Frog's First Interview

Today's quick write-courtesy of Jo Knowles-from Teachers Write

Hello there friends.  I am Fred the frog...I am green and slimy with 4 legs.  A funny thing about my legs, they've stretched and grown.  Soon after I hatched from my egg, I had a tail and no legs and I swam through the water like a fish.  Then my back legs grew out.  Before I knew it, I had front legs too and could hop onto the land nearby instead of only living in Carol Pond.  On top of all this growing excitement, I also lost my tail!  Who knew?

So now, my favorite place to hang out is in the small hole in the garden. I dug it out to keep cool during the hot summer days.  I slowly creep out on hot summer evenings to hunt for my dinner of bugs.  I don't like sharing my corner of the garden with anyone else, I love to keep all the bugs for me...

Here's some news about my family!  When I was first born, I had lots of brothers and sisters.  We all hung out as  small black eggs together in the water connected to the roots of the lily pads.  After we hatched, I got to spend lots of time swimming with the family in the water of the pond.  Sadly, some of my siblings (my brothers and sisters) were eaten by fish, like Koi or birds, like Blue Heron or Hawks.  I don't see my family much now that we've left the pond.  We all went our separate ways.

I'm going to tell you about my favorite part of me-my tongue!  I love how I can stretch it out and use it to catch my prey, like beetles, flies and ants.  I want to fill my belly with good things to eat.  The least favorite thing about me is my skin.  People stare at my skin and comment about its ugliness when they see me.  That makes me feel sad sometimes.

My biggest pet peeve is the myth that people always blurt when they see me and try to pick me up-I'm going to pee on their hand and give them warts.  This is completely untrue.  I think that mommies made this up so their kids wouldn't pick up frogs.  However, I do have warts on my skin that can pass along bad bacteria to people-so you might not want to touch me after all.

The thing that I am most afraid of are birds.  I don't like birds for two reasons.  One reason is they can be big enough to swoop down out of the sky and eat me.  The other reason I don't like them is because the smaller birds swoop into my garden and eat the bugs I was spying on for dinner.

So now that you know a little bit about me, how about telling a little bit about you?

Sometimes

In honor of a visit to the Scottish highlands my "sometimes", as suggested for Tuesday's quick write is going to be about the trail that lead above Scrabster Bay...

Sometimes

Walking alone...
watching the waves roll and crash...

Flying drops of ocean spray!
Leaving salty sprinkles behind...

Hearing the birds squawking!
Droning tugs sound their horns as they moved in and out of the bay!

Watching the fog roll in...
seeing the mist form...

Smelling the heavy salt air!
Pressing its way onto the land!

Feeling the pressure to retreat!
Moving away from the cliffs...

Heading for home...
Grabbing a blanket!

Curling up with a book...
Scanning for a mystery...

Reading alone!
escaping to another land!
...sometimes

Writer's Shoes

Last summer, I wrote more than I've ever written in my entire life...I walked a mile in my writer's shoes while I participated in the Teacher's Write virtual summer writing camp for teachers hosted by Kate Messner, Gae Polisner, Jen Vincent and Jo Knowles (each with their blogs if you click the links).  They were gracious hostesses with their time and talent...Oh, happy day, they've all volunteered to host the camp again this summer and I think about how lucky I am to have them offering their thinking and expertise to help me become a better writer.

This past year, I walked more steps in my writer's shoes as I continued to blog and slice on most Tuesdays, and took the 2013 Slice of Life Challenge in March-writing and posting each day of the month.  I felt connected to the writing community.

Another step I took in being a writer this year is through micro-blogging on Twitter.  You can read about my connection to Twitter being a professional growth playground here.  I haven't been as much of a writer here as I've been an information sharer.  I am hoping to make the transition to more authentic tweets as time moves forward.

I am looking forward to writing more this summer...here we go, stepping out in my writer's shoes and I'm not sure where this year's trail will lead me but I'm ready!

Sitting by the fires

Tuesday's Slice of Life...

Sitting by the fires...special memories of my dad...

