Bunceeing a Thought on Earth Day

Each year, I look forward to Earth Day as a day of celebration. This year, I celebrate the bounty of the earth in a new location. What better way to enjoy nature than with flowers and blossoming trees lining highways and garden beds. Tucked away in Gainesville, Virginia, I am eager to plan my new garden. A cherry tree and azalea plants arrive from the landscape team for the front lawn and my new gardener is ready to dig backyard garden beds to spend time contemplating the blessings of my life move.

like flowers we bloom

with radiance in springtime-

mindful practice

©CV, 2021

⁕⁕⁕

Today is Slice of Life Tuesday at Two Writing Teachers. The artistic expressions: #haikuforhope and inspirational quote created with Buncee, are added to celebrate National Poetry Month 2021. Enjoy springtime and celebrate Earth Day this Thursday in your own way to give homage to Earth.

On the Bunny Trail

Pre-Easter Fun

I sit here at the end of another long day thankful for being able to celebrate Easter with my little granddaughters and family. In the midst of half-opened boxes and unopened ones, laundry, and lots of clutter, I decide to bake. Baking is a tradition started by my Nonnie so today I honor her and my mother who followed in her footsteps. I pull out the beautifully preserved breadboard and pause to breathe in the aromatic smells of spices and dough from my past. As I pull 'out the flour canister, eggs, and butter, I start the hunt for the Easter cookie cutouts. They're in one of the unopened boxes. My son finds the cutouts and we are ready to roll out the dough as I did as a child. The second round is decorating with chocolate frosting, sprinkles, and coconut. Off to sleep because we have to be ready for the Easter egg hunt at my two granddaugthers' house tomorrow morning. 

We hippity-hop,

getting ready

for little bunnies

to take a bite.

©CV, 2021

Easter Morning

The house awakens to a bright Easter morning. Sounds of "Alleluia" float out from the virtual church service. In the hustle-bustle of getting ready for the Easter egg hunt, I forget my iPhone, Quick return to the house. With the speed of a bunny rabbit, we arrive on time. "Happy Easter, everyone." No return greeting but then, my granddaughter comes down the stairs with news. "Baby got paint all over her dress and her body." We wait patiently. Down the stairs comes the little one with her a muted-colored dress spotted with what looks like a tie dye pattern. Hands are blue and smile is sweet. The Easter Egg hunt begins with a new generation of siblings.

Egg Hunt

Eager

little Girl

Giggles as she

Hunts

Under bushes for colored eggs -

Never

Tripping this year

©CV, 2021

Post-Easter 

Surprise. I wake to see my beautiful fern plants a strange shade of brown. Oh, no, it's the change of temperature. Back to unpacking and organizing.  Evening run back to the nursery for an exchange for a vibrant and thriving pair of ferns. Head is spinning from the to-do list that never lessens, only grows in stature.

Easter joy

warmly received,

Slightly dimmed by life's tasks.

Be glad for blessings!

©CV, 2021

It's National Poetry Month. Thank you for joining me as I continue the saga of my life move.

Offering this slice of life to Two Writing Teachers.

All Things New

There is a newness to life. I pause admiring the splendor of earth as I walk alongside my little granddaughters. There is much to be thankful for: a newly built home during COVID time, the arrival to Virginia after an arduous move, a new life journey, two little granddaughters whose smiles and laughter brighten the times I am with them, and faith. Although during the life move, I worried too much and brought on more stress than I should have, I held on to faith that all knots would be untied. 

Tonight, I pause to reflect on all things new and create a sijo of two stanzas ending with a haiku.

March springlike weather in Virginia

⁕

the cacophany of springtime chatter floods morning air

we pause to listen to the lilting music of frogs and birds 

toddler's curious inquiry stirs my imagination

the rapid swooshing of nighttime rain awakens my sleep

I listen to incessant pounding of nature's lament

quick weather changes bring on instantaneous mood swings

I pause to reflect

as nature stirs my thoughts

Easter hope rises

©CV, 2021

This has been a month of change. I longed for the positivity of all things new while trying to sort my feelings among the many stressors of a life move. Were there too many notions of newness amidst the multiple to-do lists? I often thought that I would not be able to make it through the rough patches of my life move. Everytime I tried to take care of one task others crept in making my efforts not reachable. 

Then, came the smile of an almost four-year-old and the laughter of one year old. In their presence, troubles were removed from my thoughts and happiness brought on a new feeling of joy. The newness of being only a half-hour away and being able to Grandma-sit when the baby had a rising fever bout and grandparents-sit when the girls' school was closed. These times melted away the angst of facing the same routine of unpacking boxes and organizing our new home each day. 

