Happy April!

April is National Poetry Month and National School Library Month, two important events in the life of a school library. A little strange that all libraries are closed right now. I love sharing poetry with kids especially silly ones like Kenn Nesbitt’s Poetry4kids website.  He has several poetry books out and his website offers up many poetry categories for you to click on. Share some this month with your kids while you are at home. Start the day or end the day with a funny poem and then have them create their own. I have magnetic words at school that kids love to rearrange into unique poems. Bring poetry to life and let it be silly and serious.

Today We Had Some Weather

 we had some weather

like I’ve never seen before,
so I pulled on my galoshes
and I headed out the door.
It sprinkled, first so lightly,
it could easily be mist.
A tornado then came dancing by,
it swung and did the twist.
The fogbanks opened up their vaults
and let out all their fogs,
and the dog pound took a pounding;
it was raining cats and dogs.
It started raining buckets,
then the rain came down in sheets.
I had never seen so many
sheets and buckets in the streets.
I’d planned to watch the weather
and, though gallantly I tried,
when it started hailing taxis
I gave up and went inside.

 — Kenn Nesbitt
This poem reminded me of our weather the other night when we had a tornado touch down. We are still all staying at home.  I am finding a good balance of school work, deep cleaning the most cluttered pockets of my house, reading, and meeting friends on Zoom for happy hour. Every day is different, which is a lot like school for me, and yesterday I read for too long on the sofa. I’m almost done with the 800 page The way the crow flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald-I get to a certain point in a book where I am just pulled in and literally can’t stop. Normally during school hours it would take me many afternoons after school to finish this book but as our quarantine life holds I will finish it within a week. Today I woke and new I need to do some yoga (thank you Down Dog app) because my body ached from sitting curled up reading. Also I’m not going to lie; I love, love, love sleeping in.  It is glorious. It’s good to find the positive.
What’s keeping you fueled this week? 

Rearranging the furniture; Looking for Picture Perfect

There was a time when I loved changing the furniture around in my apartment or my room at home.  It was great to find new ways for the furniture to fit.  I still do it some but not as much.  I think our furniture now is heavier and we have these big old radiators that take up entire walls, making it difficult to move things where I’d like.

When I’m in a cleaning mood sometimes it hits the blog as well.  I’ve played with backgrounds before and never feel satisfied-good thing they are easy to remove.  I know what I want and wish I knew enough to make it myself but I don’t.  I want something simple with a natural look-one tree, one lone flower without a barn background or lots of ribbon added on.  I’ve picked this new one because I like the color green and I do like the one flower but I don’t like the heavy brown shading and leather-looking strap running down the page. 

Visiting other blogs I marvel at their beautiful backgrounds that seem to match exactly what their blog stands for.  Why can’t I find one to fit mine.  I like my header but wish I could stretch it out more, make it feel that space better.  Oh, my maybe I just need to clean my house and not the blog but it is fun to try on new “outfits” so let me know what you think or where to find the perfect peaceful reader background!

Other tidying needs to be done like I really need a new picture of Groovy Girl-as of last Friday she’s a 4th grader and certainly doesn’t want her picture up there holding a baby doll, even IF she still plays with her babies on a daily basis.
It SOUNDS like I could be bored but I’m not; just rethinking, reworking and dreaming a little.