One of the special things I’ll always remember about my dad is how much he loved sitting by the backyard campfires.  My dad used to volunteer on the town fire department where he learned about fire and then taught us.  He always respected fire.  Just from watching him, it was obvious that he was meticulous about making sure every piece of starter paper, kindling stick, branch, and log was perfectly arranged before the fire was started.  There would always be a large bucket of water off to the side in case of fire jumping to a place it wasn’t wanted.  Once the kindling caught, the fire would begin to burn brightly in the tire rim urn outlined with bricks.  When old enough, the kids were finally allowed to help build and start the fire and use the coveted poker stick!  The “poker stick” was the perfect tool to nudge and rearrange logs so that the embers continued to flicker-flame and catch the other logs ablaze causing the fire to burn late into the wee hours of the morning.

Gathering around the fire made for an inviting time together, especially on cool summer and fall nights.  Anyone and everyone who came to the Farkas Fire Pit always had a good time.  The crowd was sometimes just family, sometimes just friends, sometimes old and young-or just married couples on a date night away from the kids.   The point is, no matter who gathered to exchange conversation, tell a story or play games, Dad’s cozy fire was always put together with love.  As my sister-in-law so lovingly puts it, the fire pit was a place to warm the cockles of our hearts.

Anyone who pulled up a chair to gather learned that nature was always part of the experience as well.  Watching the moon come up on the horizon, play hide and seek behind the clouds and shine brightly in the midnight sky was especially appealing.  Listening to the chirp and tweet of the crickets, the buzz of the cicada and the often annoying buzz of the mosquito were so pleasant when heard through dad’s ears. 

Dad always noticed the formation of the clouds as signals for when to douse the fire as the lightning would dance in the sky. Dad would watch for planes heading for other airport destinations determining if they headed east, west, or north of our house.  He taught us to enjoy nature’s outdoor treat while we sat to chat!  Sitting by the fires is a special experience I’ll always remember with DAD!  Thanks Dad, for all of these fireside experiences!  Love you!

Campfire Quick Write

Tuesday's QuickWrite-inspired by Kate Messner, Teachers Write!
My campfire story…(stories to tell around the campfire working on building our writing habit)!

My early childhood home was a tiny ranch across the street from a large, somewhat ominous looking colonial-full of three mischievous boys who were forever known as trouble makers! Truly, the look of the house matched the personalities of the inhabitants! The scent of trouble belched from its windows and doors quite regularly. The neighborhood children knew all about the “trouble boys”. Some how, who ever they played with got bitten by the trouble bug!

On this sunny summer day, my younger brother Mike and I decided we’d head across the street and venture in to play with the “trouble boys”-a mistake my mouth has regretted for the rest of my life!  As we crossed the street, we saw the boys playing in the pebble-littered, sandy black dirt where the pavement met the road. They had their dump trucks, buckets and the tall red tricycle. The tricycle caught everyone’s eyes! It was shiny, bright red and screamed “ride me”!

As the scene unfolded further, the boys made it their mission to demo how they could ride it down the 6 cement steps that led from the yard down to the street…when your legs are long enough to balance the bike on the steps like ski poles on a slippery slope it was an amusement-park-like adventure! Needless to say, being the Amelia Earhart adventurous little diva that I was, I couldn’t resist trying out the ride too!

After the boys made several passes down the steps, I decided to give it a try. I got on the tricycle and pedaled down the front walkway to the steps of doom. As soon as the trike started down the first two steps (wait for it) move in to slo mo here-I began to lose balance. The trike and I parted ways. It kept bumping and rolling and I flew off of it and landed face first with a mouth full of gravel at the base of the steps! There was screaming, crying, and bleeding from me, skittle girl who now had a knocked out front tooth, two fat lips And a scraped chin.

Mother came running and immediately called the dentist-he told her to rinse my mouth, wash off the tooth and shove it back up into my gums! I was rushed to the dentist’s office…I was served up with the fare of Popsicles and more popsicles for about 2 days until the swelling went down…those darn trouble boys-that darn trike, those short legs-it all spelled disaster from the beginning! And I have the black front tooth in my kindergarten picture to remind me that when I smell trouble, I should stay away!
Link back to some other campfire stories...

Google Earth Wow!

Wow, I could seriously play all day with Google Earth if I had the time-but I don't, so I can't!  If only for a day right?  Ok, today's assignment for Teachers Write! was to spend some time using Google Earth to be in the place of your main character from a WIP (work in progress).  Well, I imagined where Kylee and Dusty would be hanging out in the smelly old middle school, took a walk to Blue Pond (which I didn't know existed even though I've been to the school several times!) right next to the building.  Then we took a trip to the local sites like Stan Hywet and the signal tree and some other places around the city...

