Sea Scattering Remembrance

"To the waters and the wild-I leave you not in sorrow, but in love." 

Sea Scattering Remembrance

on a sunkissed day of memories

tiny feet mark morning sand

seawater sparkles in sunshine

little grandgirls quietly wait  

tiny feet mark morning sand

a tranquil ceremony begins

little grandgirls quietly wait 

gentle waters offer solace

a tranquil ceremony begins

seasparkles illuminate the ocean

gentle waters offer solace

our heavy hearts sigh

seasparkles illuminate the ocean

peaceful waters move closer to shore

our heavy hearts sigh

tiny hands watch and wait

peaceful waters move closer to shore

grandgirls tiptoe forward

tiny hands wait their turn

on this sea scattering morning

grandgirls tiptoe toward the tide

light sweeps across the ocean

on this sea scattering morning

we honor Grandpa's endearing love

light sweeps across the ocean

in tribute to what was

we honor Grandpa's endearing love

his story remains in our hearts

©CVarsalona, Summer 2026

"Let the gentle rocking of the ocean carry you away. You are loved, you are cherished, you are deeply missed."

Note: The above quote and the opening one are signed anonymously. AI states that the first quote "adapts phrasing from W. B. Yeats' poem, "The Stolen Child".

The Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted by Tanita S. Davis, who is enjoying the excitement of new publications and a reminder that the Poetry Sisters will open the door to a new challenge for next week. Click here to read her blog and many others in today's Poetry Friday. 

Light on the Pathway

On one specific night when a torrential rainstorm arrived, my landscape lamps froze and stopped shining.  The darkness was overwhelming, not just in its reality but in the emotion that I felt. Grief rushed in as rain poured from the darkened sky. I sat inside writing, remembering the stillness of sunlit afternoons and the beauty of nature glowing against the light. The darkness was haunting. The discomfort of grief created a dark moment. I needed faith to calm my soul. One Bible verse from John 1:5 offered solace. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." With this thought, I leaned on faith, remembering that God's light has led me through many darkened paths, providing hope.   

be of good faith

in life's darkened corners

thy Light leads me on

©CVarsalona, 2026

This blog post is an extension of last week's Poetry Friday blog, Light Unto My Path, based on Kim Johnson's prompt. Due to the hectic weekend, my post with two poems ended being shared on Saturday morning. Below you will find my digital art pantoum poem with a sunrise photo captured by my son from my blog.

This week, Jill Dailey, our host of Poetry Friday is inviting us to her creative Summer Camp. I enjoyed watching Jill's video on how to create a zine. Since I never worked with paper to make one, I am eager to do so.

A Light Unto My Path

On the first Thursday of each month, the Spiritual Journey writers gather together to compose their thoughts on the prompt of the month. On this Thursday, the teacher-poet, Kim Johnson, is hosting with the theme,  A Light Unto My Path. I have reflected for several days on how I should create this blog post. I poured through several homilies and podcasts of Father Mike Schmitz, a devout and energized priest and speaker. I also searched songs related to the spiritual journey and light. The reflective times I spent reading opened a path of peace. 

There are many aspects on how Christian singers, songwriters, clergy, and writers form their offerings but one photograph captured by my son, Derek, provided the start I needed. Within his photo, I not only found the beauty of dawn but observed angel formations fluttering in the clouds. This gave me pause, as did the songs that I gathered, poems I read, and spiritual leaders offering their input on Psalm 119:105: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and alight unto my path." 

As I turn my reflections into poetic thoughts, I listen to Amy Grant's beautiful song of praise, "Thy Word." It is a soothing, lift-me-up song that you can listen to by clicking here. With songs of faith and hope, I find myself in a calming state.

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illumination

on my spiritual journey

a pathway to peace

Divine Radiance's gift

"Let (the) light shine out darkness"

©CVarsalona, 2026

(last line is from 2 Corinthians 4:6)

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Thank you to Jan Annino for hosting Poetry Friday at Bookseedstudio. Her blog shares an interesting title, Chill, and showcases a gorgeaous photo sharing a moment of cool pool indulgence. 

