This space is for what the tagline says — just my thoughts on faithfulness in the everyday things in creation. This could be nature, it could be literature, it could be philosophy, it could be some scientific discovery. No rhyme or rhythm. Just thoughts that come from me choosing habit formation right alongside those whom I teach.
I hope anything here inspires others to ponder more deeply on what’s in front of them each day. If something resonates with you, please leave a comment. I’m a big fan of sparked conversations.
With having our largest group ever this year (12 students), we have had to get creative about how we do certain activities. This often means breaking up into smaller groups, but having another tutor there every week makes this possible! Recently, we took two weeks to write a specific kind of poem called a villanelle.
I chose this activity because I had just been to my own local writer’s group where we wrote a villanelle collaboratively (thanks, Olivia!) and I thought this might be an interesting opportunity to do the same thing with my students.
I read them some famous villanelles and then took a line to incorporate from this one by poet W.H. Auden
Each group brainstormed some ideas that would lend to strong imagery and then shared lots of laughter around figuring out rhymes that fit within it. Someone would spit out a line and their group would accept, reject, or rework it until it seemed like it belonged. For middle schoolers, this collaborative effort took a lot of time and patience and was frustrating at times, but it was also so much fun watching us frantically count on our fingers to make sure we had 10 syllables for each line! I love that both poems turned out to be nature related — fireflies and fields.
As leaders, my tutor, Ashley, and I mainly facilitated the students’ ideas, not trying to steer anything in a direction or shoehorn something in, but rather learning with them as a part of the creative process. Here are the results:
Perspectives of Fireflies
Fireflies in the dark forest night glow Why do they flicker with unearthly light? If I could tell you I would let you know
Where’d they go when the world was white with snow Did Winter miss their warm, engulfing light? Fireflies in the dark forest night glow
Spring winds call them with their inviting blow Do flowers push up to call them with might? If I could tell you I would let you know
Lazy summer nights tell them where to go Do their hearts burn with great envy or spite? Fireflies in the dark forest night glow
They dance under the stars with their wee toes When the leaves fall do they dance or do they fight? If I could tell you I would let you know
They swim in the slippery white moonbow Running with silvery, sparkly sprites Fireflies in the dark forest night glow If I could tell you I would let you know
(Currently Untitled)
The vast field where the wildflowers grow Asters, goldenrod whisper with the wind “…If I could tell you I would let you know”
The creek is low as it hums its solo The long stalks of velvety clover bend The vast field where the wildflowers crow
The sparrow sings, its white wingtips it shows The dandelion sways, its seeds it sends “…If I could tell you, I would let you know”
The lone oak, its branches spread, its leaves blow The crickets sing a song that never ends The vast field where the wildflowers flow
13 The creamy clouds drift across the sky, slow 14 The orange sunset and the horizon blend 15 “…If I could tell you, I’d let you know…”
16 Horses whinny, feeling free, letting go 17 Sweet silence and secrets they will not lend 18 The vast field where wildflowers sow 19 “…If I could tell you, I’d let you know”
We are all searching in a way Sometimes you don’t even know it We are all yearning for something And we don’t know how to get it
We search and search for Just.one.thing Love. That simple little word Just one syllable
Yet it is more important Than any other word So, my friends There is one thing in life
That you must do. Give love It’s simple really Just make your corner of the world better
From time to time I will feature student work here on the blog (always with their permission). Belle is working on an original poetry collection this year. She started with some poetry prompts, but she has been writing her own poetry for a while before being given those. Belle is an avid reader and it comes through in her writing projects and poetry. She has an ear for what hits the right note and reads her work aloud with such poetic precision. I love working with students like Belle who are in full control of their writing — opinions, edits, revisions. I take a big back seat and let her tell me where she wants her writing to go. I sincerely hope she works as an author, poet, book editor, or in book acquisitions someday. She has the drive and skill to do it!
