Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
First off, before you start reading, you need a lesson in pronunciation. When we adopted a golden doodle puppy in June, I posted on Facebook that we were looking for a name for him. My friend Mary suggested Albert because she thought Jeff would like “You can call me Al.” I thought it was funny, too. Since the puppy was all black with poofy poodle fur, we decided to accent the -bert part like French, so he is not Albert, but Al-Bear!
During he car ride home from the breeder, our new puppy was calm and sweet. He was shy and couldn’t get far enough under my arms. He never cried, but he was what we thought was going to be a calm, shy dog. At his first check-up, the vet warned that he might need some extra socialization to help him come out of his shell. That proved to be an unnecessary warning. Albert is friendly to everyone!
Albert was unsure of the rare snow we had in January.
We have outside cats, one of which is 16 years old (Buzz). Buzz was wary at first, but now he lets Albert attack him. We know Buzz could get away if he wanted to, but he seems to like it. He waits for Albert out on the deck by the side door to the “dog yard.”
I had conveniently forgotten about the puppy stage. I forgot about the training part. Albert turned a year on Feb. 22nd and is now fully house trained but after multiple starts and stops.
The best parts of having a golden doodle puppy are:
Albert loves everybody. And everybody thinks he’s adorable, so he introduces me to neighbors I wouldn’t normally stop to talk to. On walks, he will stop in front of Claire’s house. Claire is an older yellow lab who tolerates Albert’s antics like an older sister would.
Albert loves children. Good thing because we have 4 grandchildren. The problem here is he jumps on them and they are about his size, so they get aggravated. Sometimes he has to take a break in the laundry room.
Albert loves his toys. He can entertain himself with his many toys, a ball which he is learning to fetch, a lamby, a Sasquatch ball we got in Oklahoma, and many more. The kitchen floor is littered with them, but since we put down a flannel sheet, he is very good about piling his toys all on his blanket. One of the funniest games he plays is hiding the toy and finding it. I love this because it’s independent play. It’s always nice when toddlers learn to play independently.
Walks are the best. Albert is leash trained, and he will prance next to me with royal airs. He loves to pick up trash on the road, so he helps reduce litter. Of course sometimes it’s yucky stuff I have to remove from his mouth, but often it’s a stick or pine cone or pile of moss. Trotting with his prizes, he looks like a prancing show horse.
Albert is small, miniature. He fits nicely on my lap on a chilly morning. And as long as he is not licking my face, or snapping at my writing fingers, he is welcome to curl up in my lap.
We think we’ll keep him. Every day we discuss his progress and decide we’ll give him more chances. Every day gets better. One day he will be an old dog, and I will completely forget the puppy stage.
Albert with a camellia branch he picked up outside. He wanted to bring flowers to Papére.
I put this one off, I admit. I knew I had a week of break to prepare, but still I created this last minute. I went back to the poems I wrote for Laura Shovan’s February project using the theme of Space. I had a different poem in mind when I found one I had written about the Aurora Borealis. I had just talked with a friend whose daughter had seen the Northern Lights on a trip to Norway. He shared fabulous photos from his phone. Definitely a bucket list item for me.
I realized I could transform my poem into a weather forecast. The creation part took some time using Canva and playing with placement of lines. I tried to adapt some of the words actually used in a forecast. Forget time; I was in Flow. The image is a bit busy for my taste, but I had to get this post done for the early Poetry Friday posters.
If you are interested in participating in the Kidlit Progressive Poem, click the link and leave a comment or email me your name, date chosen, blog name, and URL. Thanks!
Please sign up to add a line to the Kidlit Progressive Poem coming April, 2025. On your chosen day, you will copy and paste the previous lines of the poem to a blog post and add your own line. When you sign up, create a hyperlink to your home page. For example, Margaret at Reflections on the Teche. Thanks!
Denise Krebs is hosting first Thursday Spiritual Journey posts at Dare to Care
Each month a group of bloggers, who met through the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge, gather to write posts about our spiritual journeys. This month Denise asked us to write on the topic of wholeness.
