language – Peaceful Reader

What is your love language?

We are living in a rough environment right now. So much that surrounds are daily life are colliding. Emotions, government, lifestyles, masks/vaccinations, climate developments. I’ve discovered that when I’m struggling emotionally I connect with food. I’ve made a wide variety of recipes the last few weeks. And then I’ll completely stop making food and just eat snacks for dinner; cheese, crackers, and a cluster of grapes. It’s back and forth. For awhile I was really focused on my at home yoga practice with Adriene but I’ve slacked off – like way off. I haven’t done a lick of yoga throughout September except this morning. I was awake too early and decided to spend some of that time blinking my eyes open and reconnecting to my mat. It felt great and I know I can get back on track but I still feel a bit off kilter. I’m going to make the promise to show up though and as she’s says that’s what’s important.

(Buffalo Chickpea Salad)

Here’s a smattering of what I’ve cooked to connect to myself. I made this Quinoa Enchilada Bake after I discovered Jamie and her Dishing out Health on Instagram. I’ve made several of her recipes now and love every one. Many are vegan or can easily be with minimal switches. I made this Wild Rice and Mushroom Soup to split with Tristan and my husband “accidentally” had a bowl after work and loved it. I made this Buffalo Chickpea Salad with Yogurt Ranch Dressing which was so easy and packed a little heat! And to combat allergies and the cooler Fall weather I made this Immunity Boosting Tumeric Chicken Soup because I had leftovers from an farm-raised chicken.

And because I love dessert I made this Easy S’mores Dip to share with friends. It was amazing and days later I was still scraping chocolate and toasted marshmallows crusts from my Lodge skillet. Last night after a meeting I came home and made this easy brownie recipe to share at school for a teacher friend’s birthday. Just for fun I added chopped up marshmallows and broiled the pan for just about 5 minutes. The brownies were dense and delicious all on their own but the browned marshmallows added extra birthday zing! This recipe truly was easy and I’ll make it again when in a pinch for a chocolate treat.

This is the love I share with my family and friends. I feed them. It’s an old tradition that stems from my grandmother who loved to offer visitors a meal or at least a sandwich! I just finished the very quirky Anxious People by Fredrik Backman which I loved even after a rocky start. And I’m trying to spend as much time outside as I possible can to soak up the wonderful weather before it gets too cold. Recently I was lucky enough to connect with my dearest friend, Verda, and we walked her dogs, shopped at crafty local stores, ate good food, and talked about the world. I guess maybe my recent blue period is because I want that to be my every day. I love teaching and connecting with students but I’m constantly worried about getting sick. Even though I know I’m in a much safer category after having Covid and getting vaccinated but it is still a major worry.

“Find what feels good” ~Adriene and try and remain calm – this is my new mantra. Say it with me…

Guacamole; A cooking poem by Jorge Argueta and Margarita Sada

One day over at Jama Ratigan’s fabulous blog, Alphabet Soup, I entered one of her drawings and I won!
I almost missed my opportunity to win this book because I missed her email message to me and she nicely emailed me a second time. Thank you Jama!

Groovy Girl and I were both home when the post person brought the package from House of Anansi Press with this very green poetry food book inside the yellow bubble wrapper. We actually sat down in the grass and read it right away.

The first thing you notice are the gorgeous illustrations that show the young children interacting playfully with the food. The second point is that the story is told bilingually with Spanish and English. It begins:

“Today I’m going to make you guacamole,”
I say to my mother and father
and my little brother and sister.
They stare at me with their big eyes
that remind me of the green avocados
in the basket on the red kitchen table. (1)

and it continues with vivid colors and words used to describe the process of making a delicious bowl of guacamole! I adore how this young chef sings and dances around the kitchen with her apron on. She continues with:

I wash them in the fountain of the sink
and then, dancing and singing,
I put them on the red kitchen table. (6)

This is a treasure of a book for the kitchen or the library. It is a celebration of food and fun and this young girl celebrates the simple process of making a family tradition. I think I’m going to add it to my school library collection but I’m not ready to part with it at home yet. I am waiting for some beautiful avocados to slide my way so I can give this recipe a try. Thanks again to Jama for offering such a great poetry giveaway!

Abraham Verghese's Cutting For Stone

When my book club chose Cutting For Stone I was interested in the Ethiopian setting. Something about this east African country has always been a bit of a mystery for me. As I child I spent time in a large Midwest hospital and my two young female roommates were from Ethiopia. We didn’t speak the same language but we smiled a lot and shared toys together. One was younger than me and one older and I often wondered where their lives took them after they flew back to Ethiopia so this book had extra appeal in transporting me to Addis Ababa in the first half of the book.

Verghese’s story revolves around Marion and Shiva, born from a young Indian nun and a surgeon she meets on her journey from India to Africa. Through circumstances Sister Mary Joseph Praise flees her original post of Aden and remembers Thomas Stone and Missing Hospital, she makes her way to Addis Ababa. There they quickly become a symbiotic operating team as nurse and doctor, working together for 12 years.

