Three Simple Pleasures: Christmas Cactus, Contentment, Sunshine

1. I am so pleased JEJ found my camera today and captured images of our Christmas cactus in full bloom in the natural daylight. I miss that when I  leave and come home in the dark.

2. There is nothing like a dog and cat that get along. The other night Shelby and Isabelle watched the Zags game together contently on the Christmas blanket. Okay... maybe they rested their eyes and missed a bit of the game!

3. Even when the temperature drops below 20 degrees, it is nice to see the sunshine.

Three Simple Pleasures: Scrooge, Writing, Wool Socks

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1. I always enjoy teaching the play of "A Christmas Carol" to my seventh graders each December. I am so thankful between the Disney ads and the students' love for Jim Carrey they are motivated to read the Dickens classic this year.

2. While teaching writing to elementary students today I loved it when one student finished his story and asked, "May I PLEASE read a poetry book?" I smiled inside and out as I answered, "Yes, of course."

3. My striped wool socks were just what I needed as I stepped out of my car  into 14 degree weather at school today. Even after walking between buildings three times, my feet never got cold!

Three Simple Pleasures: Water, A Healing Finger, Wood Heat

Clare Grant introduced the original Three Beautiful Things each day on her blog which can be found here. My brother Raymond Pert uses this format often on his blog Kellogg Bloggin which can be found here. I think C. Colton was right when he said "Imitation is the sincerest of flattery." I am now going to imitate both of them posting Three Simple Pleasures each day this month.

1. A pipe broke in the building where I teach yesterday morning. Since the building used to be the elementary school, we have bathrooms in our rooms. I was able to fill up the water cooler before the water went off, but no restrooms were available until about 2:00 today. It is truly amazing how toilets, flushing, men coming in to fix toilet, and middle school boys finally getting to use the toilet could distract even the best lesson on characterization today. What a joy to have water again.


2. JEJ had to take a trip to the emergency room Monday. A group from church was helping split wood up the road and his finger got between the wood splitter and a piece of wood. After x-rays, stitches, and a big bandage he is on the road to recovery. As usual, he was his same calm self about the whole thing and I was exhausted just hearing about the whole ordeal. His finger is healing nicely.

3. The temperature took a big dip the last twenty-four hours. What a pleasure it was to sit in front of the wood stove after school today to warm my cold feet.

I Did It! Thirty Posts in Thirty Days!

This year I participated in the NoBloPoMo and did thirty blog posts in thirty days. Usually I try to always do a post a day, but this was an incentive to be sure I did one every day. It gave me an opportunity to revisit favorite poems to post. I also found pictures I hadn't shared. I was even able to show off JEJ's talent with the camera as I posted some of his amazing photos. Where did November go? As the winds began to blow, the night temperatures grew colder, and the leaves that were left on trees turned dry and brown November slipped by. I have a feeling the same thing will happen with December!

A Love for the Works of Wislawa Szymborska

I visited and revisited many poems during my Thanksgiving break. I have so many I want to share, but one that stayed with me was the one below by Polish poet Wislawa Szymborska. I can't think of a poem she has written that I haven't loved. Every time her name is listed in an anthology, I am sure to turn to that selection first.
I read this today about the1996 Nobel Prize winner for Literature on Poets.org.  "While the Polish history from World War II through Stalinism clearly informs her poetry, Szymborska is also a deeply personal poet who explores the large truths that exist in ordinary, everyday things. "Of course, life crosses politics," Szymborska has said "but my poems are strictly not political. They are more about people and life."

That is what I like. I like the larger truths she explores in everyday things. I have thought much about the last stanza. I have often wondered if I was missing something important, but not knowing it. Enjoy "A Note".

 

A Note

 

 Life is the only way
 to get covered in leaves,
 catch your breath on the sand,
 rise on wings;
 
 to be a dog,
 or stroke its warm fur;
 
 to tell pain
 from everything it's not;
 
 to squeeze inside events,
 dawdle in views,
 to seek the least of all possible mistakes.
 
 An extraordinary chance
 to remember for a moment
 a conversation held
 with the lamp switched off;
 
 and if only once
 to stumble upon a stone,
 end up soaked in one downpour or another,
 
 mislay your keys in the grass;
 and to follow a spark on the wind with your eyes;
 and to keep on not knowing
 something important.
 
~ Wislawa Szymborska ~

A November Tour of the Greenhouse

 

Even when it was 26 degrees this morning, plants were thriving in the greenhouse. Here are some Thanksgiving week-end photo images.