Imagine the Possibilities

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. Thanks to the co-authors of              Two Writing Teachers for creating this  supportive community.

     At the beginning of the month I wrote about an unexpected trip to the emergency room because I was experiencing a rapid, uncontrolled heart rate. Although I don’t expect that there will be any serious findings, it is something that had to be looked into since it has happened before. As a result of that, two studies were suggested. I used the scaffold from Fortunately by Remy Charlip to tell you about my experience with the first of those studies – the sleep study.

Fortunately…my cardiologist was able to follow up with me quickly.

Unfortunately…something he wants to rule out is sleep apnea, so I will be participating in a sleep study. What? You mean I have to go to a sleep center? No…

Fortunately…the sleep study can be done at home!

Unfortunately…it requires a bit of equipment and a meeting with a nurse to learn how to use it properly. And please sign here and here – that just says you promise to return everything.

Fortunately…learning about the study and the equipment served to expand my vocabulary – effort belt, nasal cannula, pulse ox sensor, sleep view monitor.

Unfortunately… I had my doubts about how, or if, this would work. Who can sleep with all of that stuff on them anyway?

Fortunately…I was able to get everything hooked up and taped to my hand and face. No, I did not take a picture!

Unfortunately…putting hard plastic tubes into my nostrils was a bit (no, a lot) uncomfortable, and I worried about even getting to sleep much less studying it!

Fortunately…I did manage to get some sleep (I think), despite the tapping hail on my window through the night and the effort belt strapped across my chest.

And fortunately, the green lights on the monitor in the morning indicated that the recording was successful so I don’t have to repeat it!

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. Thanks to the co-authors of              Two Writing Teachers for creating this  supportive community.

This is not the post I intended to write today, but I’ve been thinking a lot about Amy Krause Rosenthal since learning of her death yesterday. Back in 2008 I learned of a woman who posted a video listing 17 things she had made (Google “17 things I made” and you’ll find it). She then invited anyone and everyone to meet her at the Bean sculpture in Chicago on 8-8-08 at 8:08 to create an 18^th thing together. Hundreds of people showed up. What a beautiful way to celebrate creativity and beauty in the world, I thought! The woman was Amy Krause Rosenthal, but I didn’t know much about her then. It was only later, when I was introduced to her books that her name began to stick in my head. And it was only a few days ago that I made the connection and realized the woman whose video mesmerized me so many years ago was the author I came to know through her books.

Amy celebrated creativity and urged others to remember that we all have a hand, large or small, in making this world what it is. She helped us honor our talents and our worth in ways we may not have considered. And since my OLW for 2017 is “create,” I sat down to list some things I have created in my lifetime. I chose to list 13, yesterday’s date, in honor of Amy. So here they are, in no particular order:

13 Things I Made

My wedding gown

A home

My talented and creative son, Brian

My wonderful daughter, Ann, who through her work helps students realize their worth and potential

Three professional books (with Lynne Dorfman) – Mentor Texts, Nonfiction Mentor Texts, Poetry Mentor Texts

The Keystone to Reading Elementary lists of books (with other committee members) to help teachers create a love of literature with their students

Someone laugh

A friendship of over 50 years with my childhood friend, Ginny

A legacy of love with Allan (we will celebrate our 40^th anniversary in May)

The chili cooking away in the crockpot on this snowy day

The blueberry pie that will go into the oven later to celebrate Pi Day

A garden of peony bushes in my backyard

A welcome environment for bluebirds

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. Thanks to the co-authors of              Two Writing Teachers for creating this  supportive community.

     One of the rewards of participating in this challenge is the opportunity to learn from other slicers – to gather ideas, formats, craft. Sometimes an idea bounces off in a random way generating other ideas and thoughts, and that’s how I found my slice for today. Way back in the beginning of the month Sally Donnelly used an exercise from Kate Messner’s 59 Reasons to Write for her post She used the randomly generated word “edge” to inspire her writing. Sally ended the piece with this question: What do you like best – edges or interiors? Someone commented that the question made her think of brownies – some people like the edges, others the interiors, and that made me think of “Rachel’s Brownies.”

Back in the ‘70’s  local resident Rachel Slater and her husband, Jeff, started a bakery in my home town of Malvern, PA. Rachel started selling the brownies out of her home, but the business quickly grew and they moved into a store front in a shopping center not far from my house. People would line up to buy them or bring their kids to watch the production line. The brownies were the best, to this day, that I have ever tasted. They were mainly sold locally in specialty stores, and I recall that they were also sold to a few airlines (back when the airlines provided a meal). There may have been other flavors, but the ones I remember most were Chocolate Walnut and Butterscotch (my favorite). I fondly remember that when my daughter was born, my husband brought me a Rachel’s Butterscotch Brownie in the hospital.

Each brownie was individually wrapped for sale, but if you went to the bakery you could buy a bag of “edges” for a dollar or two. These were the best – mostly because my kids preferred the middles, not the edges, so they were all mine. The edges had just enough of the soft middle combined with the crunchy outside to create a texture and taste explosion when you bit into them.

Thanks, Sally, for the inspiration and the memory. And thanks, Rachel and Jeff, for your wonderful brownies.

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. Thanks to the co-authors of              Two Writing Teachers for creating this  supportive community.

Friday night. Time to start thinking about dinner. Neither one of us wants to go out or pick up.

Let me see what I can come up with.

I open the refrigerator and scan the almost-empty shelves, remembering that I really must get to the grocery store tomorrow. Hmmm…leftover broiled flank steak (OK, we have protein), some please-eat-me-before-I-go-bad peppers and mushrooms. I know I have onions and garlic. Sounds like a stir fry beginning to take shape. I check to make sure I have rice…Yes!

I start the rice and begin slicing and frying… but wait! No soy sauce! Then I remember those left over packets from Chinese take-out that we keep for emergencies. I cut a few open and add the contents to my well-on-its-way creation, then quickly jot down soy sauce on my grocery list.

I consider myself a recipe cook, meaning I need one. I plan out meals for the week and list ingredients I don’t have on hand on my shopping list. I marvel at people who can just throw things together and come up with a deliciously decadent dish in a matter of minutes. My stir fry wasn’t quite like that, but on Friday night, I created something of my own…something from nothing.

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Story Challenge. Thanks to the co-authors of              Two Writing Teachers for creating this  supportive community.

     I’ve been thinking quite a bit lately about my OLW for 2017 – create. My intention was to find different areas of my life, not just with writing, where I could create something tangible or intangible. I was thinking I needed to get back to this, to be more intentional in creating. Then I saw Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s post on The Poem Farm. She used a poem to describe the process of making a stamp. Although I enjoy crafts, I don’t consider myself crafty, and the extent to which I can be trusted with a sharp knife is questionable – just ask my family. Making my own stamp would definitely stretch my creativity, so I decided to try it out.

First, I decided I needed more detailed instructions – You Tube to the rescue. Finding the necessary supplies was somewhat of an obstacle, but three craft stores later, I was ready.

I gathered all my supplies and set to work. Amy’s instructions included thinking about the things you love to decide on a theme for the stamp, so of course I chose flowers. In the picture you will see the finished products. My first attempt was the iris which I think turned out better than the tulip.

I wish I could say that the picture below was my third attempt. But that is the stamp that I bought for inspiration. It reminds me of the bluebird house in my backyard, the one I sometimes refer to as the “fancy house.” Isn’t it beautiful?

There is an ad for a new version of Office that pops up on my computer from time to time –  Create. Edit. Do. Impress. Making my stamps took me through that process (maybe the “impress” part not so much). I have lots of material left, so if you want to try out stamp making, come on over!