The raised bed at my house has been frustrating me. Each season I keep amending the soil only to find it going back to root balls and compact soil. This fall I have decided I have agency, and am going to completely redo the bed…into containers.
Normally, I wouldn’t go through the hassle since I have so little margin already with my time, but a fortuitous (but also sad) thing happened this month — our local horticulture supply store decided to close its doors forever and mark everything 50 percent off. So I went a little crazy (more on that in a minute) and one of the purchases was something I had never tried before — very inexpensive grow bags that have holes pre-punched in the bottom.
I bought them in various gallon sizes and while I also obviously plan to use them for Maple Key, I have other places I can share the love of gardening such as the library I work at or the homeschool tutorial my children go to.
As you can see, I am still growing spindly, but producing okra right now, so I am doing the bed bit by bit. I am taking the compact, dusty soil (that’s partly my bad!) and putting it in a paint bucket, adding homemade compost and vermiculite to provide nutrients, good bacteria, and aeration for the soil. Then, I dish it back out in each bag.
I really think this is going to be much easier to manage than what I had been doing and it’s just one more reminder that you can always change what you’re doing in gardening if it’s not working for you! Nothing about gardening is locked in, so do what’s best for your season of life and environment.
Now onto my big purchase…!
The other big change I am trying this year (again, thanks to the going-out-of-business sale) is vertical gardening. I bought a GreenStalk 7 tier planter with a bottom spinner! I was already excited about it (less pests, less bending down, right outside the door), but then I found out they are a local-to-Tennessee business, just up the road in Knoxville. That made me proud that this innovative, family-owned business is exporting such a great product all over the world! I even convinced my friend to buy a matching one with me and my mom to buy the 5 tier design, so we’re all planning for some great fall harvests.
After spending the money on the planter and the ProMix soil, I didn’t want to shell out for plants, so I started everything from seed. So far, the kale, spinach, bush beans, and radishes have all popped up and I am sure the others will, too at some point. This is another great experiment that I am hoping to bring to the library (so we can start our own library gardening programs) and the farm to add to our growing list of trials to see what grows!
Honestly, it’s great to have jobs that all tie into each other in some way, so that when I do good work over in one area, another one benefits from the new knowledge! At the library we are currently applying for a $1000 grant to get GreenStalk vertical gardens for the library so that we can make gardening accessible to all age ranges and demographics — children, elderly, differently abled.
I can’t wait to talk to Maple Key students about my new way of playing and planning in the garden that supplements what we’re doing in the traditional garden beds. My hope is to inspire them with even more things to put in their bag of gardening tricks for when they desire to start their own gardens. I want them to always carry a sense of play, have fun, learn new things 🙂
Tonight I sat down with my daughters at the dining room table preparing my heart to paint with my new watercolor set. I finally made the upgrade to watercolors in tube form instead of pre-made palette cubes. I got out two used palettes from the art table and realized that they had old paint in it from my daughter’s school and one new, completely blank palette that my husband planned to use. This posed an obstacle to my painting desires.
With the old palettes, they needed to be cleaned out to put new colors down. With my husband’s I had to choose which 20 colors I wanted to fill in the slots when I had 36 colors to choose from (including metallics!). In other words, I had to do the leg work of making decisions and preparing the palettes before I ever set down to do anything on the page.
Long story short, I never got around to doing anything other than adding some bronze highlights to something I had already painted because I was so tired from all the prep.
I saw this painting situation as a metaphor for administrative work. I had already spent hours earlier this morning working on contracts for tutors and getting dates lined up for events that aren’t even happening until close to the school year starting, but it involved salaries and per hour math, stipends, and the like so I had to make sure all the right names and amounts were listed on the documents. After the hours I spent glued to my computer, it felt like my summer with my girls was already dwindling away and it just started, though I knew logically there was still much free time to be had.
