mama

a solid stone house

with sweet blue shutters

stands before a pasture

like a proud mama 

showing her baby

to the world

this little cottage

steps back

as lush green trees

the edging of yellow grass

a field full of lavender

shines in front of her

                                

(Image via Pintrest)
(Poem by Alexandra Thayer Stewart)

word of the week

Our Word of the Week

that I picked from the fish bowl on my desk

is...

lullaby

(noun) 1. a song used to help a child fall asleep

happy thanksgiving

a few favorite cartoons

that make me think of Thanksgiving

1. peanuts (image via colourlovers) 2. calvin and hobbes (image via breakingupthanksgiving) 3. the far side (image via marcvaldez) 

word of the week

Our Word of the Week

that I picked from the fish bowl on my desk

is...

cheerio

chiefly Brittish

-usually used as a farewell and sometimes as a greeting or a toast

london

I'm just returning from a quick trip to London. During the visit, I went to the Tate Modern Art Museum.  After perusing the works of Dali, Pollock, Miro, Giacometti, and Picaso, I headed to the museum gift shop.  I purchased quite a few postcards (see example below) and a great little book called "Nicholas and the Gang"by Goscinny and Sempe.  I just love museum gift shops.  You?

This postcard is from The Quilts of Gee's Bend collection.  It's titled "Housetop" by Rita Mae Pettway.

word of the week

Our Word of the Week

that I picked from the fish bowl on my desk

is...

curmudgeon 

1. miser  2. a crusty, ill-tempered, and usually old man

a great letter

A great letter says so much.  In just a few short sentences, Mick Jagger lets us know the kind of person he is, how he feels about Andy Warhol's art, and the type of relationship he has with Mr. Al Steckler.

Do you write letters?  I think it's a wonderful way to work with words.

ps.  I blocked out a phrase in the middle of paragraph two in order to keep this blog kid friendly!

Image via Awesome People Hanging Out Together

lazy day

word of the week

Our Word of the Week

that I picked from the fish bowl on my desk

is...

onomatopoeia

(noun) 1. the creation of words to imitate a natural sound

Click here to see examples of onomatopoeia.  Some of my favorites include: flutter, click, meow, and sizzle.

okay for now

Okay for Now

by Gary D. Schmidt

Synopsis from Goodreads: Midwesterner Gary D. Schmidt won Newbery Honor awards for Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boys and The Wednesday Wars, two coming-of-age novels about unlikely friends finding a bond. Okay For Now, his latest novel, explores another seemingly improbable alliance, this one between new outsider in town Doug Swieteck and Lil Spicer, the savvy spitfire daughter of his deli owner boss. With her challenging assistance, Doug discovers new sides of himself. Along the way, he also readjusts his relationship with his abusive father, his school peers, and his older brother, a newly returned war victim of Vietnam.

What I think: Gary D. Schmidt is a very good writer.  His sentences are clean and crisp and full of emotion.  For example, I love that Doug says "terrific" as a single-worded sentence when everything around him is quite the opposite.