Due to copyright laws, pictures have been removed.

Some of the things they might hear:  the Goodyear Blimp buzzing overhead, the roar of traffic from the nearby highways (Rt. 76, 77, and 8), the whir of the factories nearby: Goodyear Industrial Plant, Sun Rubber, and Bridgestone also mixed in the sounds of nature...within our city there is also country.

They would smell the scent of burning rubber and chemicals from the nearby industrial plants, but also the smell of dust, musty, old, dank, scent of molded buildings.

They would be feeling warm on the sweaty, sultry day.  The temperature would be in the high 80's leaving the skin to feel moist and sticky.

This was definitely a fun post to explore!  Thanks for the idea-taking a character on a trip!  Leaving no stone unturned!

Nature Walk-Scavenger Hunt

To break up the monotony of our day, Kam, Nattie and I went on a nature walk through the neighborhood with a list of things to find on a nature scavenger hunt (this link will take you to the list).  Rather than try to bring the items back home, we took pictures of the items.  We had a great time and really noticed how little things can be found when you're really looking for them.  Here are some of the pictures we took.

Something eaten by an insect and something that protects a seed:

A petal that has pollen on it:

 Two things a bird might use to make a nest:

Find something a rabbit would eat:

And the downy feather (wasn't on the list but Kam and I were both excited that he found it):

So we just wanted to share some pictures from our scavenger hunt.  After we got back, we wrote in our journals about what we noticed.  I actually let Kam choose to write or type on the ipad (he choose to type).  We had a great time together-and Nattie cooperated too-although we did the writing part when she took her nap.

Thanks Sarah Albee and Kate Messner for inspiring this post as part of the Teachers Write Virtual Summer Writing Camp Non-fiction Friday (made up by Sarah)!  Check out the awesomely disgusting pictures of bees on the post for today!  EWWWW!  I strongly dislike bees!

Quick Write from the wild and free writing lab

Today's quick write, courtesy of Gigi Amateau, guest author for Teachers Write! A panoramic and small view of the world as it is around you...note both views and record your observations from "our wild and free writing laboratory". So I went out to my front porch and sat on the steps for a while and just took in the world from the porch. Hot and heavy air fills my lungs as take my deep relaxing breath. Still leaves hang on the lazy oak. The white puffy clouds blend in to gray knowing there will be no curtain call for the sun today. As hot and hazy as it is, the birds are still singing, twittering,reminding us the work day has not ended for them... Small focus...the freshly dug patch of sun-crisp grass pushed aside by the squirrel's paws revealing the dry, brown Earth. The spry little creature timidly but quickly paced its way across (hop hop hop HOP hop hop HOP hop hop hop HOP)the yard. Then it moved on to the stoney gray drive and scurried over into the next patch of sun-crisp grass, with more work to do... I appreciate this idea! Changing the focus of the writer's lens opens up opportunity for more detailed observations. It will also help to think about how different characters might see the same scene...but both in the same place... Thanks! Amy

A stormy scene from WIP

Teachers Write!  Thursday Quickwrite
Using lines from a poem for inspiration or a jumping off point...or looking out the window and writing landscapes...tough day at the office... :)
So I used characters from my WIP to create a scene...

Kylee stressed as she tried to write her poem for her homework assignment.  She looked out her window after the storm and thought about how Mother Nature’s elements were like part of her daily skin cleansing routine...she had written:

When the wind had ended

Salmon-colored blossoms sprinkled

Dried leaves blown around

Twisted branches broken and dropped

Nature’s litter

Scattered everywhere

An unsightly scene

And then revelation

A much needed exfoliation

Through her elements

Tough wind, torrential downpours,

Then drying, baking sun

Discarding the unwanted

Ridding

What is no longer essential, needed

The cleansing, washing it away…

She was stuck.  She knew that she was distracted by her thoughts about “Dusty”. 

Why was this boy causing her so much distraction?  He’s just a boy…but the dust…she wanted desperately to open the door to his world but she just didn’t have the key to his lock.  When would this key appear...

I love wordles!