When you own your own business, administration is a part of the job even when you’d rather play or rest more. Intentionality is so much of what Maple Key does in every corner of the program and it shows through. A business doesn’t work if you show up and enable great things, but manage it poorly (Trust me, I have several doctor office stories to share on that front). So every year we try in small ways to work smarter, not harder. This year I am incorporating a task management component to doing work to keep me doing bite size chunks instead of being overwhelmed and communicate even better to others about what is expected in terms of deadlines.
Administration is hard to monetize. Most people don’t factor that in when considering the value of something. When my husband got his first job in the home office of an international missions organization, he said they never had enough donors willing to give to administration. Many sent gifts for a specific program they heard about overseas and demanded that 100% of it go to that country — the humdrum, behind-the-scenes work in an office building wasn’t compelling; however, the organization tried year after year to make people understand that the home office was vital to the organization’s health and existence.
This is the pep talk I must give myself –administration has a high, often unseen value — when I want to “have administered” instead of actually doing the “administrating”.
“Hey! I have an idea for our tutoring time I’d really like to do today,” said my student as I sat down at her dining room table.
“Sure! What did you have in mind?” I said, waiting for a fun surprise.
“Next week is our last week together with the group and I wanted to write a poem for each of the girls who are graduating or leaving.”
“That sounds like a great idea,” I responded. “Let’s see how we want to go about doing that.”
So we sat at the table and gave her one example she could draw from if she chose. I showed her what I wrote for one of the graduating students to share in front of the other parents and students .
If I could give out an award for bravery, it would be all yours. You came into Maple Key last school year mere weeks after moving here to TN from your whole world in CA. As we listened to tales of your new life, your new house and new animals, it always made me wonder, “How is she handling all these new changes so well?” You came in each week willing to jump right in for gardening, watercolor, or a good laugh. If someone were looking in from the outside, they would have never known that you hadn’t lived here long or been a part of our group for years because you embraced your new life here. This year you rallied all the girls together not only to go to the middle school dance, but for you all to get ready together. The stories that came from that event – both anxious and hilarious – might not have happened if you hadn’t assured them that there would be something for everyone.
One of the things I admire about you is that you don’t let setbacks get in your way because you believe there is a great big world out there for you to delight in and discover. I have seen time and time again, if you don’t know how to do something you always find a way to learn and adapt. If something annoys you, you have the self awareness to acknowledge it but don’t hold a grudge against the situation. You have a true entrepreneurial spirit, a jack of all trades who will be in high demand for whatever she sets her sights on in the future. But most of all, you are the kind, gentle big sister we needed this year.
I told her that I would take these paragraphs and make it into a poem so she could see how I pulled out adjectives and ideas from what I wrote and included other things I knew about the student she was writing about.
A Long Journey
You did it: – The plane rides that made you anxious – Embracing a new set of friends – Training new animals – Becoming a DIYer
You are filled with: – laughter – leadership – love – delight – dreams – discovery
You share tales of your old life, as it tries to blend in with the new – Gnarly -Smoothies -Sunshine – Goats – Horses – Gardening
You always find a way to learn and adapt You are the kind, gentle big sister we all needed this year
As I said, I just made that poem up on the spot, not trying to overthink any particular line. The point was not for my poem to shine, but for her to see a way forward as she visualized the person she was writing about and play around with form. Just that 5 minute little exercise gave her a boost to finish up her own inspired creative endeavor after I left.
When the time came, I was so anxious to hear what she had come up with! This 7th grader read her poems in front of the other students and parents with confidence. One of the students graduating was her older sister and when she shared the title “Trailblazer”, the waterworks were coming from many eyes in the room.
What a joy it is to be a part of that facilitation process where students’ ideas are incorporated and they can assess their own and others’ growth over time. Goodbyes are always hard at the end of the year, but seeing students leave with hearts and minds full and younger students ready for another year of inspiration in August certainly helps ease the transition of hugs and tears.
