Summer Passes By

As the calendar turns its page to the middle of September, the weather moves forward between two seasons. There are beautiful summer days and summer rains with damp weather but this past week in Northern Virginia widespread thunderstorms and cool weather were the norm. It was jacket and raincoat weather due to 60-degree weather. Then, all of a sudden the temperature climbed up and the humidity went down. It felt like a combo of the summer season and early fall. 

While summer knows its boundaries, nature decided to play between the two seasons. Summer days lessened. William Shakespeare stated, "Summer's lease hath all too short a date." Will Summer pass by us as Fall decides to make a grand entrance with her royal carpet of leave?  Will Summer hold on or graciously pass the baton to Autumn for the beginning of the Fall event? Here is my haiku sequence.

summer holds on

knowing what will come next

change approaches

summer pauses

feels the seasonal pressure

time is precious

summer steps in

a chance to shine is needed

fall winks takes its turn

©CVarsalona, 2025

As Summer transitions into Fall, I picture a gallery of artistic expressions created.

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Invitation to All

Summering is a state of mind that brings feelings of joy and relaxation. It revolves around the best of summertime and the ability to savor those feelings year-round. 

I invite poets, writers, photographers, and educators to consider using this prompt to create an image poem, inspirational quote, or a photograpy on: How do you engage in summering during the summer season? Do you have a special photo, piece of artwork and/or poem to add to the Summering Mini-Gallery that I will create.

Thank you to Mary Lee Hahn and Janet Fagal for participating with their image poems on summering. You can send your offerings to cvarsalona@gmail.com by October 3, 2025. I  will gather the artistic expressions and create the mini-gallery. 

I am delighted to send this invitation forth to the fabulous book reviewer, baker,  and literary buff, Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

Inquiry: Is anyone attending the NCTE Convention in Denver this November. I am interested in rooming with someone. Please let me know if your are going and planning on sharing a room. Thank you, friends and a special thank you to Matt Forrest Esenwine for asking me to present with his team of Georgia Heard  and Allan Wolf.

Solar Eclipse 2024

Parts of North America silently waited for nature's moments of totality. on April 8, 2024. News stations aired programs. Libraries distributed solar eyeglasses. People huddled in parks, yards, and special event areas to watch a spectacular sight, the moon passing between Earth and the sun. News stations captured the event minute by minute as the moon blocked the view of the sun. We watched ABC News coverage. Each area from Mexico to Maine shared their 4 minutes of totality as the sun darkened the sky followed by sunlight. 

My son, husband, and I moved between the news and our backyard as we waited for the event. Then, the sky clouded. What would we see? My son asked Siri, "What time will the eclipse occur here in Northern Virginia? Much to his surprise, we would only see a partial eclipse. Regardless, I decided to capture the event even without solar glasses. How did I do this? I cleverly moved my iPhone toward the sky but did not face the sky. I started clicking my iPhone camera. Click! Then, I remembered the Pink Floyd song, Total Eclipse of the Sun, that my husband likes. You can listen to it below and then read my trinet poem introduced to me by the Australian poet, Alan J. Wright during a Poetry Friday Roundup. This poem has seven lines and lines three and four have six words in each line. All the other lines have two words per line. The trinet has no restrictions for rhyme, subject, or syllable. 

Total Eclipse of the Sun

The above photo was captured while watching the sky, shapeshift. Can you see the yellow light around a black object in the middle of the photo? Shortly after I took the photo, the sky became more gray in color and the weather became cooler. What a surprise! I came inside to watch ABC's coverage of the awesome totality moments-solar eclipse in New York State. I can imagine how fabulous it was to be there. 

INVITATION

Please consider offering one image poem of

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for my 2024 National Poetry Month Project

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See more information on my new Gallery of Artistic Expressions and take a peek at my Poetry Parade Padlet. which will showcase my poems and other artistic expressions by writers, poets, and others.

I offer this Slice of Life to Two Writing Teachers. with gratitude for accepting my slice late.

Blooming With Radiance #SOL22

like flowers we bloom

with radiance in springtime-

mindful practice

©CV, 2022

Thank you, Bob Hamera, (aka arjeha) for not only offering an image poem to my Poetryliscious Gallery of Artistic Expressions but for spreading the word at Two Writing Teachers' Slice of Life Tuesday, April 12th.

I am inviting Slicer writers to join me in creating a blossom of springtime artistic expressions at my Poetryliscious Gallery for National Poetry Month. 

You can find the padlet repository here

and under the Twitter hashtag, #Poetryliscious.

Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for a meeting place on Slice of Life Tuesday to connect with a community of reflective writers.