4th of July 2026 Semiquincentennial

While the photo below dates back to the 4th of July 2024, it is a symbol  of my family's tradition. Each year, we watched the firework celebrations live with family and friends or on television. One year, when my children were young, we traveled to New York City for the firework display by Macy's. The area for spectators was filled with many families who all had just enough space for four people. While the firework display was magnificent, we felt cramped. 

Years that followed were enjoyed in our hometown where we felt more comfortable. The famous Grucci Firework Company on Long Island, always displayed a magnificent show. The symphony orchestra always played on the bandstand, and families gathered in picnic style. Each celebration was held on  a separate day than the 4th of July. This allowed our family and others to watch the Macy's celebration on Independence Day. 

family gathers

America celebrates

freedom sparkles rise

©CVarsalona, 2026, photo from 2024

dazzling fireworks

dart into evening sky

pop, whizz, sizzle

like popcorn kernels bursting

showstopper entertainment

©CVarsalona, 2022

We always celebrate in style with homemade cookies!

This year the chocolate chip cookies are colored blue with chocolate frosting and the house is decorated inside and outside.

My little grandgirls are tucked away in their lovely room in my house waiting to enjoy a pre-4th of July celebration. Tomorrow, their parents will come over for a pool day, dinner, and ice cream. The youngest two understand that the USA will have a birthday so they already started singing Happy Birthday America. My oldest grandgirl (9) informed me that she learned about the Revolutionary War that led to the birth of American independence. 

"Miss Liberty, at Dawn's First Peep, Awakes the Echoes from Their Sleep"
(Original Postcard from early 1900)


Flag of the United States Semiquincentennial celebration

Ignite the American Spirit  (for our students)
      Authentic voices 
      Make noise as they
      Embark on 
      Roads ahead  
      If freedom devotees
     Commit they will rise
     As responsive Americans ready for
     Next steps:
     Shape outcomes with
     Positive approaches
     Inspire students to
     Reach out with concerns
     Ignite the flame
    To make more noise
     draft CVarsalona, July 4th, 2025

It is Poetry Friday and our host, Michelle Kogan, invites us to the Roundup. Her blog post 4th of July Justice, shares her artwork, poetry, and songs. Please click here to read Michelle's blog and other poets' blogs.

Thinking in Threes

" Life, it seems, is series of eras, periods, and ages that are constantly shifting, rearranging, being integrated, and viewed anew." 

- Karen Edmisten

I am always on the lookout for well-stated thoughts to inspire my day. While reading Karen Edmisten's blog recently, I decided to capture the above quote to add to the Poetry Sisters' writing challenge.

It's the end of June, and the Poetry Sisters invited PoetryPals to join June's challenge. Here's the scoop from Tanita Davis: "We’re greeting the opening act of summer with a triptych." Tanita was introduced to the poetic format by Tabatha Yeatts, who shared West Coast poet and essayist Louise Ireland’s three-act August Triptych. 

Even though I never heard of a triptych poem, I decided to bring together three different summertime moments as poet Linda Pastan did in her Summer Triptych. My triptych poem went through many revisions, so it is still in the draft stage. Wordy narration, was a start. 

“It’s strange how summers from different decades can be yoked together by memory in a single poem.” -Linda Pastan

Summer Love Connections

1.

Love is summer's heated-blush

to a young lady, who arrived late.

A sun-kissed sky, and one crutch

slowly. moved me toward a surprising spark of connections. 

From the thumping of his heartbeats,  

smiles and conversations rose.

Temperatures swelled and 

whisperings swirled as  

 hearts melded together.

2.

Summers passed by; full-bloom gardens 

shared nature's nurturing fragrance.

Hearts deepened as heated sands

and roaring waves ebbed and flowed.

The sounds of children's voices

echoed across ocean waves and

cherished memories lit sunsets. 

Love sparked amidst life's shifting, 

and tides of ups and down.

Anniversaries broadened. 

