After our National Day on Writing event on October 20 on the Courthouse square, I wrote an article for our local newspaper and submitted it. The editor also wrote an article and merged the two pieces together. It appeared yesterday in the Pike County Journal-Reporter, and already we have growing interest in the newest writing group to form in our community – Writing Wild!
I’m so proud to live in a community where local writing groups and literary events thrive. There is now a new Facebook page to help publicize the events. Please follow and like the page – Writing Wild – and say hello! Better yet, come to the Open Mic Writing Out Loud event on December 5 at 1828 Coffee Company in Zebulon, Georgia!
My three Schnoodles and I have been missing our early morning walks without a flashlight. While the vast majority of folks seem to dread returning to standard time, those of us who are of the Benjamin Franklin persuasion – early to bed, early to rise – are grateful for the benefits of better sleep. We fall asleep faster, sleep more deeply with fewer overnight wake-ups in the colder months once we get warm and snug (we leave a window cracked and it’s sheer heaven), and admire the daylight before work.
I took several photos of the boys walking toward the sunrise yesterday. They love getting out and taking in the world through their noses. The scent of leaf and shrub smoke wafted through the air, and it added all those layers of autumn life in the country to our experience to start the day. I learned later yesterday that a 100-acre controlled burn was happening about 25 miles to our south. I wrote a nonet about our walk for this morning’s blog.
In my school district, our system gives out silver Portrait of a Graduate (POG) Coins whenever a student demonstrates competencies in various aspects of citizenship and humanity.
Two months ago, six of our humanities students in our ninth grade academy took part in a state-wide presentation through Georgia Tech to share their work learning about poverty and the local projects they took on to address poverty in our community.
This will be our third year working with Elia Moreno of Texas as we move from Aha! to Action! to Advocacy! The first year, we Zoomed with her because of Covid constraints and travel hiccups. The second year, we brought her to our county (I had Covid on the day she came to visit), and this year she is returning in person- today – to stand with the students on our auditorium’s stage and continue the good work that she has helped shape in our rural Georgia county.
Students will enter a time of reviewing their work and then begin the next phase by entering a think tank to create ways to meet the needs of our community. Each year, they bring proposals to local elected officials for feedback on their ideas and suggestions on ways to make good things happen. We are building a community garden and providing food through a backpack program for children and families.
We’re blessed to be part of a community that steps up to help meet needs of others.
At the end of each month, (or beginning), I review my yearly goals and spend some time reflecting on how I’m doing in living the life I want to live ~ a way of becoming my own accountability partner and having frequent check-ins to evaluate my progress. I’m still in the process of revising some of my goals as I encounter successes…..and setbacks. New goals have asterisks for the month of November, when I will report on them in a few weeks. For the month of October, here’s my goal reflection:
Category
Goals
My Progress
Literature
Read for Sarah Donovan’s Book Group
Send out Postcards
Blog Daily
I participated in the October book discussion with Sarah’s reading group for Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World. I’ll participate in the book discussion for Assessment 3.0 this month. Time for reading has been scarce lately, but Audible is a good way to try to keep up the pace when all I can do is multi-task.
I sent no postcards this month.
I continue to blog daily, and the daily writing and reflecting is a wonderful habit for me. I don’t feel complete without some form of daily writing, and the blog is a way of continuing the habit.
I had a Zoom meeting with Ruth Ayers of Choice Literacy about writing for her website. I look forward to spending some time writing about local literacy events.
Creativity
*Decorate for fall
*Create Shutterfly Route 66
I created a surprise ducking of our office. I used tiny ducks left over from my brother in law’s birthday ducking and put them to use in the office, even adding Halloween ducks to the lineup.
I have been trying to get to Shutterfly since July, so if I haven’t accomplished this goal by the end of October, I may give up on this one. Update: I’m giving up on this goal.
Spirituality
Tune in to church
Pray!
Keep OLW priority
We have been tuning in to church. With Dad preaching every Sunday in October and a few Sundays ahead of that, it makes the church home hunt take a back seat until my childhood church gets a new preacher, since I have the opportunity to hear Dad.
My car is still my prayer chamber for daily prayer, and there’s so much to give thanks for. I continue my conversations with the good Lord each morning and afternoon.
I’m still keeping my OLW my priority: pray!
Reflection
Spend time tracking goals each month
I’m tracking goals, revising, and considering some new categories as I look at my goal table.
Self-Improvement
*Reach top of weight range
This is a setback for me this month. I’ve hit major stress and gained weight, despite joining WW. I need to set a firm date and get the mental mindset that it takes to stay on track. I have work to do. Update: every day, the diet is starting “tomorrow.” I seriously need a good mindset to start back. I’m keeping this goal. I need to get on track. Tomorrow.
Gratitude
Devote blog days to counting blessings
I begin the days this way and end them giving thanks as well.
Experience
Embrace Slow Travel
Focus on the Outdoors
I’ve taken a trip in October to F D R State Park for a Little Guy Southern States Meet Up. We met people who have the same kind of camper we have, and we even signed up for next year’s meet up in Tennessee at Roan Mountain State Park. My brother and his fiancee came for a visit during Fall Break, and it was wonderful having some time together with them.
I’m still focusing on the outdoors with birdwatching adventures and camping. We also built our own fire pit foundation for the fire pit my son gave us for Christmas last year.
Tiny ducks keep popping up everywhere! Who could be doing this, sneaking into the office under the cover of darkness to let these cuties in, bringing smiles and prompting Post-It notes of thanks to “The Duckmaster?” No one knows.