Sister Mary Joseph Praise dies during childbirth and Stone, filled with grief, leaves Missing hospital never to return. Hema, another doctor at Missing and close to both Stone and Sister Mary Joseph Praise, takes the twins under her wing immediately after their unusual birth. Marion and Shiva, raised at Missing by Hema and her companion, Ghosh, grow up immersed in medicine and follow the path of not only their adoptive parents but their birth parents as well. Their story twines around the political climate of Ethiopia as Haile Selassie as ruler is deposed and other more cruel leaders take his place. During the Eritrean revolt Marion, due to unforseeable events, leaves Ethiopia for the United States.

My Thoughts: The first pages impressed me with Vergheses’s fluid language. Actually I had to look up a few words while reading. It took time to find interest in the characters and the beginning seemed slow. Sister Mary Joseph Praise’s compassion for nursing and humanity carry the story and even though she dies during childbirth she drives the remainder of the story. Thomas Stone, on the other, hand, did not impress me until later in the book when you hear his experiences as a child and you get a deeper look at what made him tick. Marion and Shiva seem to follow the same path as Marion is more compassionate and Shiva, blunt and factual. I loved Matron and Ghosh and thought Marion and Shiva were blessed to have such unique and loving parents. The stars just align that way sometimes.

First lines:

“After eight monthes spent in the obscurity of our mother’s womb, my brother Shiva, and I came into the world in the late afternoon of the twentieth of September in the year of grace 1954. We took our first breaths at an elevation of eight thousand feet in the thin air of Addis Ababa, capital city of Ethiopia.” (3)

and my favorite sentence:

“Outside, the rain had scrubbed the sky free of stars; the black night leaked through the shutters into the house and under my blindfold.” (259)

In a nutshell:

Title: Cutting For Stone
Author: Dr. Abraham Verghese
Publication date: 2009
Pages: a whooping 658 but the acknowledgements after are worth reading.
Genre: Historical Fiction (1947-)
Topics: dictatorships, human rights, third world heath concerns, women’s rights, poverty and the medical field
Five Stars
Purchase at an indiebook store near you by clicking here…Cutting For Stone

Friday Feature; Poetic Biographies

I’m ending April with some fantastic biographies about poets! I’ve tried to celebrate poetry all month long by posting poetry on my school blog and by reading poems to students. I found these stories to be inspiring and thought they earned the right to be featured. How did you celebrate poetry this month or anytime?

1) My Name is Gabriela; The Life of Gabriella Mistral by Monica Brown; ill. by John Parra (2005).

Born in Chile, Gabriela had a vivid imagination and taught herself to read because she wanted to read stories not just hear them. She loved the sounds of words and wrote poetry, songs and stories as a child. Gabriela played school with her friends and little sister and made them learn their ABC’s and later, she became a teacher as an adult. She worked hard and was able to travel, exploring and creating new stories along the way. She was the first Latin American writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. This book contains beautiful illustrations and a happy young Latina charater with an early love of language!

2) A Voice of Her Own; The Story of Phillis Wheatley, Slave Poet by Kathryn Lasky; ill. by Paul Lee (2003).

Wheatley’s story is miraculous in many ways. She was brought to the US on a slave ship, landing in Boston Harbor, at the age of about seven. John and Susannah Wheatley were at the market looking for a servant girl. Something about they way the young girl looked appealed to Mrs. Wheatley and they bought her, named her Phillis and took her home. Luck of the draw…because the Wheatley’s treated her very fairly (within the mind warp that yes, they had indeed bought another human but in this instance it worked out well) Mrs. Sussanah Wheatly decided to experiment and taught Phillis how to read and write, which wasn’t allowed in Southern states but was perfectly legit in Massuchusetts. Phillis impressed the Wheatley’s with her ability to write and wanted her poems to be published in a book. John Hancock and other white American men said her book could not be published. The Wheatleys sent her to England and someone there agreed to publish it. Yes, Phillis found it odd as well that she would have to travel to King George’s England to get her book published as she was a slave in the US. The American Revolution began soon after this. Lasky’s book brilliantly brings to light the indignity that while Americans were willing to fight for their own freedom they owned other people. This is the backwards rationale we often still find in the United States. Great book, great message. Amazing woman. I wonder what she could have accomplished if she hadn’t been kidnapped and brought to the States.

3) A River of Words; The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant; ill. by Melissa Sweet (2008)

We all agreed three years ago what a beautiful book this is, even the end papers, showing his poetry! This is just a great book about an boy who loved the outdoors and the sounds that surrounded him. In this book is the simple reason to read poetry to young people: “But when Mr. Abbott read poetry to Willie’s English class, Willie did not feel hurried. The gentle sounds and shifting rhythms of the poems were like the music of the river. As the teacher read each line, Willie closed his eyes and let them make pictures in his mind.” Proof that we need to keep reading poetry to spark one mind into a deep love of language. Who knows one of your students might be the next William Carlos Williams.

Pick Up Some Poetry Today and share it with a child.

Yesterday I had a crazy day but part of the craziness involved two different AMAZING Authors…Alan Katz aka Silly Dilly Man was at my school and Patrick Jennings was at the public library. I met both and fell in love…see the photos to prove it tomorrow or maybe, Sunday.