I think I may find wholeness by looking outward to someone else to make me complete, to their words of affirmation.
Wholeness is a river where my path moves in and out. I find balance one day, then a wind knocks me over the next.
I can watch the seedling grow, but cannot see the growth in myself.
Whole means all of me– Here now, in the present moment where I am welcomed, accepted, and loved.
Broken, cracked, grieving, or angry. All of me Whole.
Resurrection fern on an old oak tree revived by rain.
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
Welcome to my weekly photo prompt. A few years ago, Laura Purdie Salas held a weekly prompt called 15 Words or Less. When she decided to stop posting, I took the idea and made it my own. If this is your first time here, the idea is to write a quick, small poem draft in the comments and leave encouraging comments for other writers. I also post this prompt for my students each week on Fanschool. This week we have a break, so they may or may not join in.
I love to look up at the sky. On any given day, the sky can change my mood. On the day I took this picture, the clouds were wispy cirrus clouds that mean high air pressure and cooler temperatures. They are a happy contrast to storm clouds or the grey stratus of a winter day. Even as an adult I enjoy looking for images in the clouds. I took this photo while out on carline duty, so only now do I have the time to see the shapes. Do you do this? Can you find an image in the clouds? What do you imagine?
Did you know there are many names for colors of the sky?
Sky blue colors from Pinterest
Try to use one of the color words in your poem. Today I am writing a cherita. It’s a short form of three stanzas. The first line is one line, the second: two, the third: three. Similar to haiku, a cherita captures a small moment or story.
Carline Duty
Look into the Carolina blue sky.
Find the great white heron with whispering white feathers.
Be curious about the secrets of sky gods who oversee the safety of children. Margaret Simon, draft
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
“Welcome to Breaux Bridge”
Happy Mardi Gras, y’all! Today is Fat Tuesday, celebrated with parades and food and fun, the last day before Lent arrives, and we enter a season of penance and fasting. I decided to skip the New Orleans festivities this year and enjoy a quiet Mardi Gras; however, yesterday, my daughter invited me to go with her and her two children, Leo and Stella, to an event in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.
A few years ago I attended the “Courir de Mardi Gras” with my family in Eunice, Louisiana. I had some trouble with the drunken parade and abuse of chickens. This event in Breaux Bridge changed my view somewhat. It was specifically for the children, so the adults were drinking coffee and water and handing out snacks to their children. There was a chicken involved, but we were assured that the chicken was tame and would not be injured.
Traditional Courir de Mardi Gras mask made from home crafted materials.
The costumes were fabulous and fun!
Children ready for the run!
The history of the courir, which in Cajun French means run, dates back to before Louisiana became a part of the U.S., from a time when the Acadians came to Louisiana without much of anything but a promise of land. The small communities would celebrate Mardi Gras by having a chicken run. The idea was to go house to house to get all the ingredients for the gumbo. The gumbo would be shared by the community.
The Teche Center for the Arts recreated the courir specifically for children. El Capitaine, the leader, assigned the children to groups. It was a wild chase, for sure, but it was quick and usually ended with at least one child crying about being knocked in the head or not catching the chicken or, in Stella’s case, losing a shoe. We paraded house to house and shared in the tradition. This was more my style, watching the children, carrying their catches, and taking lots of photos and video.
Have you ever eaten crawfish? They are seasonal crustaceans here in South Louisiana. We measure the goodness of spring by the crawfish season. I think we’re expecting a good season this year because of all the rain. And it looks, by the catch above, that the hard freeze in January didn’t get deep down into the mud of the crawfish ponds.
On Saturday we attended our first crawfish boil. Our friend Patti has a home in Arnaudville with two ponds that produce crawfish. She told us the catch for this boil was from her neighbor’s pond. Notice all the (healthy) vegetables cooked along with the crawfish, potatoes, corn, Brussel sprout, and garlic. We spent the afternoon drinking beer, eating mud bugs and king cake, and watching all the dogs (and young boys) play in the pond.
