Cinquains

I found a scrap of paper with these little poems called cinquains. The format is: first line-a noun, second line- adjectives describing the noun, third line-3 verbs ending in -ing, fourth line a 4-word phrase and last line one word. (may repeat the first word)

Two new year's poems

Resolution

easy, difficult

works, nags, sings

My resolution is unclear

2009

2009

new, untried

waiting, coming, looming

filled with clean days

year

Water

clean, clear

falling, roaring, crashing

cleans mind and body

Water

Circle of life

Lots of birthdays in our family this month.  My great granddaughter, Robin had her first birthday this week.  I won't try to list the rest you all know who your are.  Just Happy Birthday Jerry tomorrow.

A friend's sister died last week a few days before her first grandson arrived in the world.

Two weeks ago my friend and fellow writer, Jim died of colon cancer.  Our writer's group (of three) met the Tuesday before he died and had scheduled another meeting for the next Tuesday.  It was not to be.  Jim liked the family stories I had been writing for the blog.  He had been writing a book on being a survivor of cancer.  He did survive about five years and tried many treatments.  He exhausted all treatments and prepared for the end of his life.  I was  honored to be part of his support in the end.   

This is the story I would have shared at our next meeting.

THRESHING TIME

Neighbors worked together to harvest the oats.  First the grain was cut and tied into bundles. Then the crews of men ant teen boys stood the bundles up into shocks.  The shocks looked like teepees.

The Grenier brothers had a threshing machine they brought to each farm.

When threshing day arrived people arrived.  The men came with hay racks pulled by teams of horses or tractors.   The threshing machine stopped at the edge of the field.  A belt, very wide maybe 12 to 18 inches, connected the thresher to a wheel on the tractor.  The noise of the tractor and the thresher was as loud as a jet airplane.  It ran constantly as the men and boys brought the shocks of oats to be threshed.  The grain spewed into wagons that hauled it to the grainery and the straw dropped on the ground.   

Meanwhile back at the farmhouse, Mother fried several chickens, prepared a pot roast and some kind of potatoes.  The women arrived about ten with potato salad, corn on the cob, green beans, peas, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers.  There were cakes, pies and cookies for dessert. Iced tea was made in a big kettle that would be used for canning tomatoes, peaches and pickled cucumbers.

The dining room table was stretched to it's longest and sawhorses with planks appeared on the lawn outside for the overflow.  Every chair in the house and some folding chairs from other women were set up. 

At noon, exactly 12 noon, I'm sure, the machine was stopped and the men arrived to wash with Lava soap at the outdoor pump.  Some of the men took short, black combs from a pocket in their bib overalls and combed the straw out of their hair.  They took places at the tables and women and kids old enough to carry a platter or a bowl kept the food coming.  They served dessert and coffee.  The men thanked and complimented the cooks and returned to the field.

Women and kids took places at the table to eat and gossip.

Stacks of dirty dishes turned into clean ones and returned to the cupboards.   

Bologna, cheese, and chicken or tuna salad sandwiches were prepared cakes were cut and a huge pot of coffee made.  At four PM this lunch was loaded into the car and driven to the field.  This time the machine continued to separate the grain from the straw and the crew members ate as they brought their load from the field.  They worked until the field was finished or dark.

The next day the scene changed but the people were the same.

Bodega Bay Weekend

Pictures taken on the beach.

   One big fat starfish, a sea anenome, sea gulls, sand designed by the sea, and mussels.

Bodega Bay Weekend

This is the spiral staircase in the beach house we rent for a weekend at Bodega Bay

Through the window we can see Salmon Creek and in the distance the waves are breaking on

 the beach.  We enjoy this trip once a year.  It is for my birthday and this year is the fourth annual.

David, Robin, Skyler, Sterling and Shae waiting for the cold water to splash their feet.  The water is very cold this time of year.

Bodega Bay Weekend

Bodega  Bay pictures coming soon.

We had a great time.

I believe

NPR has a part called "This I Believe"  people write essays and then read them on the air.  There are also printed collections of these essays.

These are some of my thoughts so far.   Consider this a work in progress.

I believe in the interconnected web of being.  The web that connects me with every living thing on the planet.  I try to do what is the best for this web.   I try also, to do right by the earth, the air, the sky and the water that sustains our lives.

I believe in family however YOU define and live it for yourself.   I have family I can reach out and physically touch, some I touch through telephone and internet.   There is my family of origin and longtime close friends who often feel and act like family.  And there are the ancestors. 

Teaching

I missed watching the Obama Inauguration and hearing the complete address of our new president.  I was teaching an ESL class.   I heard pieces of the address on the radio during the day.   Today I returned to the same classroom.  One of the students brought the text of the speech to class.  I asked the class if they would like to read it aloud.  They did.  I walked among them and listened in awe as the speech was read in a dozen or more different accents.  Amazing.   We spent the two hours with Obama's words.  They asked about some of the phrases.  The unfamiliar metaphors and idioms.   

I have taught ESL for ten years and this was one of the most exciting, difficult and satisfying class I have taught.