Homeward

October turned a corner, allowing November to stroll in with beautiful Indian Summer days of record-breaking warm temperatures and golden hues. An attitude of gratitude for these wonderful days sweeps the air and my thoughts fast forward to Thanksgiving when the family comes homeward bound. 

I pause for a moment to think about the phrase, Home is where the heart is. The words are meaningful for home is not an ordinary place. Home goes beyond a physical residence. While in my daily routine, I may forget the specialness of home, I value it as a holder of a lifetime of memories and emotions. Home is the place where family coming together to reconnect, share moments, and honor traditions. 

Preparations for family members greeting each other at the gathering table on Thanksgiving begin today. My family will travel to Central New York to celebrate the traditional feast of Thanksgiving. While the air may be crisper there than on Long Island and a snowflake may fall, home is where the heart is. I anticipate this gathering and hope to savor each moment with family knowing that an attitude of gratitude for all that home represents will preside at the table.

While listening to the song "Homeward Bound" by BYU Focal Point, I linger over the first stanza and know that the calling to be homeward bound is strong. 

In the quiet misty morning

When the moon has gone to bed,

When the sparrows stop their singing, 

I'll be homeward bound again.

I offer this digital inspiration to my family in preparation for the Thanksgiving holiday.

By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

Proverbs 24:3-4

I will remember to treasure the riches of home
as I head homeward bound for Thanksgiving. 

You will enjoy listening to the angelic voices of Homeward Bound. 

Be blessed today as you start preparing for the Thanksgiving gathering.

Today is #ThankfulThursday and Holly Mueller asks our Spiritual Journey Thursday community to blog about a topic each week. Today we are discussing home. Please visit SJT here. 

#K12ArtChallenge is celebrating gratitude this month. 

The theme of the challenge is family.

I dedicate this post to both blogging communities.

Listen and Reflect

When creating, my best advice to self is to listen to my internal voice, reread my piece, and reflect upon the intent and audience to whom I'm writing. While I prepare for two presentations, one at Edcamp Leadership NY from The Hamptons and the other, the International Literacy Conference in St. Louis next week, I realize that time is precious so precision is necessary. During times of pressure, I understand that listening to self and family serves as an important step to a balanced life. 

To capitalize on the art of listening during collaborative conversations and reflecting, I recreated my one little word pieces into a collage format to fit the black and white theme challenge from The Everyday Renaissance. I am offering the image below, a digitalized black and white format, to #K12ArtChallenge and #TERPart Challenge, along with Poetry Friday. The poster below is a reminder to self to listen intently and reflect, then communicate.

Both listening and reflecting are important interpersonal skills that allow self to become absorbed in "accountable talk," whether it be in oral or written formats. Collaborative, as well as internal, conversations are important to hone my craft. I decided to resurrect a visual that I created months ago as another reminder to myself.  I digitalized a previous poster to fit the challenge's black and white theme. The second image that is below allows me to reflect on the possibilities that listening offers. 

In creating the Reflect With Me Galleries that I have designed, I have listened to my family and colleagues' thoughts about choosing a name for each online seasonal gallery. The title becomes the entrance in, the alluring set of words. It should resonate with a global audience and spark creative interest. Spring's Symphony was chosen for the latest gallery to allow the writer to envision a sensory experience that spring brings to the world. I was delighted to showcase each writer's carefully crafted text with an accompanying vivid image that provided his or her own perspective on the season. 

Collective voice is powerful.  The global response to Spring's Symphony has been very positive. If you have not perused the gallery, please do so to enjoy a relaxing read during the summer months and honor the writers who contributed. 

With enthusiasm, I ask that you stay tuned for information on the newest gallery that will unfold. Watch for my advertisements and instructions on writing alongside me for Summer Splashings. 

Now please visit Poetry Friday at The Logonauts where my Twitter teacher friend, Katie, is hosting today's Round-Up. I met up with Katie months ago when she blogged about her third graders' enjoyment of writing poetry. What followed from our communication was a sharing of her third graders' poetry with teachers that I was working with. The teachers on Long Island were impressed with the children's voices. Today, Katie has Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It poems for us to read and enjoy as a pre-reading for the Poetry Friday Round-up.