Romans 12:2 brought a new thought and a new hope that even in the darkest moments there is a bright light opening a passageway. We only need to look and have faith.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

I am awakened to the call of renewal this Holy Thursday after a period of testing. I am ready to move closer to the Spiritual Guide who brings the peace of Easter joy, making all things new and beautiful. In gratitude for this journey of renewal in a new life, I sought a song to express this feeling of newness and what it means. I found "All Things New" and turned the poetic goodness of one line of the lyrics into a Golden Shovel poem of hope using the strike line: "Hope is found, you are here." 

It is time for hope

to be renewed. It is

the sweetness of goodness found,

the essence of You

who knows where we are

in relation to our past and our presence here.

©CV, 2021

Thank you to Karen Eastlund, our Spiritual Journey host this month for suggesting the prompt

"All Is New" and building a themed blog post around the concept of springtime newness. 

"New life is at our door. It blesses us. We have been given the chance to start over, and start with fresh slate. Anything is possible." -Karen Eastlund

This theme, All is New,  transitions me into a new state of being as I start a brand new life in Virginia. Unfortunately, the past months have weighted me down but the season of Lent has been the right time leading me to a new change of heart, mind, spirit, and location. Join me this month as I once again attempt to write poetry daily for National Poetry Month. 

Thank you also to Mary Lee Hahn for hosting Poetry Friday this week as she begins her National Poetry Month project of a haiku a day. I am blessed to be part of two fine writing communities that are filled with like-minded poets and bloggers who understand the potential of writing for peace and transformation.

Happy Easter!

It's Time to Rethink Unpacking

After a round of unpacking and arranging the shelves in my master bathroom, I  finally take the time to sit down and reflect. I am exhausted, frustrated, and still not finished sorting and organizing. Tomorrow will be Day 3 of arranging just this one room. How did I get through the packing stage without crumbling? Perhaps, it was the deadline of moving day that became the incentive. Now the routine of constant unpacking is getting to me. Friends are telling me to take my time and understand that these moments, days, weeks are stressful. As I think that I had no words to express my feelings, these thoughts flowed out.

It's time to rethink unpacking. 

The obsessive routine haunts

My dreams, wakes me wondering.

It's time to stop the merry-go-round.

Find my center, undo the stress, relax.   

While thinking these thoughts, I googled poems on unpacking and found a very interesting one by Thom Gunn, "Thoughts on unpacking".

Unpacking in the raw new rooms, I clear,

Or try to clear, a space for us, that we
May cultivate an ease of moving here
With no encumbrance near,
In amplitude. But something hinders me:

Where do these go, these knick-knacks I forgot?
—Gadgets we bought and kept, thinking perhaps
They might be useful someday, and a lot
Of others that were not:

Bent keys, Italian grammars, Mickey Mouse caps.

You can read the rest here. I read the last stanza to my husband.

In the stillness, I decide to the quiet voice inside and start anew with a renewed spirit. I will clear a space for us because my little granddaughters will be here in the morning and I am ready for a day of pure fun.

This is a combined slice of life post for both Poetry Friday Roundup and March SOLSC! #SOL21.

Poetry Friday hosted by a poetry colleague, Susan Bruck who is honoring National Poetry Month Kidlithosphere Roundup by collecting special projects from Poetry Friday poets.

Day 25 of Two Writing Teachers' March SOLSC! #SOL21, March Musings 2021

Imagining My Dream Bathroom

Each morning I wake with the desire to organize another room of my new house but I need motivation. I am at the point of being overwhelmed with the magnitude of the process. Today's task is to set up my master bathroom. In order to get into the mood for this laborious process, I luckily  find an inspiring quote from Soakology . 

"Soap is to the body what laughter is to the soul."

Laughter would be a welcome surprise right now and so would quiet. Before I start, I decide to share a before picture of my master bathroom. It is quite messy but you only see one part of it. The linen closet is filled with bottles of all different essentials, toiletries, medicines, cleaning products which are normal essentials but there is a mess of jumbled-together products. I need to take baby steps in order to turn this room around.

I think you can see that I am ready to get started. I lay down some large boxes to act as a cutting board. This job tasks patience. I pause to remember something from my past. My mother taught me how to line up a pattern on the material so I could cut the cloth in a straight line. It is tedious work that takes me a couple of tries before the liner fits nicely into the container. I feel like I am "on a roll" but oh, no, I am distracted by something else. 

