Dash #607 Never Stop Writing

          When I was younger, I enjoyed reading poems and would often write nonsense poems just for the sake of rhyming.  It wasn’t until I was in high school and taking a creative writing class that I learned about many different types of poetry and have often attempted writing different styles.  Some styles I prefer more than others.

          I wrote poems for many years.  I wrote poems and started many different story lines, but I don’t think I ever finished a single one.  My mind has mostly raced ahead of my pencil.  The word processor seemed to add an ease to writing stories and biography.  I now have the ability to add things and delete things and not worry about marring the paper in any way. 

          I rarely write poems anymore.  Sometimes I will work on stories with Jenna.  But mostly what I write are truths and journaling.  Once in a while I take out a pen and paper to accumulate thoughts or take notes.  But mostly I do it electronically.  It is faster and tons easier to read.  I write letters and emails electronically. But I do print letters and send them through the mail.  I mostly write my eldest granddaughter – well I address her personally, but the letter is really for the entire family. 

          Once in a while I will send a letter to someone I have never sent to before, for example this letter was sent along with heirlooms – one before she was even born.  On Thursday I sent a letter to my grandnephew who has cancer.  He is four.

          I enjoy writing.  I don’t enjoy poetry as much as I used to – though I have my moments enjoying certain styles like those mentioned in posts here and here. I have since purchased Mirror, Mirror and Follow, Follow. see here

My favorite poets are Carl Sandburg and Langston Hughes. I especially love Langston Hughes and have read most of his collections – many of which are not poetry.  He has written books about a character named “Simple”. Very Funny!

Throughout the beginning of my blog there have been some styles of poetry added to some of my posts – most seem to be about the weather, but there are some others.  Perhaps I’ll share a few of my earlier works if I make the time to look for and compile them and post them.  It will be a while if it indeed happens. Don't count on it.

Movies and Showers

          I once went to a wedding shower in which all the gifts were part of a movie theme.  I don’t have the original invitation, but I do remember the envelope was decorated with movie reels or other decorations.  I don’t remember if there was a director’s cut with instructions or if it was written on the reverse side of the ticket that the gift purchased needed to relate to the title of the movie somehow. 

          Mine was easy.  “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”.  I purchased a laundry basket, six white hangers and a bottle of cheer.  I figured that the laundry basket and each of the hangers could represent each dwarf – and the whole theme because Snow White was always so “cheer”ful and didn’t mind doing laundry.  She would actually sing about it. I think “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was the only movie the bride-to-be had even heard of – let alone seen

          There are only four other movies I can remember that were represented: “Napoleon Dynamite”, “Anne of Green Gables”, and “Benny and Joon”.  I had seen the latter two at the time, but not the first one, nor did I really have a desire to see “Napoleon Dynamite” but have seen it since.  It is basically the day in the life of my son, Tony.  At least that’s what it reminds me of.

         

          I know the person that received the “Napoleon Dynamite” movie ticket had seen it many times and thought it was hilarious.  I think her gift was several boxes of macaroni and cheese (or whatever it was he liked to eat).

         

          The gal that received the ticket marked “Anne of Green Gables” had never heard or seen the movie (nor the books for that matter – how could she not?) went out and purchased several cleaning products – anything that had a “green label” figuring it was close enough.

          The gift that made everybody laugh (except for the bride who was very puzzled by the gift) which I thought was clever and think about that shower every time I watch “Benny and Joon” and remember the look on the bride’s face when she pulled out of the box a loaf of bread, a brick of cheese and an iron.  If you have no clue what I am talking about, I highly suggest that you watch the movie.  It is such a sweet love story where I never suspected a love story would be.

Acronyms and Anagrams

          I have been doing several puzzles that involve anagrams.  Anagrams are words made from the same letters.  For instance, I could take the letters E-S-S-T-A.  I can make the word “state” or “taste” from the same letters. 

          Acronyms are generally words made up from initials or abbreviations.  For example, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is more commonly known as NASA.  Some acronyms are easy to pronounce as one word while others may not be.  

           The word Pemdas, for instance, is not one that I will recognize right away.  I am more familiar with “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” which is just a play on words that might be easier for students to remember than  “Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, and Subtraction” Either way PEDMAS or the “Aunt Sally” phrase are supposed to help young minds know in which order they are expected to do a math (specifically algebra) problem (see here).

          Acronyms help allow us to memorize techniques – though they do not work for all people.  Likewise, there are some people that will only see one word with any given set of letters and may not see the other anagrams that are waiting to be arranged into other words. 

          For more acronyms see here and here. 

