a game called “Where are your fee?” in which they send each other photos of their feet to check in with each other about what they are doing and how they are feeling. This game helps each person consider where they are in the present moment. It helps them reflect and shift their attention. It’s a gentle reminder to “Be where your feet are.”
Sew Easy: A Heartfelt Journey
Many things that my mother loved, I love - teaching, making art, reading, eating cheese and crackers, putting on bright lipstick, and sewing. My mother was an amazing seamstress and dress designer well before she had kids and became a teacher. She would hold a piece of fabric in her hand, fold it, cut it without a pattern, and make something wonderful to wear. She had a gift, and it was magical.
February Snow
On a recent trek to the park, I watched families sled down a small but slick slope. It was fun to see parents cheering on their children. One little girl with bright pink cheeks had a death grip on the edges of her snow disc as she screamed all the way down the hill. She ran back up shouting, “That was TERRIFYING! Let’s do it again!”
One Last Pearl of Wisdom
Since the moment I met my mother-in-law, we talked about books. We would speak of various characters as if we had actually met them and knew them like we knew family. I loved that about her. She was always exposing me to ideas and events that were new to me. She used books as breadcrumbs to show me the way and expand my thinking.
Sitting With Darkness
Now, she’s gone, and I’m trying to find my way in the wake of this darkness. How do I walk on towards old age? How do I live fully with joy and optimism while holding pain and anxiety at bay?
In Memoriam
In Memoriam Queen Anne Small, delicate - a girl who loved to read all the classics and murder mysteries too. Feisty in her smallness she stood her ground, she knew her own mind. Blossoming like a flower with all manner of ideas. She didn’t need an elaborate name or special place to bloom. She could twist her way around and fit in wherever she wanted, beautiful in her wild way, Forever. This is maybe the hardest post I’ve written to date. I’m trying in words to honor my mother-in-law who died last week at the age of 86. She was small in stature but had a large, quick-witted personality. She was a historian and university librarian, and amazed me with the depth of her knowledge. She graduated high school early, and went to the University of Chicago at the age of 16. I was truly in awe of just how smart she was. We would spend hours talking about literature and historical events. She taught me so much about history, and I loved discussing Jane Austen, Tolkien, Kenneth Grahame and multitudes of other authors. Wind in the Willows was one of her favorite children’s books, but she also adored Winnie the Pooh and Paddington. My mother-in-law was also a dog lover and over the years had four active terriers, the naughtiest being Penny, a Jack Russell, and the most devoted and her last dog, Charlie. When I’d come to visit, we spent time playing with her dogs and watching black & white films from the 1930’s and 40’s. Two of her favorites were Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948, Carey Grant and Myrna Loy) and Christmas in Connecticut (1945, Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan). I loved visiting with her on December nights and binge watching these films with her. The movies she loved were always hopeful with a happy ending. She requested to be buried in a yellow floral summer dress, which she wore when she lived in Hawaii. I smiled when I saw the list of her requests: she wanted three books (Persuasion, Wind in the Willows, Lord of the Rings), photos of her four dogs, a copy of a speech she gave to the American Library Association one year, and that yellow dress. I think she had written her own happy ending. I hope she is truly at peace wearing that beautiful flowing yellow dress, looking out into the Pacific Ocean under palm trees with a stack of books by her side, and small terrier dogs in the distance yapping at the waves.
Word Dancer: Literature, the Arts, & Education 