Graham cracker crust with marshmallow and chocolate Baked and then browned on top Rich and sweet but everyone liked it Dinner and dessert by the fireWe added Campfire Colors for a dazzling show!
I had a meeting in our local coffee shop yesterday and treated myself to a Hex Latte while projecting next year’s budget and goals with a community partner. From inside, the vintage paned windows make the outside world look a little bit like a dripping realistic painting – the kind of windows that have candles and snowdrifts in the winter and don’t have 20/20 sharp focus. It’s like I’m in a world of my own in there.
I confess: I was.
I had a moment, looking across the town square, when a brilliant flash of fall colors caught my eye. “I’m walking this square when I leave here. I’m sharing these pictures with others – this Hallmark Movie charm this time of year is too beautiful to keep all to myself,” I decided, right then and there in the middle of a business meeting.
We finished. I walked along, thinking in Haiku, as I mostly do. Here is part of my walk that I’m sharing with you:
My husband and I attended the Southern States Little Guy Meet-Up over the weekend at F. D. Roosevelt State Park in Pine Mountain, Georgia. There were 21 Little Guy campers occupying campsites and probably 35 or 40 people gathered for the campfires each night, so I wrote a Luc Bat today about my weekend. At http://www.ethicalela.com, our third day of the October Open Write is being hosted by Wendy Everand of New York, who introduced this poetry form and inspired us to write one today. You can read her actual prompt here if you’d like to try one of your own! If you are interested in next year’s Meet Up, it will be at Roan Mountain State Park in Tennessee from October 16-20, 2024. Come join us – to write poetry, to camp, or both!
Notes about this form from Wendy: The luc bat is a poem with Vietnamese origins. It means “six-eight” and consists of alternating lines of six and eight syllables with an unusual rhyme scheme:
There is no set length to a luc bat: you can make it as long as you wish. And there’s no set meter.
Little Guy Southern States Meet Up
Southern States Campground Meet: from all around, to greet the day there’s just no better way for LG folks to play and chat we roll out welcome mats put on jeans, don camp hats, build fires, give camper tours, check wires make our beds, shine our tires…….relax!
Getting set up Picnicking at Dowdell’s Knob overlooking the valley
Fitz kept my seat warm while I took a breakfast picture
A group of LG folks at pumpkin archery class
Group fire in the evening – one member shared chocolate from a box that was the size of a wall poster
We threw in color flame to have a colorful fire that lasted about 30 minutes – blues and purples and greens!
Always the sad part – coming home from a great camping weekend!
Today we are heading off to F. D. Roosevelt State Park in Pine Mountain, Georgia for the Southeastern States Little Guy Meet Up. This is a group of people who all love camping in our Little Guy campers. We’ll gather at various campsites as hosts invite us to bring a log of firewood and our camp chairs to sit around the fire pit and share stories of our camping experiences. Some travelers will take two days to make the journey, but we are blessed that the event is happening at one of our favorite campgrounds that is just under one hour from our home.
We bought our 2022 Little Guy Max Rough Rider by Extreme Outdoors in November 2022 from a couple who had planned to travel and camp throughout the United States but had a change of life circumstances that thwarted their plans. The previous owners had done all of the initial fine-tuning needed when anyone buys a new camper, and had even put together a three-inch binder owner’s manual with plastic sleeves, receipts, and warranty paperwork. They’d changed out the uncomfortable mattress for a Bamboo mattress and added a Froli bedding system, for starters. They’d also added a bike rack and put extra sealant on the side seams. They took immaculate care of the camper, and we felt fortunate to have had an actual engineer own it before we bought it from them.
“Join the club,” the previous owners urged, “there’s a whole following of LGM owners out there, and you can learn a lot from the Facebook groups.”
So we did. We joined all the groups and learned about Randi’s Adventures on YouTube, where she gives weekly tips on camping in this minimalist fashion that we have come to love. She hosts a yearly gathering on Lake Michigan, and we hope to get to that one someday, too.
But for now, we’re joining the meet-ups closer to home. Today, my husband and our dogs will make the trip to get set up, and I’ll join them after this evening’s National Day on Writing event on our town square. I’ll share pictures and stories from the meet up next week, after our October 5-day Open Write at http://www.ethicalela.com that begins tomorrow.
Cheers for cozy nights with blankets and clear, starry skies! We can’t wait to share our adventures with you next week!
Last night’s book discussion in Dr. Sarah Donovan’s Healing Kind Book Group was Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World by Maryanne Wolf. Whether you are a teacher, a parent, a reader, or any combination of those roles, you would likely find strong points of identifying with the author – perhaps both agreeing and disagreeing with ideas even in the same chapter!
Each month, I enjoy the lively discussions of this group. We gather and bring a passage to discuss on our Zoom call. Denise Krebs of California led us this evening. Mo Daley of Illinois liked the quiet eye – the observant part of the reader that takes in details, and Sarah Donovan of Oklahoma liked the idea of cognitive patience – – attending with consciousness and attention to a rhythm that allows insights to unfold. What resonated most with me were the fostering of empathy and refining of critical thinking skills as readers use their eyes to take in whole new worlds through words. Every few pages, I’d marked a passage and stuck a Post-It bookmark tab on the side of the page to flag my favorite parts.
So much of our brain is active when we are reading – it’s performing miracles we don’t even realize are happening, lighting up the night sky during a thunderstorm with all of its lightning sparks and flashes.
To readers everywhere: pick up a book and savor the magic of reading. You are blessed to be able to make sense of print, to consider and contemplate it, to meditate on the ideas and to add layers of new perspective, and yes – even to revise your position because a book presents a case you may have never considered.
Common Threads 