Anticipating Summertime

There is so much to love about summertime on Long Island's south shore. 

You can stroll on the boardwalk, observe the happenings, 

and follow up with a relaxing afternoon at the Atlantic Ocean shore. 

If you are not a beachgoer, you can find solace in the arboretums and botanical gardens. The myriad of town and county pools are filled with families enjoying the sun, swimmers practicing their skills, and various social outings. There are endless opportunities to embrace outdoor living and find the easy calm of a Long Island summer. The be as you are, relaxed pace of sweet summer living is an important feature of life here. 

Years ago when I first arrived on Long Island, I learned quickly never to tire of summer living. I was then and still am intrigued by the endless passion of the sea and the inviting nature of its beaches. On grey or rainy days, I often visualize the beach to create a virtual experience for at the beach calm pervades. 

As a beach lover, I understand the ocean's appeal and positive effects on the psychological and physical aspects of life. Much has been written on this topic. The ocean is like a medicinal herb offering healing. There is relaxed feeling at the beach when the weather is warm. Cares seem to slip away and stress reduced. People are more present "in the moment" when at the beach. The to-do list slips away.  You can get your daily dose of Vitamin D at the beach and sleep better at night. For me, I can remove myself from the hectic pace of life and feel re-energized when staring into the ocean's waters. There is joy at the beach.

calmness beachside

once removed, rises inside

like rushing waves

©CVarsalona, 2018, Long Beach, NY

#The beach is a sacred sanctuary for humans and oceans."

The above quote is from Surfer Today.

"Calm is trust in action. Only trust, perfect trust can keep one calm."

God Calling by A.J. Russell

I am anticipating summer here on Long Island and the next time I visit the beach, I will ponder the beauty of summertime at the hands of the Supreme Creator.

Margaret Simon is the host of Spiritual Journey first Thursday this week. She chose "summer" as the writing prompt topic. 

Pre-Solar Eclipse Thoughts

It's just hours away from an amazing natural phenomenon. 

A total solar eclipse will occur but Long Island will not be in its direct path. In my area, Newsday is reporting "the moon will slowly slip in front of the sun about 1:20 p.m. and cover about 70 percent  of it by 2:45 p.m." While no one is to look directly at the sun, it is the hope of many to experience a change in the way the sky appears. 

Across the United States, people are preparing for this grand celestial event in different ways.  Since I will not see the full effect of the eclipse, I decided to immerse myself in the experience in several ways since creativity comes in spurts. 

😎 I traveled to the beach last night to watch the sun go down. Different shades of sky formed right before my eyes. I immersed myself in the experience, noticing, wondering, and taking photographs. While this does not compare to watching the solar eclipse, I wanted to have the sensation of observing the effect of sky changes on my thoughts.

😎 As part of the extension of the 5th Annual February Daily Poem Project, a colleague, Jone MacCulloch, chose the solar eclipse as the topic for her special school activity. She asked that we create an original poem based on the NASA posting (you can find it here) using the following ten words: solar, obscure, corona, interconnected, luminosity, eclipse, collect, charged, shadow, understanding. She also asked permission to share the poems we create with her staff for a professional development workshop. 

😎  I will watch the David Muir special starting at 1 p.m. today.

😎 Now, I'm off to compose my post for Wonderopolis' Wonder Ground using the Wonder of the Day 1658, "What's the Difference Between a Solar and a Lunar Eclipse" as the basis of a lesson. (I changed the Wonder of the Day text for the Wonder Bundle lessons to Wonder of the Day, #1956 Why Can't You Look Directly at the Sun?  You can find The Great American Eclipse-Wonder Bundle #5 here. Teachers, please join me there. 

Enjoy the solar eclipse today!

Celebrate Life's Joys

⬇

Summertime

Nature

Beach


Outdoor Concerts
(SixGun Country Band at Long Beach, NY Summer Concert Series)

Unveiling of Springsations-Global Gallery of Artistic Expressions

Baby Wonder

We can find life's joys if we notice what is around us and appreciate its beauty!

Summer is the time to Relax-Reflect-Recharge!

   

I am celebrating #CelebrateMonday with my Twitter colleagues and Ruth Ayres with her Celebrate This Week community of writers at #celebratelu who joyfully embrace life.

Arise!

