Focus On Gratitude

This year, Thanksgiving was a day to look beyond the challenges, interruptions, and distractions of our pandemic lives and focus on what mattered. It was a day filled with gratitude for faith, family, and friends but celebrated in an unfamiliar, new normal way. If you were like me, you had a delicious dinner with immediate members of your family, zoomed with grandchildren, and/or relatives, and spoke with others. 

As an added touch, I resurrected a childhood tradition of walking after dinner cleanup time. We stepped outside; I was amazed by the deep jet black sky with a brilliant moon illuminating the street. Gratitude flowed. It was the start of a peaceful family walk. The weather was cooperative for an awe walk., being the most temperate of Thanksgiving nights in a decade. While walking, I recollected the following recent scene at the state park on the outskirts of my neighborhood. The photo taken shares the simple beauty of autumn in late November. With gratitude for nature's beauty I composed the following digital inspiration, image poem.

Even a short walk in the woods can produce a sense of awe when you learn to let go of stress and pay attention to small details. -How to Find Awe in Everyday Things by Sidney Stevens

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The Poetry Sisters offered an interesting challenging, #PoetryPals, for the end of November. 

"The theme is hindsight — pick one of your old poems to revise and/or write a new poem in conversation with it."  

With this in mind, I traveled back in time to last November and 

found the following zeno poem I created.

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Give thanks for fall's seasonal gifts

coloring world

with love,

glee.

November comes

in peace.

See,

wonder, explore.

Find rest.

Be!

©CV, 2019

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For the challenge, I created a zeno poem that connects thoughts from 2019 to 2020 for my Abundant Autumn Gallery. 

Give thanks for fall's abundancy

dispelling fears.

Seek

earthen beauty,

joyful

hope.

Thanksgiving comes

in peace.

Feel

inspired awe.

Center!

Be!

©CV, 2020

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I am grateful for autumn and an unusual Thanksgiving filled with nature inspired awe

to move us beyond the confinements of pandemic living.

Join me for Poetry Friday, hosted by Carol at  Carol's Corner. 

Note:

I will be slowing going through Poetry Friday blogs this weekend since there are multiple scheduled viewings of my Long Island house. I am grateful for this and also very pleased that my Virginia home is completely built and ready for a December closing.

Thankful & Blessed

Each year, autumn reigns supreme as a season of gratitude. Neighborhoods brighten with kaleidoscope colors that burnish and lacquer landscapes. (See my recent leaf-peeping through New England blog.) As October turns into November, shifting temperatures and early darkness ushers in nature's transition. I remain thankful, even with a forecast of snow and a nasty stomach bug. 

November enters in glorious style, nestling into nature's bed.

It tucks itself among lustrous colors of burnt orange, mahogany, and granny smith apple

soon to fade with each shifting wind.

Feral cat senses change, cozily finds a napping area,

and cuddles on my patio bench.

Winter's frozen touch nears.

©CV, 2019

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 On the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. 

-Psalm 145:5

🙏

Give thanks for fall's seasonal gifts

coloring world

with love,

glee.

November comes

in peace.

See,

wonder, explore.

Find rest.

Be!

©CV, 2019

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Now with thanks, I share J. Patrick Lewis, a masterful poet, Nature's Art Gallery zeno poem. Pat created this 10-line verse form with a repeating syllable of 8,4,2,1,4,2,1,4,2,1 and a rhyme scheme of abcdefgdghd. I humbly created a zeno above after many attempts.

"Gratitude is a practice, not a concept."

-Kim Strobel

Practice being grateful this month. Notice, wonder, discover the joys of living.

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Because I unsuspectedly got a stomach virus, I am combining my Spiritual Journey Thursday post  hosted by Margaret Simon and Poetry Friday hosted by Irene Latham.

 

Abundant Autumn Gallery

Sunset Blessing

Evening settles on the lake-

shimmers and glows,

hovers,

rests.

Moments adjust

to hues

pressed

against the sky.

Night is

blessed. 

©CVarsalona, 2019

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When my poetry colleague, Margaret Simon, sent me her gorgeous sunset for my #EmbraceableSummer Gallery collection I challenged myself to write a zeno poem, a poetic format created by master poet, J. Patrick Lewis. This format is tricky because it not only follows a formula of a mathematical sequence of 8,4,2,1,4,2,1,4,2,1  syllables per line but also adds rhyming to each 1 syllable line. After creating many drafts, I felt perplexed and decided to step away from the process for a while. When I returned to writing, I was determined to complete the poem. 

I would gladly accept any thoughts on this zeno that I finally wrote. 

You can listen to the poem at Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/364842604.

I am sharing these Tuesday thoughts, my slice of life, with Two Writing Teachers.

Happy Autumn!

The above photo and poem will grace the walls of my #Embraceable Summer Gallery collection found on Twitter. You can find other sunset photos and poetry from around the globe at: https://beyondliteracylink.blogspot.com/2019/10/summers-enduring-beauty.html and

https://beyondliteracylink.blogspot.com/2019/10/summers-enduring-beauty-part-2.html.

March Musings 26: Burning Questions

Margaret Simon asked writers in the DigiLit Sunday writing community to think about the topic, Burning Question, this week. Many relevant, burning questions have been posed lately on Twitter educational chats. As one of the moderators of #NYEDChat, I know that it is important to pose both timely topics and questions that ask connected colleagues to reflect on critical topics. 

Some examples of topics and questions are:

“Prevailing” is not linear.  It is a lifelong process.  What is one specific thing that you can do this week to continue being a difference-maker in your school or district?

How do #StuVoice opportunities connect and empower students to develop empathy for causes & movements outside of their comfort zone?

Why do we need to be a tribe of positive champions?

Is homework valuable?

How can we reimagine homework to be a more effective learning experience?

I created the following What if poem to reply to the burning questions on the homework  topic.  (The format is a zeno created by the imaginative J. Patrick Lewis, Children's Poet Laureate from 2011-13.)

Have you engaged in Twitter chats where the burning question allowed you to reflect deeply?

This is my twenty-sixth posting in a series titled March Musings for Two Writing Teachers' March Slice of Life Story Challenge, that addresses the DigiLit Sunday topic, Burning Question. Please visit both communities of writers to see the vast array of topics and writing styles.