Reflections on the Teche

Slice of Life Challenge Day 19: A Pile of Good Things

March 19, 2023 by margaretsmn

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

Art by Leo, left, and Stella, right from “Let’s Make Art” activity at the Hilliard Museum.

On the campus of ULL (University of Louisiana at Lafayette) there is a beautiful museum, The Hilliard. Saturday they held a drop in art activity for kids 4 and up. I showed up with Leo, 4, and Stella, 2, and they were the only children there. They had the full attention of the artist instructor.

I was amazed by the focus of both kids on this activity. From the flyers on the table, I realized it was meant to be a quilting activity. There were shapes cut out of various papers. However, Leo immediately grabbed the scissors and started cutting the shapes to his liking and building a 3 dimensional motorcycle. I glued it down for him on the white “quilt piece,” and he continued to add to it a winner’s banner and a man riding (notice the skinny yellow strip sitting on the motorcycle.)

Stella was happy enough to glue and glue and glue. The artist taught her how to put the glue on the back and turn the paper over and press it down. We were also able to freely roam the current art exhibits. It was a great way to spend a rainy cold Saturday morning.

Today, at Ethical ELA Open Write, Stefanie Boutelier is teaching us how to use technology in poetry with a wonderful prompt and model poem “A Pile of Good Things”. You should follow the link and see what it’s all about. Here is my pile:

Posted in being mamére, Creativity, Gratitude, Poetry, Slice of Life, Writing | Tagged Ethical ELA, grandchildren, Let's Make Art, Pile poem, The Hilliard Museum | 6 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 18: A Piece of my Heart

March 18, 2023 by margaretsmn

St. John’s Cathedral Lafayette, LA by Andrew M. Liles, from the collection of Margaret and Jeff Simon

My cousin is leaving today. He’s been here all week participating in The Shadows-on-the-Teche Plein Air Competition, a juried art competition for artists who paint outside. They arrived last Saturday and have been painting all over our area until Thursday when they hung their best pieces. Friday night was the awards ceremony. Today, Andrew goes home to New Orleans.

Andrew and I are first cousins; his father was my mother’s brother. He’s like a little brother to me. I will text or call when I am in New Orleans and sometimes we manage to get together for coffee and beignets, but this week we spent every evening together. Hours of talking and sharing and learning more about each other and the family from which we hatched.

I feel like a part of my heart has grown back, a part I didn’t even know was missing.

This was only the second Plein Air competition he’s done. By day, he’s an architect and teaches architecture at Tulane University in New Orleans. At the beginning of the week, he was vulnerable and questioning his style, but by Friday night he had sold 4 of the 7 pieces he put into the show. That feels like success. We purchased the best one, in my opinion, the painting you see above of St. John’s Catholic Cathedral in Lafayette, LA.

The most successful thing for me was claiming back the relationship I have with Andrew. We’ll both treasure this time we had together.

Margaret Simon with artist Andrew Liles at the Delcambre Seafood Market

Posted in Slice of Life | Tagged Andrew M Liles, cousins, En Plein Air, The Shadows on the Teche | 7 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 17 and Poetry Friday: Thank you, Moon!

March 17, 2023 by margaretsmn

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Laura Purdie Salas.

I am privileged to have the opportunity to write poetry with gifted kids. Their minds are open and in tuned to ideas. Most days they can’t wait to tell me what they are thinking about. Most days they want to write, welcoming the blank page. This week I shared with two of my young students (2nd and 3rd graders) photos of the full moon that I had collected from social media. I actually had another idea for them, but as we were looking at and discussing my picture of the moon above my neighbor’s house, they were full of questions and wonderings and a poem emerged. It was a happy moment because somedays little boys would rather be running outside than writing a poem with their teacher.

Click the image to see a larger view. Photo by Margaret Simon.

There are still a few dates available to sign up for the 2023 Kidlit Progressive poem. Click Here.

Posted in Gifted Education, Poetry Friday, Slice of Life, Teaching | Tagged collaborative poem, full moon | 17 Comments »

Slice of Life: Type Four

March 16, 2023 by margaretsmn

You’d think by my age I would know myself well, have it all figured out, and be sitting with confidence. I’ve got news for you, folks. You are always becoming.

During the labor for my newest grandchild, my two daughters convinced me (we had a lot of time for talking about stuff) that I am a Four, not a Two, on the Enneagram.