This is a typical occurrence so the flow of work does not go as planned. Did I finish my organization plan? Let's say I wanted to. I think this job will take me several days because of the other tasks that are also important. I will keep you posted and hope there will be some after pictures that show how my dream bathroom turned out.

Day 24 of March SOLSC! #SOL21 at Two Writing Teachers.

Organizing My New Kitchen

Today is devoted to organizing my new kitchen. Actually, it is a reorganization because the first plan did not work as well as I would like. It takes time and perseverance to complete this task since I have quite a bit of space. 

-disorganization phase prior to writing this blog-

Actually, I am perplexed. I see bottles of spices for cooking, another set for baking, and lots of clutter. I unpack another box and find my old cookbooks. While I use the internet for many recipes I also want to do due diligence to my old tried and true recipes in the cookbooks. I peruse the cabinets in the perimeter around the appliances and the drawers under the eight foot of center island counter space. Each cabinet needs to be designated for a distinct purpose. So I stand back with wide open cabinets to take a good look at the whole job, sigh, and take on one cabinet at a time. 

Hours later, I am still in the organizing phase but too tired to continue. There is tomorrow to finish my grand plan of making my kitchen one that has fluidity and practicality, a place with warmth reminding me of my former kitchen that always was the hub of the home. I want my kitchen to be a place for conversation, laughter, and joy-a place for my little granddaughters to knead dough, bake cookies with me, and enjoy a licking-the-bowl good time like I did with my Nonnie, and my children did with my mother and me. Perhaps, tomorrow will be the day to sit back and say, "Ah, my kitchen is complete. I can move on to another room to organize. 

There are many more boxes awaiting me. For now, I contemplate on how to make my kitchen a place for loving gatherings with the following quote by Kitchens by Emma Reed in mind.

"Kitchen. Noun - A gathering place for friends and family. A place where memories are homemade and seasoned with love."

Day 23 of March SOLSC! #SOL21 at Two Writing Teachers.

Is your kitchen the gathering place in the home?

More To Do List

Where there are many boxes to unpack and "stuff" to organize, there has to be some time to laugh out loud. The stress of a "life move" seems to be getting the best of my husband, my son, and me so I decided to add a bit of levity at the end of a jam-packed day. Maybe this quick poem will bring a chuckle in the morning as we start another day of unpacking and organizing the "stuff" we accumulated over the years.

More to do,

the common chant.

Sometimes it's good

To list and rant.

More to do,

Let's count the chores.

Kitchen organizing

Some mine, some yours.

After that

DMV

Wait in line

incessantly.

Three hours later

Off to a store

for kitchen organizers.

"This is a bore!"

No time to rest

Get those boxes out!

Ready for another day?

Let's not shout!

Day 22 of March SOLSC! #SOL21 at Two Writing Teachers

First Day of Spring

Sixty degrees and sunshine marks the first day of spring. It is uplifting. I itch to go outside walking in nature but my honey-do list is endless. The work of organizing the kitchen in my new home simply has to be completed. A sense of nervous impatience to rid the house of unpacked boxes brings a decision to postpone a nature walk until later in the day. 

Finally, I am ready for a short ride to visit my granddaughters. The weather feels like warmer than earlier in the day. The ride is pleasant and the forest-like environment in the community of Reston where my little ones live is restful and peaceful. Tall trees line the road like elegant guardsmen, a welcoming sight, and the daffodils sprouting up in vivid clumps is delightful also. BUT, the best part of the first day of springtime is the joy of seeing two happy little granddaughters enjoying nature. 

Springtime turns a blank canvas into a colorful piece of art.

Daffodils dance under a golden sun while trees stand guard.

Children discover the gleeful joy of nature's playground.

©CV, 2021, draft

Thank you to slicer "Arjeha" for providing information on the sijo poetic format and posting his original poem. Click here to read all. Please feel free to comment on my first-time sijo poem in draft form.

Day 21 of Two Writing Teachers' March SOLSCI, #SOL21, March Musings 2021

Friday Night Pizza

Each day after closing on our Long Island house on Monday, we spent on unpacking so when the social committee of Regency at Creekside (the development we now live in) announced a social gathering on the lawn with a food truck selling individual pizzas, I said, "Let's go". Unfortunately, the weather did not permit the event. 

Lucky for me, after our closing on Monday, I bought fresh pizza dough from a local Italian bakery on Long Island. Tonight, although I was exhausted from unpacking, I decided it was time to make the pizza with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. I combined two pizza doughs to make one large pizza. I kneaded the dough using on my Nonnie's pizza board. 