For my poetry book for children, Bayou Song, I wrote a poem about the geometry (eating) of crawfish. The book also includes poem and drawing prompts for kids. You can do them, too.
The Geometry of Crawfish
Grab a long line antenna Avoid looking into round peppercorn peepers Hold the cylinder cavity containing fat Watch out for triangular tweezer pincers Detach the arced accordion tail Remove curvy meaty muscle Dip in a puddle-circle of spicy ketchup Eat Margaret Simon, Bayou Song: Creative Explorations of the South Louisiana Landscape
Bayou Song Illustrations by Amelia Cantrell
Write it: Make a list of geometry words, words about shapes. Choose an animal to describe using shapes. What shape is a snake? a bird’s beak? What about a cat’s nose?
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
Kim Johnson, fellow slicer, has made a plan for her daily musings. I’m not one to make a plan. I like to be more open to what the universe is giving me to write about; however, I read Denise Krebs’ post yesterday. She sliced about the early morning. She reminded me of my daily walk.
I usually start out around 6:15, buckle up puppy Albert (who is now a year old and much better about the leash). On this particular morning, I went to my Insight Timer app for a walking meditation. I selected the first one in the queue. A soothing female voice guided me to be present in my body, to feel the breeze, to listen to the sounds around me, and to let my thoughts float in and out without giving them much notice.
Ah, yes. A walking meditation is the just right way to start my day. Sometimes my walk inspires a poem.
Notes from a Walk
I want to pick up a pile of oak leaves the pile of leaves blown from the curb, rejected into the street.
I want to hold a gathering of leaves in my hands, carry them home, make mulch. Mulch that will feed the soil.
I want to pick up all the gumballs those countless gumballs that fall from the sweetgum tree. We could create art together.
I could give you supplies: leaves and gumballs, a cardboard tube. You can make it yourself. You can make a masterpiece.
We can be a masterpiece, you and me. Margaret Simon, from 90 Ways of Community: Nurturing Safe & Inclusive Classrooms Writing One Poem at a Time (available for free download here.)
Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.
I am a “Baby Boomer” while my students are all in “Gen Alpha”. Admittedly they would have a totally different slang system that I don’t know and honestly, don’t care to learn. Two of my students, a 5th grade and a 6th grade girl, teamed up to make an instructional slide show. They also made a multiple choice quiz.
I think they were surprised at how well I did on the quiz, but I pointed out that while I won’t remember any of this tomorrow, I know how to study for a test: Take notes! I wrote each word and the definition on a sticky note.
While we were watching the slide show, I continually asked, “If the principal walks in right now, would he be OK with this?” I kept getting the feeling from them that they were doing something wrong, and I was oblivious to it. They assured me that there was nothing above PG rating in the slide show. But there were a few that were cringy.
Here is a list of the words. (Let me know in the comments which ones you knew.) 1. sigma 2. hyperpigmentation 3. nonchalant 4. cap 5. rizz 6. girl math 7. goat 8. delulu 9. baddie 10. low taper fade 11. mewing 12. bussin 13. Ohio 14. aura 15. skibidi toilet 16. fantum tax
How did you do? I only knew 4 of them because they are words that have been around a while. The most cringy for me was “girl math”. I think it’s time to stop this stereotyping of girls. In truth, all of them have a bite of stereotyping and sass. They don’t give me confidence in our Alpha generation that are way too tech savvy and on their phones 24/7. I guess that’s why the title of the slideshow was “Brain Rot Words.”
What did impress me was the level of time and work these girls put into creating the slideshow and how serious they were about informing me. I hope I made a decent grade on the test. It’s been a long time since I’ve had to take a test.
Margaret Simon lives on the Bayou Teche in New Iberia, Louisiana. She is a retired elementary gifted teacher who writes poetry and children's books. Welcome to a space of peace, poetry, and personal reflection. Walk in kindness.
Reflections on the Teche 