Carol Varsalona: National Milk Day | Wonder Ground

Carol Varsalona: National Milk Day | Wonder Ground

"Octopus Month" Poetic Fun

When poet Irene Latham wrote a post, Desperately Seeking Octopus Poems and Art #Octo Nation, I knew I had to find out what that was all about. I searched Twitter but did not see a #hashtag for #octopusmonth. As I scanned Irene's blog, I realized that Irene was celebrating her newest release from Millbrook Press/Lerner, Love, Agnes - Postcards from an Octopus. To honor Agnes, she christened October as "Octopus Month" and then, requested some octopus poems and art to post on her blog. That is how Ona Octopus came to be a digital creation.

 

Ona Octopus
came to school.
I tried to hide her
in layers of tulle.
My friends came close
to see the surprise.
Ona changed color
right before their eyes.
The class jumped back
at Ona's plight.
It's not Halloween,
so what's the fright?
Teacher said, "Lesson learned."
Ona is scared and concerned.
Octopus use camouflage.
Science class is now adjourned."

©CVarsalona, 2018

Thanks Irene, for creating such a fun challenge from the delightful Agnes. 

My Back Story: 

Many people know that I have a grandbaby that I am over the moon about. I decided to write a children's poem to be read to my dear little toddler, Sierra, who is a wonderer at such a young age. Information came from Wonderopolis' Wonder of the Day #1404, How Do You Hide an Octopus?  I turned the details into a wonder poem, a poem that emerges from a Wonder of the Day. Because it is nearing Halloween, I decided to add that tiny detail and create my own octopus, Ona, with the Buncee platform. Ona excitedly sent Agnes and all of you a postcard from the deep. My next step will be to record the poem so Sierra can hear her family reading it to her even though we are hours away from her. 

Today's Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted by a very busy writer, Brenda Harsham, who celebrates autumn with a gorgeous nature photo and a haiku. Stroll over to her blog to take a peek. 

March Musings #19: Lucky To:

When growing up, I always heard about the luck of the Irish. Good luck is for everyone and is often developed from positive mindsets. I am fortunate to have been raised in a talented family with strong female role models. From my grandmother and mother, I learned how to be nurtured by my passions. Creativity is a gift and developing it is a lifelong journey of persistent observation, practice, and patience. Below is my digital inspiration on being lucky created with Buncee. 

Close-up of a blackout poem I created based on Wonderopolis' Wonder of the Day, #1649, "Why are Four-Leaf Clovers So Hard To Find?".

 I am lucky to be part of several writing groups and the Connected Educator initiative where positivity is at the foundation. 
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Day 19 of Two Writing Teachers' March Slice of Life Story Challenge.

"Appsmashing" Fun

"Winter is a season of recovery and preparation."

-Paul Theroux

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Each day I try to notice and wonder more when I go outside but yesterday was a busy day. I spent most of it indoors preparing for a professional development workshop and later in the day working with my painter who is refreshing different rooms in my house. For a quick diversion,  I designed an indoor space to wonder about winter. 

How did I do that? Virtually, of course!

I took several steps and used my appsmashing abilities to carefully add layer upon layer to a Buncee Board on my computer. The outcome was the creation of an #imagepoem, a virtual winter day with dancing snowflakes. 

If you take a look at my animated Buncee you will see what I mean. You can find it here. 

In between work-related tasks, I had fun digitally designing. 

Would you like to take a look into my process? 

-First, I found a photo of clouds in Florida taken by my Twitter friend, Valerie Tilton. 

-Digitized it using PicMonkey. 

-Opened my Buncee dashboard and started creating: used the original photo of the clouds as my background; inserted my digital poem; added music; created a plaque greeting the snowy day; animated the image with falling snow.

-Traveled over to Wonderopolis and found Wonder of the Day #79 to add for content onto the Buncee platform. 

-Constantly reflected after viewing each part of the digital.

- Made changes.

-Published the Buncee.

-Sent the Buncee out to Facebook and Twitter for feedback.

Enjoying winter as a season of recovery and preparation, allowed me time to notice, wonder, and discover the magic of digital tools to enhance my indoor winter world.

Perhaps, you would like to have some digital fun like I did. You still have a couple of days to create your own digital inspiration for my Winter Wonderland Gallery of Artistic Expressions. The invitation and guidelines can be found here. Enjoy life today! I'm off to do so on this sunny winter day.

Today is Slice of Life Tuesday at Two Writing Teachers. I am joining them here.

Harvest Moon Grandeur

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in tune once more.” 

– John Burroughs

When my balance is off due to overload, nature is one of my healers. The other night, October 5th, while driving home from errands, I was struck by the glow of an amazingly beautiful full moon against the darkened sky. It was such a stunning autumn moon that I wanted to stop the car and just stare at its brilliance. That was not an option so I kept driving, noticing how the moon changed from a clear, huge circle to slices that poked through the trees.  What I witnessed was a rare sight, an October harvest moon that was reported to be the first in almost a decade. The feeling of being on high overload dissipated as I arrived home thanks to this natural wonder so I celebrate nature's ability to restore balance to my day. 

Headlines and images of the harvest moon awaited me when I returned home. I was so excited by what I saw that I searched the internet for information about this phenomenon. 

Photo by Cristina @cri_stina2000, Long Island

Below is my found poem created from selected words in the Wonderopolis, Wonder of the Day #1282, What Makes The Moon Look Orange. 

Rest assured that 
tonight's Harvest Moon
touched the horizon
brilliantly glowing
in full color 
against a blackened sky.
Angling my head to
catch its moon beams,
thoughts swirled into a
composition of gratitude.
Was I spinning on an axis
awed by a celestial sight?
Was this sphere of brilliance, 
full in face, rare in appearance, 
the decade's show stopper?
The night sky's celebration
lay scattered among headlines.
Shine on Harvest Moon!

Shine on Harvest Moon by Ruth Etting (1931)

Today, I celebrate moonglow and its ability to bring balance joy and balance to life. I also celebrate the glow of my grandbaby's smile. She lights up a room almost as grand as the moon lights up the night sky. 

Each week Ruth Ayres invites all to celebrate the positives. I join her today as I fly out to Tuscon for the NCFL 2017 Conference.