This is my response for Teacher's Write quick write for today!  Can I say that I love word clouds?  I LOVE WORD CLOUDS!  (it is my blog afterall)  Ok, so to make my wordles, I just used a response to an earlier quick write I did inspried by Jo Knowles about the beach (Monday Morning Warm-up).  I also wanted to share that not only have I used wordle.net before, but I have also used http://www.tagxedo.com which allows you to incorporate your words into shapes.  I have also used ABCya http://www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm with students (it's a little more kid friendly).  I scanned the printouts and turned them into jpegs so you could see how each looks:

Taxgedo.com

abcya.com

wordle.net

So which one is your favorite? I noticed that beach, coffee, Ted, and Christy stuck out as the largest...characters and setting covered? Right?

**UPDATE-mobile device wordle app: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-collage/id527057508?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4
Now you can use the app the create your wordles!  Will play around with it and post what it can do later!

character sketch

Today's Monday Morning Mini-lesson is inspired by Ruth McNally Barshaw, author of the Ellie McDoodle Series.  I have not read any of the Ellie McDoodle books but they look like something kids would get into.  Ruth suggested on today's mini-lesson, that connections between art and writing be made.  To get us into this, we had to use one of our characters from a work in progress or other work and draw or sketch our character and add callouts brainstorming positive and negative traits.   Then we were to write a story using what we've drawn...
Here is my picture:




Here's a letter she wrote my main character last week:
For Teachers Write
A letter from one character to another in my WIP

Dear "Dusty",
I know that you are new to our school. So, I am writing this to ask you things I wonder about you. I understand if you don't want to answer the questions I am wondering about in this letter. Please know that I really do want to be your friend and I hope that you know you can trust me. I am not a snitch. I am really good at keeping people's secrets.
Ok. So here goes! First of all, why are you always hoarding extra food that Miss Joyce and Miss Emily give you? Don't you eat at home? Do you not have groceries in your house? Do you want to come to my house and have dinner sometime? My mom makes the most awesome Mac and cheese! The only thing is, if you do come to my house, you have to be extra, extra quiet-my dad sleeps during the day cuz he works nights!
Second, I really need to know where it is you are hanging out that you are getting so dirty and dusty. Plus, I noticed you keep wearing the same clothes over and over. Do you need some new clothes? You can borrow my brother's clothes. I think you look about the same size.
Last of all, you keep checking out all of these Ohio History type books from the LRC. I looked up your account since i am a library helper during 3rd period. Are you studying or doing a research project? I could help you, if you need ideas or want to know more about it.

I hope you write back! Please!
Wanting to be your friend,
Kylee Keuriosi

So this is my work out for today-very helpful indeed...I plan to read more about how art work can help improve writing through the resource: Picturing Writing.  I think drawing can really help some of our students become more successful in this process.  I saw a post on face book today that inspired me to take the risk and put the sketch out there..."You miss 100% of the shots you don't take!"-  Wayne Gretzsky...so I am taking the shot...sorry if my artwork stinks!  I wonder if kids would feel nervous about doing this?

Change This Week

Change This Week
I don't believe much in the idea of time flying
But! another week of camp has flown by
A week full of writing and reading
Writing posts and reading posts
Reading posts of ideas
Ideas that are WIP
WIPs full of MCs
MCs developing
Changing
Evolving change
WIPs evolving with input
Input from readers to be better
Better works for better quality reads
Quality reads paving the way for future authors
Future authors with amazing talents not yet discovered
Talents not yet discovered but WIPs and another week ahead!
Believing yet wondering if the week ahead will fly by just as fast?

Fractured Fairy Tale-Gender flipped

My favorite fairy tale…

The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf becomes:

The Three Little Piggies and  Miss Wolfie

Miss Wolfie began:

Little Piggies, Little Piggies, do let me come through...

And the pigges responded,

We can’t let you in because our house is a zoo!

Things are just scattered here and there!

A messed house needs cleaning, we’re sure you’re aware!

Tired and worn, Miss Wolfie replied,

But I just need to rest...and a little snack too,

I really don’t mind if your home looks like a zoo?

The piggies asserted, strong and alert:

We can assure you, you’re not welcome now!

Just move on down the road for dessert with the cow!

Miss Wolfie called and insisted to the strong little piggies,

I can wait ‘til it’s clean if that is a must,

I’ll even offer to help you all dust!