I decided to try on the Four for a while. I signed up for EnneaThought for the Day from The Enneagram Institute. The teachings of a Four have been pretty spot on. My mother-in-law told me she had me written down as a Four when we took the test years ago. I’ve always thought I was a Two.

A Two, to be brief, is a person who is seeking out love. She selflessly does things for others hoping to gain love. She usually does so many things for others that she loses herself and doesn’t take care of herself. She’s the one who will deliver a casserole to someone whether or not they asked for it or even need it. I’ve been taking care of three daughters for a long time. Pride is the negative trait of a Two, and I could even relate to that.

Now I’m trying on the Four and it fits better, feels better, is not as stressful as the constant attention on others. A Four is a romantic, often an artist or poet. Fours are commonly introverted and focus on their feelings. They need to get out of their heads and into their bodies. One of the recent posts from EnneaThought resonated with me: “Remember to stay calm. Emotional volatility and moodiness are not the same as real sensitivity. Keep this thought in mind today.”

The words “real sensitivity” stung. Is my care and concern for the way others feel real? Is my moodiness obvious to others? This message made me want to crawl into a shell and sleep on it.

I think it is a positive thing to keep open and discovering who you really are. Enneagram has to do with your most inner spiritual self. From what need do you function from? Do you need safety, love, a sense of accomplishment and success?

People are complicated. I’m not finished yet and don’t think I ever will be. And while I stew on whether or not my sensitivity to others is real, I read today’s thought:

Your key defense mechanisms are introjection, displacement, splitting, turning against the self. Notice if these impulses arise today. ( Understanding the Enneagram, 90)

EnneaThought® for the Day

Yikes! Maybe I don’t want to know my true self.

Posted in Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth | Tagged Enneagram, Type Four | 10 Comments »

This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Proud Fisherman

March 15, 2023 by margaretsmn

Delcambre (pronounced Del-comb) is about 20 minutes south of New Iberia. On Sunday evening, we attended a fundraising dinner for the seafood market. I even ate a piece of fried alligator which tasted a lot like fried chicken. We were there to support my cousin Andrew as he participates in a plein air (painting outside) competition. There will be more posts about this later.

Today I want to introduce you to Markavian. I don’t know him, and I’m not sure that’s how to spell his name, but when I took his picture, he proudly told me what his name was. He was beaming from having caught a huge catfish right off the dock. I asked permission to take his picture. There is so much that I love about this picture. His smile. The largest catfish I’ve ever seen. And how it captures the attitude of a fisherman. My husband says that our newspaper’s sports section is usually just men holding fish. It’s true fishing is a big time sport around here. Perhaps Markavian was competing with his brothers. There seemed to be a family in the background, and I caught him just as he was about to go show off his catch of the day.

Catch of the Day, photo by Margaret Simon

Yesterday was Pi Day, so my students and I wrote Pi-Ku, which is a small poem based on the number 3.14. Please leave your own small poem in the comments and encourage other writers with your responses.

Catch of the Day

Boy’s pride smile
caught
largest catfish
Margaret Simon, pi-ku draft

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Slice of Life, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing | Tagged Delcambre Seafood and Farmer's Market, Pi-ku | 33 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 14: Words

March 14, 2023 by margaretsmn

I don’t think you should call me a word nerd, because at my age, I have trouble finding them hiding way back in the recesses of my brain, especially names. Last night I was trying to tell my husband about a place, and I said “It starts with an H.” Then it came to me a few minutes later “Rawhide!”

“That starts with an H, right?”

But seriously, who doesn’t love a good word for something. I wanted to start a collection of good words, so I decorated a marbleized journal and subscribed to the daily Word of the Day from Merriam Webster. Today’s word is gallivant. What a great word. I love the way it sounds. Out of the confines of Covid, I think many of us would love to gallivant around the country, freely wandering from place to place. It just sounds like such a regal and carefree word, doesn’t it?

My friend and writing partner in my writing group, the Inklings, Heidi Mordhorst, invented a wonderful poetic form for defining a word and playing with the sounds of it–the definito.

The definito is a free verse poem of 8-12 lines (aimed at readers 8-12 years old) that highlights wordplay as it demonstrates the meaning of a less common word, which always ends the poem.
Heidi Mordhorst

I save words that I like and every once in a while write a definto.

