Solace & Connection {8}

    

Welcome to this week's nature-inspired invitation to write and connect. Each week, I will post a round-up, and you just need to write your blog post and link up at the bottom of my post. I leave a little inspiration each week, but you are free to write about nature:  prose, poetry, images, or anything else you would like to share. 

This week's inspiration doesn't come from a source, but a time of year. The summer solstice is on Wednesday, June 21st. What inspiration can your draw from this "longest day of the year?"

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Today, I leave you with pictures I took this weekend from my front porch, my favorite place in my home. Many stories come from my porch AND from these pictures. But I will wait on those for slices of life on Tuesday.

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Solace & Connection {7}

     

Welcome to this week's nature-inspired invitation to write and connect. Each week, I will post a round-up, and you just need to write your blog post and link up at the bottom of my post. I leave a little inspiration each week, but you are free to write about nature:  prose, poetry, images, or anything else you would like to share. 

This week's inspiration comes from The Curious Nature Guide by Clare Walker Leslie where she encourages us to take a night walk. "Let your eyes and mind adjust to being out after dark. How do the smells, sounds, and colors of night differ from those of daytime? Which of your senses feel most alive?"

I hope you take some time this week to take a night walk and spend some time with the night sky. 

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When my children were younger, we would always try to be the one to see the first firefly of the season. Now that they are adults, I still text them when I see my first one. This past week, I was sitting on my back porch, and it was dark. Although I have seen a few fireflies, they have not been in abundance yet. 

I looked over in the line of white pines, and the fireflies were putting on an early show. There were only a few, but they were dancing with partners and entertaining me with their lights. I wrote a cherita, a poem consisting of a one-line stanza followed by a two and three lined stanza and also tells a story.

Fireflies 

waltzing with their partners

between the white pines,

perform against 

the dark curtain of nighttime

in three-quarter time.

Image by Monika from Pixabay

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Solace & Connection {6}

      

Welcome to this week's nature-inspired invitation to write and connect. Each week, I will post a round-up, and you just need to write your blog post and link up at the bottom of my post. I leave a little inspiration each week, but you are free to write about nature:  prose, poetry, images, or anything else you would like to share. 

This week's inspiration comes from a Ruth Ayres lead in the Choice Literacy Big Fresh weekly newsletter. She writes about times when she and her children "name the sky." It is a lovely piece, and I hope you will take some to read it.

I hope you take some time to observe the sky and write about how you would name it.

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As the new day dawns

I reach into my wounded heart,

searching for

the unspoken words of

forgiveness.

My team at school has been going through a difficult time. One day last week, I snapped this picture from our school parking lot and thought about Ruth's writing. With the sun trying to appear from the breaks in the clouds, I knew this sky was named "Forgiveness." 

I hope you will join me in naming your sky or writing about the world around you.

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Solace & Connection {4}

   

Welcome to this week's nature-inspired invitation to write and connect. Each week, I will post a round-up, and you just need to write your blog post and link up at the bottom of my post. I leave a little inspiration each week, but you are free to write about nature:  prose, poetry, images, or anything else you would like to share. 

I am a little late this as it was a busy one for me! This week's inspiration comes from a Facebook post from Georgia Heard on Earth Day. She asks us to "Put on your poet's eyes & open your heart today and write a poem about the beauty of the earth."

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Solace & Connection {3}

  

Welcome to this week's nature-inspired invitation to write and connect. Each week, I will post a round-up, and you just need to write your blog post and link up at the bottom of my post. I leave a little inspiration each week, but you are free to write about nature:  prose, poetry, images, or anything else you would like to share. 

This week's inspiration: Margaret Simon posted her "This photo wants to be a poem" post, which was a picture of a patch of wildflowers along the roadside in Louisiana. I started thinking about seeds and how they could be a metaphor for continuation of life. This week, look outside for how life is continuing in this season of birth and rebirth. What are you noticing?

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I have a section of pink evening primroses in our landscape. If I am not careful, they can quickly take over this space, but I absolutely love this wildflower.

native wildflower

from wayward, wind-caught seedlings

primrose tsunami

Please share your link below and read and comment on other posts to enjoy the solace and build the connection.

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Solace & Connection {2)

 

Welcome to this week's nature-inspired invitation to write and connect.  Each week, I will post a round-up, and you just need to write your blog post and link up at the blue box at the bottom of my post. Feel free to use image on your post to let people know about the community.

Please read and respond to at least one or two posts to help build the connections between us. 

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This week's inspiration is from Sarah Krajewski who shared an interview with Clint Smith. He states, "Poetry is the act of paying attention." I took a moment to pay attention to and notice the signs of spring I saw just from sitting on my porch swing. 

I turned my noticings into a list poem. Simple, yet captures my moment.

A spring day brings
clear blue skies calling my eyes to gaze upward
birds chirping their sweet songs
dandelions calling the bees
forsythia hanging on to its final blooms
hastas unfurling towards the sun
magnolia blooms bursting to say hello
robins plucking blades of grass to build their nests
open windows welcoming the warmness
a single tulip bud holding tight

a kaleidoscope of color.

Watch the Clint Smith interview here:

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Solace & Connection {1}

 

Welcome to our first nature-inspired invitation to write and connect. I am thrilled you are here. Each week, I will post a round-up. You just need to write your blog post and link up at the bottom of my post. I will leave a little inspiration each week, but you are free to write about nature in any way you would like, prose, poetry, images, or anything else you would like to share. Please read and respond to other posts to help build the connections between us. 

This week's inspiration:  "Begin Where You Are"

Take a moment to go out, count to five, and watch what the world of nature is doing around you. List six or seven nature observations you see, hear, or feel. Note the time of day, month, date, season, and your location. Need an example of what this might look like? Take a look at Trina's example from the March Slice of Life Challenge.

Remember, you do not have to write about this prompt; you're just invited to write.

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out like a lion

Mother Nature roared

leaving behind death and devastation

as the new day dawns

birds sing a song of sadness

but glasses stand at attention 

like soldiers

untouched

Tornadoes ravaged through the state of Indiana last night, leaving behind mass destruction in several cities and towns. One hit about 25 miles north of me. This is a screen shot from a WTWO news video. The reporter walked blocks and blocks showing scene after scene like this one. One thing she noticed through this window was how the glasses remained on the shelf, untouched.

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