Friendships and Feuds: Learning to See Past Beefs in Strawberry Girl
We all have that friend that is complicated. The friend that is hard to deal with but not an enemy, just one you don’t get along with all the time. Friendships are not something that you should take for granted, they are something to be cherished and well loved. Some people can be hard to understand but once you get the feel of them you can see what they are like. In the book Strawberry Girl, two kids, Shoestring Slater and Birdie Boyer, share this kind of friendship. They are not friends all of the time, but they will come to one another if they need something. The two kids have very different backgrounds, one came from Carolina and the other already from Florida, where the story is set. They learn to be friends because their families are so different and because they are honest with each other as well as being literal neighbors and schoolmates.
Though the Boyers and Slaters are neighbors, they have very contrasting lifestyles. The Boyers have a lot of land and hard working animals and good, healthy children. The Slaters have less land, less food for their family, and they have animals who get less attention, therefore are less tame. The Boyers are polite and well looked upon because of their kindness to others. The Slaters are looked down upon because they are poor (we see Mr. Slater spending most of the little money they earn on alcohol). Also several of them (but not all) are obnoxious and rowdy. The fact that Shoestring is not like the rest of his family, being more sensitive and caring, he understands the Boyers more. He trusts Birdie and that makes it a lot easier for them to be friends. Birdie also trusts in Shoestring even if she doesn’t always trust his family.
The first day Birdie went to school, she got a bad impression of the Slaters. Shoestring’s brothers attacked the teacher and that made Birdie more fearful of them. The brothers acted out of their shame, like most bullies do. Shoestring is different from his brothers because he does not have as much pride, but he also does not like to be looked down upon either. It seems like he is able to be a different person at school versus the pressure he feels to be like his dishonest father at home. At school he uses his literal name, Jefferson Davis Slater, instead of Shoestring, indicating he is different than his family. He wants to try and change things for the Slaters and sees the Boyers as perhaps a “new start”, even when his father forbids him to help them various times in the book. For instance, he still chooses to reach out to Birdie to tell her about the pliers in his father’s back pocket that he will use to cut the Boyer’s fence.
Later in the book, Birdie is proud to introduce Shoestring to the teacher, Mrs. Dunnaway, because he is different from his scary, bullying brothers. He assures his frightened teacher that he is not here to fight, but “come to git book-larnin’” (189). He shows more compassion and pays closer attention to his feelings than his family. She is not ashamed to be Shoestring’s friend and defends him because she has had experience with his capabilities. She tells Mrs. Dunnaway, ”But Shoestring…I mean, Jeff’s different!…He ain’t rough and wild like Gus and Joe!” (190).
Even though they are good friends they can have conflicting feelings and they don’t always have the same point of view. This actually makes their friendship stronger. After Mr. Boyer chops off the top of Slater’s hog’s ear, Shoestring comes to warn Birdie as an act of friendship, but as a son still strongly defends his family. “Iffen your Pa don’t leave our hogs alone, Pa means what he says: he’ll git him yet! I just come over to tell you” (50). Birdie says, “her voice bitter with scorn” that Mr. Slater is being a coward by sending his son to be his messenger (51). After their shouting match they realized they didn’t want their Dad to get their guns out and escalate the situation. “Birdie thought for awhile. This was a surprise. It looked as if Shoestring didn’t want trouble any more that she did” (51).
At the candy pulling event Birdie is looking to have fun, but she gets partnered with Shoestring who “was glum as if he were at a funeral” (88). Birdie wants to play with those who are able to enjoy the day and she has dismissive thoughts about Shoestring and his family even as he is trying to tell her why he’s upset. He trusts her and cares for her family enough to share his father’s malicious plots with her. Shoestring sees her as someone who is trusting, one of the few who can at times see past their poverty and his Dad’s foolish decisions. Birdie is always inviting the Slaters to events and to their house both because she has taken a liking to the Slater sisters and sees them as needing help. Thus, Birdie’s experience as an older sister helps her naturally take care of Shoestring’s younger sisters and his mother. She understands what they need and this dynamic helps strengthen the bond between her and Shoestring.