Flirtatious Definito

A dance in intricate lace,
draped over smooth shoulder,
ribbons flow
as 3-inch heels
reveal a quick flick
of bare ankles–
A dance of coy coquetry.

co·quet·ry
Margaret Simon, 2023

If you have a favorite word, perhaps you’ll try a definito. Tag me in your post if you do.

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life | Tagged definito, Heidi Mordhorst, Merriam Webster Word of the Day | 10 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 13: Drafting a Poem

March 13, 2023 by margaretsmn

February was a month of drafting poems every day. I participated in Laura Shovan’s February Poetry Project on Facebook as well as Open Write on Ethical ELA. I usually draft a poem in one sitting. Put it into a document. Wait a few days. Read it again. Edit/revise and send it off to my critique group or leave it be. Not all drafts are meant to be seen by others.

My notebook is full of starts and stops, meandering, words, ideas…

This morning is dark. Time changed and I haven’t adjusted.

There’s this draft sitting in my notebook from February 25th. The prompt came from Lind Baie, but I didn’t finish the poem. What I had written were the titles of four songs that she had posted from old sheet music to prompt our writing. Two stanzas were done quickly on the day of the prompt. I wrote the other two yesterday. And now on this early Monday morning, I’m going to put it out there for you to see. As I wrote the draft into my blog post, I completed it with the last line connecting each stanza together as song lyrics. It’s still a draft, but it pleased me to finish it.

It Feels Like Three O’Clock in the Morning

We don’t Dance until Three O’clock in the Morning.
On dancing nights, we’re in bed by ten,
still swirling from the twirls of the two-step.
Late afternoon, early evening dance date.

We don’t go to 20 All-Time Hit Parades.
We find a spot in a green space, hang for one or two,
catch a few beads, eat a bite of King Cake, cheer
for the queens on the floats–
A slow-paced family Mardi Gras.

I don’t Know Enough about You to say
“you are beautiful” out loud, but I see
your smile and that single left dimple
and wish I could. You are, you know,
Beautiful.

Five Minutes More, just five more–
Set the timer, play the chimes,
I am free to write,
a clean white page with a new
purple pen is singing me a song.
Margaret Simon, draft

Posted in Poetry, Slice of Life | Tagged February Poetry Project, Song Titles Poetry | 6 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 12: Handprint Painting

March 12, 2023 by margaretsmn

I read Beautiful Hands to my youngest students, 1st-3rd grade. The question “What will your beautiful hands do today?” is the theme of this short and inspiring book by Kathryn Otoshi and Bret Baumgarten.

The story of this book is both sad and joyful. From a Bookology article by Nancy Bo Flood:

Beautiful Hands was done for Bret Baumgarten, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. When we found out, it was at stage 4. It was heartbreaking. He and I both wanted to do a book for his children, Noah and Sofie. I found out every day he would hold his kids’ hands in his and ask them, “What will your beautiful hands do today?”

I wanted everyone whom Bret loved to be in this book. We arranged for his family and friends (mine too!) to make handprints as part of the illustrations in the book, so that they could participate and be a part of this narrative. Over 100 people’s handprints are in the rainbow at the end of the story. So many people loved Bret, we didn’t know where to put our grief. The book became a positive way to remember the message he wanted to impart most: love, creativity, compassion, and our connection with one another.
Kathryn Otoshi

With my youngest students, we practiced using acrylic paints.

1. You must put on a t-shirt to avoid stains on your clothes. (I provide old t-shirts.)

2. Mrs. Simon will squirt the paint. It comes out fast and can splatter.

3. We only have primary colors, so how do we make other colors?

4. Which illustration do you want to make?

5. You can only use hands, no paintbrushes. We used the paintbrushes to apply the paint to their hands.

Here are some samples of final works of art.

Butterfly, lily pad, and rose by James, 2nd grade

My Painting

by Carson

Sunflowers bloom.
My heart booms!

Clouds float in the air.
My hands show that I care.

Carson is brand new to poetry writing. He gets very nervous about it, so we have to use some breathing techniques while I prompt him with sentence stems. We worked on making lists of rhyming words. He wrote “Clouds float in the air” with little prompting. And selected the word care from our list of rhyming words. All I said was, “Look at your hands in your painting. My hands…?”