Traditionally, Easter is a family day celebrated by Easter Mass and family dinner, but this Easter day was an unusual one. Without family around us, my husband and I took a ride to the Long Island shore. My son was at work and my daughter, son-in-law, uncle, and cousins were far from Long Island. With windows down and the air rushing in, my husband and I drove the short distance to Long Beach for a stroll on the boardwalk. The beach always provides me with inspiration.

As we entered Long Beach, I noticed a ceiling of sky blue with pillowy clouds hovering over the sandy beach and boardwalk. The temperature was high but April's breeze zipped across shore. Many seemed to be delighted by the winds, as evidenced by the shorts, sleeveless tops worn, and the lone parasailer who was whisking back and forth, crossing the ocean in a beautiful motion. I was grateful that I brought a jacket to ward off the cooling breeze.

My husband and I walked, jogged a few steps, and watched the waves roaring into shore as they splashed against the jetties. Two kites floated in the sky and groups of gulls circled, dipped, and soared higher. Various modes of acceptable boardwalk transportation, bikes, strollers, and skateboards,  were in motion. Vendors were selling their refreshments and beachgoers gravitated to the picnic tables or the beach in the No Beach Goers' Zone. The beachfront was alive with the buzz of conversation, energy, and fair weather.  I was grateful for the time to reflect.

All was at peace. Spirits were renewed.

Easter at the beach was a wonder-filled experience. 

Easter may have been different this year but I was still able to celebrate with the Easter Vigil Mass on Saturday night and Easter dinner (complete with chocolate candy). Dinner may have been late in the day because my son had to work but we were together and that is what counts. While I missed the rest of my family, I was able to send Easter greetings to them via the phone.

At the close of the day, I was reminded that Easter is more than just a day. It is a holy day of great importance.

Easter tells us that life is to be interpreted not simply in terms of things but in terms of ideals.

-Charles M. Crowe 

Spring bursts today, for Christ is risen and all the earth's at play.

-Christina G. Rossetti

Hallelujah! Arise and Renew Your Life!

It's Tuesday and the Slice of Life community is coming together at Two Writing Teachers to enjoy another week of blogging.

The above image poem is part of my #poetrylisciouspoetry collection for National Poetry Month and an offering for #NationalHaikuPoetryDay.

Seasonal Change

As I walked on the boardwalk today, I realized what I wrote yesterday is evident today: Moments in time transition with each seasonal change. 

From March to April, I noticed a change at the boardwalk and wondered why it was important to me. I decided to look at the contrast and similarities to explore the topic "Why Are We Doing This", posed by Margaret Simon for DigiLitSunday. 

Reflecting on a March day 
at the Long Beach Boardwalk on Long Island:



Picture this April day at the same boardwalk:

It's boardwalk Sunday-
A crystal blue sky, 
Seagulls sweeping by, 
Children out to play,
A beach time soiree.

Questions:

What do you notice in the digitals? What do you wonder about? Why are these questions important? How do the questions about the digitals impact your thinking? 

Self-Reflection:

I pause to ask myself "Why do I create digital inspirations and write poetry?" As a wonderologist, nature and small moments in life spark my curiosity and ignite creativity. 

-I notice and wonder about what I see.

-I observe and examine life and find positivity in its gifts.

-I celebrate the small moments with the eye of a photographer.

-I explore life with the poet's pen to experience the full potential of the possible.

-I share my findings so that others may find their voice and be immersed in the process of creating. From that act inspiration and joy flows.

The Journey:

Celebrating life poetically with a positive outlook is a pathway I travel to explore life and learning. Beyond the digitals, I create global galleries of artistic expressions as a means to connect voices from around the world and to share the love of poetry through the wonders seen.  

Projected Thought:

A creative, joyful environment where process and voice are honored is a haven of learning. 

If ALL students could view the world with creative eyes and curious minds, then their learning spaces would be filled with passions they wish to explore. Choices would be offered, inquiry paths sought, and process-driven results the offshoots. "Messy learning" would become a positive within their grasp as they grapple with creating content not just taking it in. 

DigiLit Sunday

I will be celebrating the month of April with poetryliscious poetry and a soon to-be-announced spring gallery. 

These digitals, as part of my Poetryliscious Poetry collection, will be offered to Laura Purdie Salas for her National Poetry Month project, #wonderbreak. 