Yummy, what a treat that was! I think my Nonnie would have been proud of my efforts. After all, I was only four or five years old when I started following her around, learning everything I could about baking and cooking. I will remember this pizza party after a long week.

Day 19 of Two Writing Teachers' March SOLSC! #SOL21, March Musings 2021

One Shot COVID

It was a gray sky day with rain soon to follow as we piled into the car to travel to the other side of the county. Rain started as soon as we entered the vehicle. It was one of those stay-in-the-house cozy days with the rain falling as soon as we entered the car. Today marked the end of a long wait for a COVID vaccination for my son. He was the last one in our household to be vaccinated but the journey to get a vaccine has been a long wait. 

We basically gave up on idea that my my son would receive the shot/s on Long Island when we knew the closing date on our Long Island home. On January 16th, I registered Derek for COVID vaccination in Prince William County, Virginia and today he finally received the vaccination. Here is a peek into Virginia's mass vaccination site's procedures. Derek lined up outside in the rain for a 12:30 PM shot. He first had to fill our paperwork. When admitted into the building, He had to show his proof of residency in Virginia which was scanty because of his disability status. He showed his Virginia disabled parking placard, his NYS non-driver enhanced ID card, and a piece of mail sent to the new address. After that, he waited, and was finally ushered into a large hall (basketball court). There were approximately 25 people waiting for the J&J shot. 3 lines were formed, data taken, and then another wait. The head nurse spoke to the group with a mic and then, 3 pharmacists started the vaccination procedure. Derek sat for the required 15 minute time frame and then we traveled back to our new home in the rain.  Next in line on April 1st my daughter and son-in-law will receive their first dose of the Pfizer shot. 

chilled rain falls

winter blues dampen earth-

 daffodils bring hope

©CV, 2021

☔ 

This is a combined  slice of life post for both Poetry Friday Roundup and March SOLSC! #SOL21.

Poetry Friday hosted by a wonderful poet friend, Linda Baie. This week she offers a Spring Dress Rehearsal. Check it out at TeacherDance.

Day 18 of Two Writing Teachers' March SOLSC! #SOL21, March Musings 2021

St. Patrick's Day in Virginia

Every St. Patrick's Day we wear green, celebrate with corn beef and cabbage, and enjoy the festivities surrounding the event. Several years ago my husband learned how to make corn beef and cabbage from a close friend. Even though most of my kitchen and dining room items were still in boxes (we closed on our Long Island home on Monday afternoon), we wanted to celebrate in some fashion. 

Before my husband started the cooking, he drove me to my daughter's house to grandma-sit my one-year-old granddaughter. She spiked a very high fever a few days ago leading the doctor to give her a COVID test. I was worried about her when I arrived but she not only looked so much better than the first day of the illness she was in a happy mood. I had little time during the day to do much else than watch her so it was up to my husband to cook the meal. The thought of an traditional Irish meal was tempting so at the end of the day, my daughter, husband, and two little ones followed us back to our house where all the food was ready. 

Upon arrival, we quickly set up the patio at two different tables outside. It was chilly but we made do with the weather since the dinner was delicious. The outside fireplace provided a warm glow and heat. My three and a half-year-old granddaughter was so excited that she shared the box of mini black and white cookies (better known as half-moons in Central New York)that I bought her with the family after dinner. 

What a great way to celebrate an event that has always had memories attached to it. I even got to hug my granddaughters for the first time since since COVID brought such sorrow to earth.

Day 17 March SOLSC #SOL2021, Two Writing Teachers, March Musings 2021

Proud Member of Two Writing Teachers Community since 2015

New Life Begins in Virginia

We did it! We are officially Virginians. Today is our first day in our new home without having to drive back to New York. It is a full one since boxes are stacked all around us. Which ones shall I  open first? I think kitchen organization is a must. There is the organization of the new master his and her closets that is important and let me not forget the master bathroom because it took me all day to find some of the medicine bottles I needed.  I promised myself I would not stay up late and here it is 11:30 pm and I'm still writing this slice of life so I decided to use Elena Wetmore's slice of life story at Standing Tall as a mentor text for a new challenge: write a meaningful story in three words.  

officially sold house

new life begins:

sorting through belongings

thinking through mishaps

writing as cure-all

grandma duty tomorrow

- What's your 3-word story? -

Day 16 March SOLSC #SOL2021, Two Writing Teachers, March Musings 2021

Proud Member of Two Writing Teachers Community since 2015