Summers renewed a bond.

Love connections flourished.

along with blooming gardens 

of florals and herbs 

and refreshing waves.

 3.

Summer years followed; 

love grew like the deer family

marching strategically from the woods.

Geese paraded with fledglings broods.

At times, connections were

lost in unexpected time warps. 

Sunrise either brought warmth

or skytears of gray mornings.

New home renewed life's designs

until love split in half as 

one life slipped heavenward.

draft, CVarsalona, 2026

Hope and faith are strong components in life. Connections are anchors. Love and nature nurture life. Breathe in. Breathe out and notice what is precious in our lives and on our earth of contrasts  

Join Poetry Sister, Tricia Sthor Hunt, at 

The Miss Rumphius Effect for the Poetry Friday Roundup.

You will be delighted to read her triptych and those of her 

Poetry Sisters,Tanita, Mary Lee Hahn, and Liz Garton Scanlon.

My time slipped by so this blog was finished into the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Noticing Life's Beauty

As the last days of Springtime, turn a corner, a gray sky triggers inspiration. It's time to bring nature inside. A vase of flowers from the past reminds me to notice small moments. 

nurtured by nature

spring florals nestle inside

a peaceful moment

©CV, 2026

I celebrate 9 years of life with my oldest grandgirl and her sisters on the first days of summer vacation. We swim, have chocolate pudding, blow out a candle, and engage in artistic activities. Colorful pictures appear with crayons and a magic pencil as the birthday girl creates her own floral display, a mix of live parsley flowers and blue hydrangea legos. It's amazing how live the hyrandea bouquet looks in the crystal vase (and the quick speed that it took for Sierra to create the display).

The little grandgirls and I are off to make chocolate cake for the birthday party. It's a family weekend but I will catch up with the Poetry Friday Roundup blogs. In the meantime, I excitedly moved to Buffy Silverman's blog that she states is the Soggy Edition of Poetry Friday. Click here to find our what the gardener, nature lover, poet is offering. 

Be of peace everyone!

Springtime DigiPoetry Brings Perpetual Astonishment

Beneath a sky of vivid blue and softened clouds, springtime opens its blooms. With "perpetual astonishment" (Ellis Peters), I watch nature's colors burst open in my garden.  

This vivid photo shares some of nature's brilliant creations. With the addition of poetry and a digital device, FotoJet, Spring sends a message of the beauty of her season. You can find more digital elegance captured in poetic verses at my padlet gallery, "Spring Seeds Grace April," which became my 2026 National Poetry Month project. 

A variety of poet friends, photographers, and artists collaborated with me throughout April and into May. But this collaboration did not start recently. It began in 2014, as I openly invited others to join me in designing galleries of artistic expressions with seasonal themes. On April 21, 2017, I wrote a blogpost, "Digipoetry is..." to explain my  loves: poetry, artwork, digital artwork and literacy. For this year's gallery, I started with a padlet, a place to create a living, digital gallery via a slideshow. I added in the theme of spring seeds gracing early spring in April, and thought "as spring flowers bloom, digital blossoms, and settings shall grow." 

"Spring adds a new life and new beauty to all that is." (Jessica Harrelson) So enjoy the various spring settings and let peace live in your space. Below is another image poem created when digipoetry touched my heart.

It may be late for my Poetry Friday blog but I watched the different formations of a Spring day. The day opened with beautiful weather, moved on to heated temperatures, and now it offers a gray sky, bold noises cracking, and a deep downpour. Whether your space is inside or outside, remember that your mind can blossom just like the blooms so be creative and let your imagination stir. 

Now, I am ready to enter the Poetry Friday Roundup hosted by Linda Mitchell who is celebrating the end of school. Even thought it rained a while ago, the sky is shedding light down on Earth, so celebrating life and children as Linda suggests brings a sense of calm to this spring day. You can find quotes about children and a beautiful piece of artwork to inspire you to blend art, imagery, with word weaving to create a springtime poem. My Padlet Gallery is open if anyone would like to share an image poem, ekphrastic poem, photo, art piece, or music, I would be delighted. 

