Welcome to the first post of this blog!!
I don't even know where to start! In the next few days I would like to post a few misc. pictures and thoughts to get used to this so I can tell you about our family vacation next week as we go along, seamlessly. You can follow our vacation, beginning next Monday evening from Colonial Williamsburg!
After much deliberation, the girls have decided to use nicknames on this blog, partially for privacy, and also because
it's fun. So the eldest is calling herself "Firestar", (after her favorite character from the Warriors series) and the little bird is "Sparrow", their choices.
I'll close with a few words of inspiration from the one person in our family who
always has something to say- our chattery, singsong Sparrow.
I am reading a book of poetry, Dream Work, by Mary Oliver. Recently, Sparrow found it on the coffee table and began reading. About 10 pages into it, she hopped up and flew off with the kind of great enthusiasm available only to a 6 year old. Mary Oliver inspired her to write her own book of poetry, and so she did just that. Here are a few of her poems. We think that they are very precious. I am cutting and pasting them just as she wrote them, so you can fully appreciate them just as they were written. My favorite is the first one, because of the great use of alliteration (which she learned about this year), and because she always loves to pick me flowers. The one about fish is my other favorite, because no poem I've ever read has made me laugh harder than this one. I'm pretty sure even Dr. Seuss never mistook a fish in a tree for a beer bottle, even in his most creative of poems.
The perfect flower gift
The lily swayed in the wind with the wind whipping at it's peddles,
I had picked it out at the whipping wind store,
so elegant and so beautiful,
as so I picked it out amongst all the rows,
I still found it quite hard to pick the perfect flower for the perfect gift.
Cats
The cat crouched low,
Waiting in the bushes 'till it's victim came near,
And then …
All at once,
The cat jumped swiftly through the bush and landed on it's pray lightly.
Worms
The worms wiggled their way through the dirt,
while seeking their home.
The Four Basic Elements
Earth, water, air and fire are the four basic elements of the world,
we use them all every day,
mostly.
And every winter day we use them all,
if you didn't realize it.
Fish
fish,
fish,
fish,
As far down as I can see, you are not in sight,
so,
where on earth could you be?
In the closet,
In the hall,
In my bed as you can see,
In the rocks,
In the pantry,
In the sink or in the locks?
No,
No,
No,
not in those places,
so where could you be,
so where?
Holler if you find him,
but I doubt you will,
Because he's not in sight of me!
No I found him! No I
didn't,
hes still up in the tree!
Go hurry up and get him!
Go hurry up and go!
Oh!
He's up there!
No,
that's just an old brown wore-off beer bottle.
Maybe he's back in the pond where I caught him,
Yes,
He is!
Get out of the pond you silly fish!
Said the old cracked dish.
Yeah, said the old cracking fading-away clay pot,
encouraging him a little,
which made him leap out of the pond.
Now get back in their,
You!
Music
Music is a never ending thing,
you could play it all your life,
at least if you love Music as much as I do.
I love music more than anything,
and maybe you do to,
only I love my family just as much.
Music is a great thing to do when your sad or mad.
Music is simple.
You can just play it with no thought at all,
I love music,
My sister loves music so much that she decided that she would pick another instrument to play,
and she did.
I hope you will enjoy music even more someday,
because of this poem.
We were so disappointed to find the beautiful reflecting pool under construction!