But the piggies stayed strong not willing to play,

Oh no, Little Miss Wolfie, just be on your way!

A visit is not what we wish for today!

So Wolfie moved on with her tail dragging behind

And hoped that by visiting the cow she would find…

Chair-Monday's mini-lesson

Teachers Write!  Mini-lesson Monday:
Assignment-use a word from the random Word Generator and follow Jody Feldman's directions for Mini-lesson Monday at Kate Messner's Blog.

I decided to dive-in and let the random word be the starting horn for my piece of writing.   My random word was chair.  Here's my quick write:

     The old wicker chair creaked and cracked uncomfortably as the miserable and swollen woman plopped to her favorite spot.  She stared out the windows of the screened porch sometimes focusing, sometimes blurring as she blinked away the tears.  The news from the doctor was not what she wanted to hear.  She thought that she would be a lucky one-the "get-away-girl" who'd escape this life without the "c" word invading her body's cells. 

      As she reflected on the news, she realized that the fortune teller had been wrong...the cancer had come home to rest in her bones, her stiff, aching bones.  How would the rest of her life look now?  The questions began to drive through her brain like race cars on the beltway at rush-hour and then slowed...What would she be able to do?  When would her body finally quit on her?  Why did this have to happen when she'd finally found a peaceful place to reside?  How would her family react to the news?  How soon should she begin to plan the funeral?  What financial plans should she arrange?  Who would take care of the children?  She continued to wonder about the death sentence she'd been handed and dozed off to sleep...

Reflection on the process:
I really like using the random word generator to percolate an idea for today's writing.  I surprised myself by quickly thinking about what I knew about chairs and seats that I'd seen in my life.  The character who's life I took this scene from is really my grandmother...she was diagnosed with bone cancer shortly after we'd found her a great house to live in near my parents, where she was happy until she passed from bone cancer...She did have a favorite wicker chair that she always rocked in and would watch out her front porch to catch the latest happenings around her.

I could see how using this with students could be beneficial.  I am thinking that they might need modeling first for a few lessons to see how this would work.  I would try it out as a model first "I do" setting.  Then, I would create one as a class, "we do" and then see how they are getting it.  I might then ask them to try it on their own "you do" during independent writing time.  Thanks for this suggestion Jody!

I also like the setting bank and character bank that Rosanne suggested and will be adding those to my writer's notebook:
Setting Bank
1. List ten places that you have lived in your lifetime. It need not be 10 different towns. Different places in one town are fine. Summer camp, visits to grandma, college dorm, basic training—they all count as places you’ve lived

2. List ten places to which you feel a strong emotional connection. The emotion can be positive or negative. Either is powerful. (it’s okay to have repeats in the bank. That can tell you something useful about where your heart lives.)

3. List ten places you’ve visited on vacation or places you’d love to visit in your lifetime were money and time no object.

4. List ten places from which your ancestors or in-laws come.

5. List ten books or movies that have settings you’ve found particularly captivating. (you may want to include a brief note about what attracted you to the setting.)

Here is your “bank” of 50 setting seeds which are likely to be fruitful in your own writing. Use them as a jumping off place for deciding where to set your next story. For example, I listed Paris under #2 and #3 so I made it the setting for part of Second Fiddle. The combination of emotional connection and first hand experience made it easy to write about with both warmth and realism.

Character Bank
6. List ten jobs whether paying or volunteer that you’ve done in your life.

7. List ten famous people, historical or contemporary, that you would love to share a meal with.

8. List ten ethnicities, religions, tribes, cultural groups, gender or sexual orientations, or political philosophies that are represented in your extended family.

9. List ten people who can make you laugh.

10. Complete this sentence ten times. “I’ve always wanted to _____ like ____________. For example, Dance like Gene Kelley.

Here is your bank of 50 character seeds. None of them is a fully developed character but used in combination, they can help you develop a rich and complex character that is likely to resonate with you. For example, I have always wanted to be able to rope a calf from horseback like my college roommate could. And many years ago I met a Quaker midwife who told me that once during a particularly difficult labor and delivery she had a vision of the Virgin Mary helping her. She didn’t convert to Catholicism or anything, but she did gain an insight into a religious experience that had previously felt very foreign to her. I drew on my friendship with a ranch girl and this intriguing blend of Quaker and Catholic experience to craft the characters in Heart of a Shepherd.