Though Fog is Clean, it Can Be Eerie

I still have not written my word post.  Let me share with you some pictures of the fog.  It lingers longer in the morning creating an illusion of no background and driving into the unknown.

can you see the school?

I love the fall

Day of the Dead is NOT part of Halloween

          I love the movie “Coco” and for the respect that Disney put into the movie just as those who celebrate the holiday pay respect and honor those who have gone before them.  It is a two day event of celebrating life and staying connected.  This article compares the holiday to Thanksgiving as we are grateful to those who have gone before us.  “Dia de los Muertos” should not be associated with Halloween.  There are some who have misunderstood because Day of the Dead celebration takes place the two days following Halloween.  (See here and here).

https://www.worldnomads.com/explore/north-america/mexico/how-to-survive-the-day-of-the-dead

          I don’t remember having ever heard of the Day of the Dead until after Corey and Joh were married.  I don’t know if it is taught in schools every year now or if it may be taught at all.  I know it had been taught at the local elementary as I was there on Friday.  I’d been at the middle school the day before that.  It was on Thursday which happened to be the same day as Halloween. Several of the middle schoolers had dressed up in costume and there was an assembly.  Somehow that day became my Friday and I’d forgotten that it really was not Saturday the following day.

          There were three subs at the elementary school on Friday.  I think if the staff had not had subs there, they would have been fine without us except for at lunch and recess.  Other than that, it had to be one of the most unproductive days of my life.  I did assist in the kindergarten with two different teachers.  One had passed out copies of pictures to be folded into a book with four pages.  The title was on front.  The next three pages gave little detail on the Day of the Dead holiday.

                    The Day of the Dead is a festival of joy!

                    It is an old festival.

                    Long ago it celebrated the autumn harvest.

          In the other class I helped cut out and sort bones and passed them to the children to paste to bodied silhouettes.  This is an idea of the craft: 

          At lunch time there were a few kids crying because they missed their cats or their grandmothers or someone who had died.  After lunch and recess each class watched the movie “Coco”.  The concept may not fully sink into their minds right now.  I hope that one day that it does.  I hope we may all choose to celebrate the lives and dashes of those who have gone before us.

So Much to Do!

Today I was going to post about “Day of the Dead” and my last sub assignment but I’m afraid it will have to wait as lately I feel like a chicken with my head cut off – though so fully flustered I had told Roland that I felt like a head with my chicken cut off.  

And I suppose I can explain the phrase as well.  Just have too many projects in the fire today.  And perhaps I don’t need to post on Saturdays anyway as the blog doesn’t receive much attention on Saturdays.  I think it receives its most views on Monday.

The weather has been bitter cold in the morning.  It is bitter cold only the mornings when the mountains can be seen.  This morning the fog is thicker than I have ever seen it since we have lived here and so it is not as cold and will be warmer today than has been in October.  Okay.  That’s weird.

We’re going into town.  I forgot I was going to attend an activity this morning.  Good thing my alarm went off. 

Happy November Everyone!

Work and Halloween

One of my goals this year was to post a specific word at least every other week.  I don’t know that I posted any words in the month of October.  I haven’t been making good use of my time and didn’t post what I had in mind for yesterday.  I had to take the car in but figured I would write my post after I returned home.

While at the mechanics I received a phone call but couldn’t seem to answer it in time. I saw that it was one of the elementary schools and tried to return the call, but it didn’t go through.  I realized there was a message and listened to it.  The assignment is not until next week.  I called back to let them know that I can only work one of the two days that were mentioned.

I went home and looked up available sub jobs to accept the assignment, only it wasn’t listed.  Instead, I saw a position at the middle school for yesterday – though it was passed the time posted.  I called the school to ask if someone was still needed.  Thus, I worked yesterday for four hours and returned home.  I suppose I could have made the time after my return but chose instead to be with Roland who had gotten off of work early.

Downtown Trick or treating started forty-five minutes after Jenna returned home.  She had worn her elf costume to school but had changed into what she called a pastel demon.  We took her downtown and I took several pictures but have not gone through them all thoroughly but did make a scrap page from three of them to show her costume.  I will go through them more thoroughly eventually. I’ll be working again today as I had accepted the position on Tuesday morning.

After we returned from the Halloween festivities, I received another phone call to work today.  At first, I was thrown off believing yesterday was Friday and so why would I be asked to work on a Saturday?  But then I remembered that yesterday was Thursday.  It was a weird Thursday.  I somehow remembered that I was already working and so had to turn her down.

Jenna does not have school today.  But she will be going to the school’s homecoming dance tonight.  She will be dressing in costume and not a formal dress.