Digital art by CVarsalona

Welcome to the Spring Seeds Grace April Padlet Gallery

Seeds gather.

Spring awakening unfolds.  

Poetic voices rise.

Photographers capture nature's beauty.

Artists gather at the door of spring. 

Creativity spreads in brilliant pops of color.

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It is time to view what Nature shares.

Click here to enter the gallery.

Then, press the Slideshow button to view each artistic expression that graces the gallery.

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Credits to the Following Contributors:

Verrena Diane Anderson

Ramona Behnke

Aurora Hartnett

Jill Dailey

Patricia Franz

Bob Hamera

Mary Lee Hahn

Denise Krebs

Jone MacCulloch

Kent Paulette

Joyce Ray

Margaret Simon

Carol Varsalona

Derek Varsalona

and 

28 poets who contributed to the Progressive Poem during National Poetry Month 2026

Tabatha Yeatts
Cathy Stenquist
Patricia Franz
Donna Smith
Janice Scully
Denise Krebs
Ruth Hersey
Rose Cappelli
Margaret Simon
Janet Clare Fagel
Diane Davis
Linda Baie
Linda Mitchell
Jone MacCulloch
Joyce Uglow
Carol Varsalona
Robyn Hood Black
Michele Kogan
Kim Johnson

Buffy Silverman
Irene Latham

Karen Edmisten
Heidi Mordhorst
Mary Lee Hahn
Tanita Davis
Sharon Roy
Tracey Kiff-Judson

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Thank you for viewing the Spring Seeds Grace April Padlet Gallery. I welcome any other contributor who would like to add an artistic expression to my padlet gallery. If you decide to include your image poem, song, photograph, or artwork, I will add your name to this blog post.

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Digital art of peonies by CVarsalona

This week's Poetry Friday Roundup's host is Mona Voelkel. She offers a lovely summer poem about the beach, "Sandcastle". Click here to read more.

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Since I am hosting The Spiritual Journey blog, I decided to share my blog post, This Spring Morning, I Pause and Reflect. Click here.

Spring's Gifts: Rain, Garden Flowers, and Nature's Beauty

On non-rainy spring mornings, I often receive a beautiful sunrise photo from my son, who enjoys taking early morning walks. 

Sunrise in Northern Virginia by Derek Varsalona

This photo reminded me of a poem written by John Clare. (The Rural Muse: Poems (Whittaker & Co., 1835) in the public domain.)

The Spring comes in with all her hues and smells,
In freshness breathing over hills and dells;
O’er woods where May her gorgeous drapery flings,
And meads washed fragrant by their laughing springs.
Fresh are new opened flowers, untouched and free
From the bold rifling of the amorous bee.
The happy time of singing birds is come,
And Love’s lone pilgrimage now finds a home;
Among the mossy oaks now coos the dove,
And the hoarse crow finds softer notes for love.
The foxes play around their dens, and bark
In joy’s excess, ’mid woodland shadows dark.
The flowers join lips below; the leaves above;
And every sound that meets the ear is Love.

This Memorial Day weekend, the rain continually drenched my gorgeous peonies. Our Memorial Day patio picnic with the family turned into an indoor event. When the rain took a quick pause, my 6-year-old grandgirl learned how to fill different types of vases with what was left of my cherished peonies.  

Before the Rain

After the Rain

I took one of the lines from John Clare's poem (see below) and created a Golden Hinge Poem introduced by Patricia Franz. 

Fresh are new opened flowers, untouched and free.
Are they nature's perennials sharing their
New budding gifts of glee? 
Opened petals of pink and soft white share
Flowers swaying in fashionable wear.
Untouched, they stand with dignity,
And pose for all to stare
Free from life's responsibility.

Draft, CVarsalona, 2026

Digital art of peonies by CVarsalona

Thank you to Mary Lee Hahn at A(Nother) Year of Reading for this week's Poetry Friday Roundup. She is setting up a summer picnic with "yummy offerings for today's potluck".