We all have complicated friends, but to make the friendship work or not work it “takes two to tango”. Birdie and Shoestring both really want to be friends with each other and believe that the other person has their best interest in mind even when they raise their voices to each other. They don’t leave their problems hanging; they hash it out. They protect each other around their own family, they are honest with each other and defend each other. Strawberry Girl shows that two people from different places can become friends and trust one another by overcoming family differences and personality differences. Birdie and Shoestring provide a role model friendship for readers to experience.
Works Cited Page
Lenski, Lois. Strawberry Girl. J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1945.
From time to time I will feature student work here on the blog (always with their permission). Emma and I worked on this essay in our 2024/2025 tutoring time after finishing Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski. After given a list of options, she gravitated toward the themes around friendship. We brainstormed some contrast and comparisons and the paper was finished in about a month. Emma’s passionate voice and thoughtfulness really comes through in this paper and it’s no wonder because she herself is a loyal, welcoming friend. Taking a book written 80 years ago and infusing its meaning with modern eyes while keeping the integrity of the text is phenomenal for a 7th grader, and Emma pulled it off wonderfully. We also laughed at the title for the paper she came up with for 5 minutes after looking at thesaurus for conflict!
Recently, I went to our monthly local writer’s group and brought in some poems that I had written. These poems I had penned as a model for my students, since I had asked them to write from the very same prompts. I tend to be an over-thinker, so the practice of writing under a deadline and letting the results be what they are is good for me.
As usual, the people gave incredible feedback, mainly that poetry needs less words — take out the unessential. We distilled our mantra down to “Chuck all the words!” as we laughed at all the things that could get gone from my poems. With every comment, I felt so lucky to be a co-learner alongside poets, bloggers, novelists, professors, marketing writers, and others who would claim no other label other than they love writing. Peer review can and should exist beyond Composition 101.
The first poem I shared was based on an essay collection by the poet, Ross Gay, I had been listening to in the car. I imagined I was Gay as he cared for his dad in the ICU and all the tenderness was spilled on the page. The administrator of our group leaned over to me and whispered, “Were you thinking about ‘What Sarah Said’ by Death Cab for Cutie when you wrote this?” My poem had images of a heart monitor, being terrified of your own feelings, hospital hallways and harsh family memories. I told her I was not channeling that song consciously, but I knew it well. After the group left, I went back home and played the song on Spotify; it hit so fresh. Listen to some of the lyrics:
As each descending peak On the LCD Took you a little farther away from me Away from me
Amongst the vending machines And year old magazines In a place where we only say goodbye
It stung like a violent wind That our memories depend On a faulty camera in our minds
And I knew that you were truth I would rather lose Than to have never lain beside at all
And I looked around At all the eyes on the ground As the TV entertained itself
‘Cause there’s no comfort in the waiting room Just nervous paces bracing for bad news
After re-reading those words from a song I had heard a million times in the last 20 years, I was humbled to even be considered near the lead singer, Ben Gibbard, in terms of writing. Just look at all the specificity and irony in this hospital scene he paints! I may have been thinking about what Ross Gay described, but this song must have been rattling around in my psyche somewhere. I suppose it’s really no wonder that Plans by Death Cab for Cutie is one of my favorite albums of the 2000’s. Every song is an absolute vibe, a calm emo kid’s delight, full of heartrending tones and quiet desperation. Gibbard wrote lots of songs in response to hard things he had seen or experienced in relationships. I am always telling my students that writing in direct response to something is where some of the most profound art work exists.
So I listened to Plans some more this weekend as I write this blog post and as I look back over my writing for more words to chuck.