“Show that I care!” shouted Carson. We celebrated with a high five and a glowing smile. When I typed it and let him tape it to his artwork, he was as proud as Vashti from Peter Reynold’s book, The Dot. ( If you don’t know about Vashti yet, you must go Google The Dot right now.)

Posted in Creativity, Slice of Life, Teaching, Writing | Tagged Bret Baumgarten, handprint art, Kathryn Otoshi, teaching poetry | 5 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 11: Can you spell Onomatopoeia?

March 11, 2023 by margaretsmn

Who knows how to spell onomatopoeia?

This started an impromptu game of hang man. Poetry Friday is a staple of my classroom. This week, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s Poems are Teachers helped with my lesson. As I read the model poem by Kate Coombs “Garbage Truck”, the students listened for the onomatopoeia. I think we found 17 onomatopoetic words. (I secretly fell in love with the word onomatopoetic.)

Poetry Friday is usually a fun day, but Ben crumpled when he couldn’t identify the t-sound during hangman. He insisted it was an N. And Elizabeth was crying because she didn’t get a chocolate cupcake at recess. All that was left were vanilla ones. Alice chose to write behind a curtain in a cubby hole in the back of the room. Hiding helps her focus. So even though they all eventually recovered, my classroom is like everyone’s classroom, filled with complicated kids.

Once we got over the Can-you-spell-onomatopoeia hurdle, some poems were written. Joy is found in poetry.

Onomatopoeia

Onomatopoeia you say,

the cars buzzing,

the chirping,

the beeping

the boom,

the flock.

The warning

that I haven’t closed

my fridge,

my alarm in

the

morning.

Avalyn, 3rd grade
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Bernard the frog came to visit and rested in a nest while we wrote poems.

My Classroom

The singing of Sadie, “La La Laaaa!”
Mrs. Simon sneezing who knows how many times, “Achoo, achoo, achoo, achoo!”
The sounds of kids playing, “Ahh! Haha!”
The sound of a pen, “Ch, ch, ch”
Water and zen, “Slish, slosh”
Doors opening and slamming shut, “Badumph!”
And the sound of new poems being made, “Scribble scribble”
Nothing is more calming than sitting in a cubby and writing all my thoughts and dreams!

Adelyn, 4th grade
Leave a comment here.

Posted in Writing | 15 Comments »

Slice of Life Challenge Day 10/ Poetry Friday: Golden Shovel

March 10, 2023 by margaretsmn

Quote of the Day

A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, and he who plants kindness gathers love.
St. Basil, source 365 Days of Wonder

I literally yelled at the poor East Indian dude who answered my called to the credit card company. They shut down my credit card over 3 weeks ago due to fraud, and I still do not have a new card. I was livid. I bantered on about subscriptions being canceled so I couldn’t even watch TV. A bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.

He patiently checked on the status and calmly explained that I should wait a few more days. I’ve heard it all before. Then I asked, “Why could the Disney Plus charge go through and I don’t even have the secret number yet?”

He again very patiently explained that some companies allow them to change over the recurring charges. “You mean I don’t have to get on the phone and call all these companies?”

My voice was calmer. I was breathing a little better. I apologized for yelling at him and promised I would try to wait a few more days.

Then I went outside to water plants and ended up pulling weeds. I’ve always wanted to be a gardener. One who enjoyed digging and planting. I am hopeful it may be happening. I was amazed at how easily I calmed down when I dug in the cool brown dirt, watched doddle bugs emerge, and felt that satisfaction that I was doing something productive.

Then I called Mary. Mary is my good friend who is a master gardener. I told her about my butterfly garden. She said, “Come over! I have some plants for you.”

I went shopping for plants in Mary’s yard and came home with pots of native sunflowers, a blooming ground cover, and one other butterfly plant whose name I’ve already forgotten.

The digging, clearing a space for something new, finding new plants, a gift of friendship all soothed by worried soul. And I hadn’t even gotten to a glass of wine yet.

Poetry Friday is with Heidi at my juicy little universe.

In my notebook this week I used the above quote to create a golden shovel.

“he who plants kindness gathers love.”

When he sees the first hummingbird at the hibiscus, he
gathers sugarwater for who–
ever may visit; he plants
bee balm, hosta, zinnia, and kindness
attracting a single ruby-red who gathers
us to the window to love.
Margaret Simon, draft