Recalling Spring

My wonder pal, Christie Wyman, is hosting Poetry Friday at Wondering and Wondering this week. She invited members of the community to write a poem with a tree-related theme. Studying her photo below, I recall a long-ago spring afternoon filled with wistful wondering.

Photo of Fairyland Pond by Christie Wyman

Tucked away in the corners of my mind,

a long-forgotten memory surfaces.

Glints 

of sunshine

shine through trees

inviting me to breathe in

the freshness of springtime air.

I wander through lush countryside

wistfully wondering, finding the right angle

behind a camera lens. I seek nature's beauty

and notice majestic trees solemnly standing guard.

Their limbs lightly lift in the gentle breeze, gathering
my thoughts that race before me, in contrast to a slow pace.

Farmlands laden with red barns stretch out for miles. Wildflowers
growing abundantly wait for picking.  A solitary bench becomes an
ageless photo.

Time does pass.

Memories fade

like ink on
parchment

but nature
remains as
a constant.

©CVarsalona, 2019

In searching for poetry on trees, I found Joyce Kilmer, Trees, an all-time favorite, and a video of Nelson Eddy putting the poem to song. You can access that here.

Digitized photo of upstate New York in springtime

Christie's photo and mine will brighten the walls of the Splendid Spring Gallery collection that waits to be unveiled.

Being in the Creativity Zone

Being in the creativity zone is such a wonder-filled experience!  Sparks fly; mind races; thoughts pass by in streams of bright-colored digital inspirations.  When I start creating, I am lost in time, transfixed until I suddenly look up. "Oops! I am almost late for ..."  

The zone is in a wonder space, a creativity playground. It is not a fancy place. Unlike a child's playground, any spot will do that has a place to write, create, and revise. Digital tools, a computer, and iPhone are necessities in my wonder space. In addition, fancy paper, colored pens, and a glue gun are tucked into my literacy toolbox for any spontaneous DIY projects. I shared my wonder space with grad student teachers last week at my ELA Summer Institute. With a bit of passionate prompting, they entered the zone to create their digital designs and digipoetry. You can see what they created while in the zone here.

Giving and receiving is part of the creative process. Beside designing summer poetry swaps for Donna Smith and Linda Baie, I have been inspired to create digipoetry while observing nature. A couple of days ago my family took a quick jaunt to the beach. Our stay was short for the afternoon heat was rising and we noticed a dramatic difference in the sky. From gloriously bright to cloudy gray, it changed its look and sent us off trudging through the sand back to the car.

For the Embraceable Summer Gallery collection

Being in the zone, means that there are other poet colleagues there as well, creating in their wonder spaces.  A couple of weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised by an email from Ruth Hersey.  A postcard arrived but it was not from Haiti.  Ruth was visiting family in Kentucky where she was visiting family and decided to create a summer poetry swap for me as part of the exchange started by Tabatha Yeatts. On the back of a serene picture postcard, James Archambeault's KENTUCKY, Ruth wrote the following poem. 

Spring to Summer 2019

Where Carol lives,

the seasons how up

one after another,

each beautiful in its own way.

She collects snippets of each

to fill a gallery.

Where I live

the seasons don't change much;

each month is hot and sunny

with alternating mud and dust.

I collect snippets of tropical blooms

for my own gallery.

This year I'm visiting my parents,

waiting for summer

in a world more like hers;

each morning is chilly and damp

and you can almost hear the grass growing.

I take pictures of all different flowers

from the ones at home,

snippets to fill a gallery

both Carol and I

could love.

©Ruth Hersey, 2019

Ruth's Garden of Blooms and Poem

will grace my Spring Splendor Gallery collection.

Today, I am joining the Poetry Friday Roundup at Carol Wilcox's blog site, Carol's Corner.  For those who have puppy love, you will love to see 8-week-old Rooney and the poem she wrote about him.  

Springtime Digital Delights

Each year, spring arrives of its own accord, renewing the world as it bursts forth with color and joy! But this season, spring played peek-a-boo on Long Island as it fluctuates from warmth to dampness and chill. The thermostat read 50 degrees this morning as the rains continued to soak the earth so there were many comments about the winter-in-spring weather phenomenon. 

To rekindle a love of spring warmth and vivid green hues, I present some dazzling digital inspirations for all to witness the splendor of spring. 

Travel with me for a short virtual gallery tour of springtime 

starting with a digipoem from Massachusetts.

On Long Island a lament was heard from early springtime to today:

A lovely flower from South Carolina was spotted at Robyn Hood Black's blog.

Elementary students from Louisiana uncovered springtime in verse. 

A colleague from the 50th state embraced the spirit of springtime and together we created a postcard from Hawaii.

Lastly here is a sighting that looks like a scene from the opening of the cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C. but it is from Estonia.

There are many more digital inspirations in different varieties that have been collected from colleagues across the globe for the Spring Splendor Gallery. If you have not sent in an offering yet, you may continue to do so until Sunday night, June 16, 2019. Poets, photographers, artists, composers, and students take the creative challenge plunge and think spring.  

I am off to visit poet Laura Shovan's blog site since she is the host of this week's PoetryFriday. You will be delighted to read poems from 3rd grade students during Laura's poet-in-residence annual visit.

I will be on a slow read of Poetry Friday posts since I will be celebrating my granddaughter's second birthday this weekend. 

Connecting and Collaborating

Connecting and collaborating is a practice that I have enjoyed this week, whether it was face-to-face, online, or in Twitter virtual conversations. How do these chance and scheduled meet-ups impact my life? Do they enhance my awareness of my 2019 "one word," embrace? I ponder these questions tonight. 

When I connect and collaborate with colleagues, I reap rewards. Virtually moving beyond my home on Long Island allows me to discover diverse perspectives in online corners of thought (Twitter chats, like #NYEDChat with @EmpaticoOrg last night). I network with positive people across the globe. I learn, share ideas, and find new inquiry paths. I embrace small steps through reflection and reflaction (reflection with action) that open channels for change. Most of all, I discard any small thoughts about inadequacy. Opening the mind to new pathways, allows creativity to be harnessed and writing sparked. 

I encourage everyone to: 

When I connect and collaborate,
I am inspired to create and let voice fly. 

Above you will find a new offering for my #SpringSplendorGallery.
Perhaps, you are interested in joining my creative challenge.
The invitation can be accessed here. 

Thank you to Fran Haley, one of my Tuesday Slice of Life friends, who connected with me about digital design this past weekend. Back and forth we chatted via messaging on topics related to digital design: types of digital tools I use, ideas for enhancing digital, credits. Here is one of Fran's digital creations that will be showcased at my Spring Splendor Gallery. This nature photo that Fran captured is so beautiful that it deserves a place of recognition in a gallery of artistic expression.

Now, I am off to connect and collaborate with some online friends tonight at

Two Writing Teachers.