Ah… the kale palm trees! (Photo by Kindel Media on Pexels.com)
I went to my primary care physician this morning for my yearly checkup. I must say, I lucked out several years ago when I was able to get into her practice. She is always a delight to talk to — a rare mix of firm (but not pushy) and warm (like she really hears you) that makes you feel really confident in her advice. From the looks of the waiting room though, I am usually the youngest person there (despite being 40 now!) by about 30 years. I often wonder how many “young” patients she actually has.
I told her that before the holidays my husband and I started a program that promoted mindful eating (more fibers, greens, etc. and creating a slight calorie deficit from less snacking and smaller portions). She asked what my primary reason for doing this was and I explained that around age 39 is really where I noticed my metabolism just sort of gave out. I was still exercising and eating reasonably good food (with the carbs and sugar always waiting in the shadows…), but my gut was sort of done with me. My arms and legs were in great shape with walking and gym time, but I had a closet full of dresses that were collecting dust after my I’ve-had-4-kids middle was now preventing me from enjoying.
She said she wished I could stand in the waiting room and give a TED talk to her elderly patients about why it’s important to make these changes by 40 so they can recover well from things in their 70’s. She shook her head and said somberly “sometimes I worry less about foreign interference than I do the American diet. It may kill us before someone else gets to us.” As I said, she sees a lot of older folks so her statement was born less out of hyperbole and more out of a lot of doctor fatigue.
As I left the office, I was thinking that maybe part of why I do the gardening portion of Maple Key is to encourage people like my PCP. To let girls know at a younger age that trying new things, growing your own food, getting curious about how to use the food, serving others, and teaching others how to grow food is a habit you’re never too young or old for. It’s not like the girls who come into the program have a green thumb and a super refined taste for greens already; it’s not like when they leave the program they will have done a 180 and love all things verdant for dinner. It’s exposure and an invitation to the goodness of creation. That’s all I ask of them — just roll with the veggies we’ve got, but no one is forced to eat anything.
I always tell them that I was SUPER picky about food at their age, embarrassed at how much I hated salads (back when iceberg was the lettuce du jour; I still hate it), but over time as an adult I exposed myself to more things and now enjoy and tolerate more than spurn the veggies on my plate. I tell them I did not like or eat kale before I started growing for Maple Key, and now I really really love it for its freshness and versatility. Giving people space to grow and experience vegetables on their own terms is a big part of my philosophy about the environment being our third teacher 🙂
Inspired by our neighbor’s suggestion, last night my husband suggested we make pasta sauce for dinner. Our neighbor had an abundance of cherry tomatoes and sent us a picture of her one pan tomato roasting sauce ingredients — Olive oil, salt, pepper, onions, garlic, feta cheese, and tomatoes. Instructions: roast, pulverize, and voila — you have sauce. We piggybacked on her idea and made more of a puttanesca style.
When my own children ask why I am so obsessed with gardening, I explain that it’s really just an excuse to play and experiment. I get to learn what grows and under what circumstances and environments. I get to eat what I grow which encourages more creativity and playing even if it’s a small dish or snack. So it makes sense that I want to instill (or perhaps invoke) that spirit of curiosity in the girls who come to Maple Key no matter what “skill level” they come in with. That’s the joy of being imaginative — there is an endless supply of creativity available!
Perhaps because right now my children don’t have bills to pay or places to drive or multiple schedules to organize, they don’t see what the big deal is for an adult to make space for play even if it’s for 5 minutes of checking on and watering your okra and bush beans. It often just looks like a chore or a huge investment of time to them. But I assure them that for most adults play is, sadly, the first thing to go when you prioritize all the daily things you must juggle.
My college roommate (who is a new tutor for Maple Key this year!) doesn’t garden, but finds her play in singing and being in actual plays. She has spent her summer in community theater. An incredible ensemble of professional players!
Fiddler on the Roof!
There are so many places we can find our play.
Legos at the local library!
So I say, here’s to bringing back play as a part of a healthy balance in life. Now back to more pickling 🙂
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