the kinder have been very interested in learning about rocks lately
they collected them
sorted them
brought in favorites
made a rock museum
painted with them
shared what they knew
still had questions.
one question was-
can rocks break?
now we all know.
—
“the violets in the mountains have broken the rocks.”
-tennessee williams
dinner of swedish samplings
shopping for fun things for the classroom
with my co-teachers
wandering through
the twisted path of ikea aisles
a friendly employee
leads us to
yet another secret door
a shortcut through the labyrinth.
—
“there are many secret doors around us, in plain sight.
we just don’t take the time to find and open them.”
-rebecca ross, author
sh
Paul Klee, Forest Architecture, 1925, pen and watercolour on paper mounted on card
swiss painter, draftsman, and printmaker 1879-1940
—
“art should be like a holiday;
something to give a man the opportunity to see things differently,
and to change his point of view.”
-paul klee
yet another
delightful encounter
with a stranger
at trader joe’s
when checking out
my cashier
put the chocolate i was buying
into my hand
‘i know this isn’t going far.’
spot on.
working there a long time
knows what chocolate means to some people
rarely looks them in the eye
the chocolate gave him a reason to do so
i told him to
have a good day
he told me to
have a good life.
—
‘good things happen when you meet strangers’
-yo-yo ma
i’ve had a feathered visitor
a robin
courting me for the last two days
wonder what he wants to tell me?
will he return today?
hope that i’m home if he calls.
—
* robin symbolism means different things in different cultures and the message robin brings has different meanings at different times. A robin brings hope, renewal, and rebirth. Robin symbolizes new beginnings, new projects, and a sign of good things to come. – bring it.
—
easy peasy
now if this isn’t a brilliant idea, i don’t know what is-
today the kinder saw the space where they will create their garden.
—
“why try to explain miracles to your children when you can have them plant a garden?”
-*janet kilburn phillips
*Janet is a gardener who found that she had to employ a growth mindset when she moved to the United States from England. She had previously been creating English cottage gardens but encountered challenges when she tried to grow them in a drastically different climate and in heavy clay soil. After experimenting with her gardens she created a CD called English Cottage Gardening — American Style. She adapted and persevered and found a new way to succeed at something that she loved.
the dandelions have returned, and i couldn’t be happier.
—
“Every year,” said Grandfather. “They run amuck; I let them.
Pride of lions in the yard. Stare, and they burn a hole in your retina.
A common flower, a weed that no one sees, yes.
But for us, a noble thing, the dandelion.”
-Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine
—
art credit: garth williams, (the rabbit’s wedding) – rabbit basking in the moonlight
a beautiful, beautiful book
what is a poem, really, and what exactly is its use?
Every once in a while, you stumble upon something so lovely, so unpretentiously beautiful and quietly profound, that you feel like the lungs of your soul have been pumped with a mighty gasp of Alpine air. This is a Poem That Heals Fish is one such vitalizing gasp of loveliness — a lyrical picture-book that offers a playful and penetrating answer to the question of what a poem is and what it does. And as it does that, it shines a sidewise gleam on the larger question of what we most hunger for in life and how we give shape to those deepest longings.
Written by the French poet, novelist, and dramatist Jean-Pierre Simeón, translated into English by Enchabnted Lion Books founder Claudia Zoe Bedrick (the feat of translation which the Nobel-winning Polish poet Wislawa Syymborska had in mind when she spoke of “that rare miracle when a translation stops being a translation and becomes … a second original”), and illustrated by the inimitable Olivier Tallec, this poetic and philosophical tale follows young Arthur as he tries to salve his beloved red fish Leon’s affliction of boredom.
i read the above review by maria popova, and simply had to find it
i read it three times and looked closely at the details
i so agree with her.
—
in honor of national poetry month
and every day of every month
read a poem.
—
“great children’s books are wisdom dipped in words and art.”
-peter h. reynolds
‘
—
credits: maria popova, marginalian, enchanted lion books
I didn't have my glasses on.... 