March Musings 23: Phone Poem

Last weekend, fellow slicer, Laurie Pandorf, created a phone poem that she saw at Rose Cappelli's slice, who got the idea for the format from Jo Knowles in 59 Reasons to Write.

The Assignment:
Create a poem using your phone number.

The How-to: 

Pick a theme, then write your phone number down the length of the page. Each number represents how many words you should have on that line. A zero is a wild card so you can choose as many words as you like for that line.

My Theme: The ocean, nature's gift

My Poem: Winter Wonder

5     Ocean splashing against the jetty -
1      Dazzling,
6     Like sparkling diamonds across the sea
7     I stare into its sweeping, unfathomable depth
6     Unable to predict its volume or extent.
3     It's cresting movement
1      Surges,
1      Swells,
6     As winter winds chill the shore.
0    Ocean power takes my breath away.

My Reflection:

I added an original photo to this format to remind me of the sensations I felt when I recently traveled to the beach. Since I had not been there in months, I asked my husband to walk down to the ocean with me, instead of just staying on the boardwalk. There, at seaside, I witnessed the turbulence and beauty of nature's gift  to Long Island. 

While taking photos, the wind was kicking up and my hands were cold but the sun was shining brightly providing a sense of warmth that really did not exist. It was an exhilarating feeling being at the shore next to great, expansive body of water on a cold, windy day. 

I was not the only one who felt this exuberance. A young man was running shirtless on the boardwalk. While he looked comfortable, I was zipping up my hood to stay warm. At seaside, I came upon a little girl who was merrily walking in the sand with her bare feet. I stopped to talk to her but all she wanted to do was dig her toes further into the sand. A few feet behind her was her mother whom I engaged in conversation. She told me that this was her four year old's first trip to the ocean so she was very excited and probably overwhelmed. I wished her well and then caught up with my husband. Before returning to the boardwalk, we chatted about the shoeless mother and daughter who were delighted with the ocean setting and not at all daunted by the cold winds. Long Beach in the winter provides a different perspective on the beach's appeal.

This post is the twenty-third in a series titled March Musings 

for Two Writing Teachers' March Slice of Life Story Challenge.

Digital Playground

Creating a digital composition is like placing life in play mode. The joy of spontaneously capturing vivid images in natural surroundings sets my thinking in motion. The world becomes a playground of color, sound, and action with a lens in my hands. I observe, wonder, create and then tell a story digitally.

My passion for photography and design started back in college. I distinctly remember a country ride outside of Albany, NY.  The weather was temperate and the scenery was just so different than what I was used to back at the modernistic campus. Red barns and flower fields were perfect settings to capture pictures for a photo journal I was creating in my photography class. I noticed, wondered, played with photo layouts, and created a scrapbook portfolio.

With the advent of apps and iPhones, I have advanced from photo scrapbooks to digital portfolios and global galleries of artistic expressions. The techno world of today allows me to couple writing with art, technology, and design in a digital playground of creation. Images are shot; words revolve; writing flows. As I continue to play with digital tools, inspirational quotes, image poems, and or digital inspirations are created. Life stands still at these times in my office. Play is celebrated; thinking honored; writing connects with life experiences.

An example of this evolved when the storm, Hermine, started moving up the eastern seacoast with a reported destination to New York. Luckily, it fled from the Long Island shoreline. Witnessing the after effects of the storm surge, set my mind in motion and a story unfolded.  Watching the children on the beach gleefully climb the dune to see what the ocean was doing on the other side set a playful tone to my picture taking. When I tried the same walk-over I was surprised at how difficult it was. Shifting sands only found me sinking into deep holes until I figured out how to transverse the dunes. 

Life was surreal as I watched the surging waves.  The baby seagulls were having just as much fun as the children. They darted toward the flowing water and quickly waddled back as the waves moved closer to shore.

The surfers darted in and out of the ocean as they decided how to ride the waves. 

I delighted in capturing all of us this and then deciding what to digitize.

I am turning around this passion of telling story through photography by providing teachers with the tools to uncover the power of  images. Given choice in the digital playground, students can observe the world with a different lens and tell their story. 

Margaret Simon opened DigiLit Sunday with a call to reflect. While this piece is being submitting, I spent a good deal of time reflecting on the Day of Remembrance tracing back to 2001 when my community was faced with a tragedy, the loss of 45 lives. Please read Remembering #911 here. You can access others' thoughts here.