AWESOME WORKOUT TODAY!  THANKS KATE!

A letter from a friend

Tuesday's Quick Write
For Teachers Write
A letter from one character to another in my WIP

Dear "Dusty",
I know that you are new to our school.  So, I am writing this to ask you things I wonder about you.  I understand if you don't want to answer the questions I am wondering about in this letter.  Please know that I really do want to be your friend and I hope that you know you can trust me.  I am not a snitch.  I am really good at keeping people's secrets.
Ok.  So here goes!  First of all, why are you always hoarding extra food that Miss Joyce and Miss Emily give you?  Don't you eat at home?  Do you not have groceries in your house?  Do you want to come to my house and have dinner sometime?  My mom makes the most awesome Mac and cheese!  The only thing is, if you do come to my house, you have to be extra, extra quiet-my dad sleeps during the day cuz he works nights!
Second, I really need to know where it is you are hanging out that you are getting so dirty and dusty.  Plus, I noticed you keep wearing the same clothes over and over.  Do you need some new clothes?  You can borrow my brother's clothes.  I think you look about the same size.
Last of all, you keep checking out all of these Ohio History type books from the LRC. I looked up your account since i am a library helper during 3rd period.  Are you studying or doing a research project?  I could help you, if you need ideas or want to know more about it.

I hope you write back!  Please!
Wanting to be your friend,
Kylee Keuriosi

Reflecting...

Job update:
Just thinking about how the year is ending...4 days to go!  Although the senior level directors wanted to continue to have me as a coach, there is just not enough money to pay for the position.  So, I'll be back in the classroom in the Fall!

Inspired by Ruth's post on reflecting...all the way back in May...
I learned, was stretched by, am excited about and now realize...

This year, especially, I learned the value of asking for what I am seeking...There were occasions this year, where I thought to myself, I'll just ask and see what happens.  I often noticed that I got just what I asked for when I took the time to ask.  So, this taught me to know what I really want and then ask for it...the worst that can happen is nothing. 
I was stretched by my colleagues with whom I worked as coaches and I will miss them dearly.  Some are continuing on as coaches, and others are heading back to the classroom.  We often pushed each other for clarity of thinking and felt comfortable asking deeper questions.  This was great because it added another layer of bark, growing experience.  Our way of working together and asking better questions helped me to ask better clarifying questions of teachers and students.  It also made me a better listener and thinker about questions we asked each other and questions we asked our students.  Were they open or closed, 1 right answer or more than one possibility?  Did the questions prompt extended thinking beyond just giving an answer and did they seek evidence to support the reasoning?
I am excited to learn more about writing this summer as I participate in the virtual writing camp for teachers, Teachers Write! I am learning a lot more about becoming an author, what authors do and how I can be a better teacher of writing.  Yay for summer camp!  I am also thrilled that I will be taking this learning directly to the classroom with me-now this will be interesting!

I have realized that reflecting on what I do leads to valuing what I have done.  The next time I try something, I have these previous experiences to guide me to do better.  Also, writing things down gives a point of reference to go back to as I reflect.  I think I am becoming better at reflecting which is a key part of learning.  It's also important because the over-arching goal for my district is "creating a culture of examining our professional practice".

Outline for WIP

How to create a plot outline in 8 easy steps:

Link: http://www.how-to-write-a-book-now.com/plot-outline.html

I think I am someone who suffers from “perfection paralysis”(as someone noted on one of the posts-sorry I don’t remember who).  I just don’t know how to get started sometimes.  So when we were charged with today’s mini-lesson of creating an outline of a WIP (work in progress) or an outline of a favorite book, I decided to go with creating a WIP outline.  Then my natural curiosity (as my friends Levonia, Rosemary and Kristi call it) took over and I sought out a way to outline a book via Google.  The link above lead me to this format.  So here is my plan (very sketchy at best)-it’s not anywhere near perfect so it’s a stretch for me to put this out there.

Goal: “Dusty” shows Kylee Keurios ways to learning more about history through this secret location in the school

Consequence: Kylee threatens to tell other classmates about Dusty’s secret

Requirements:  Dusty has to show Kylee what he knows about the secret way to the knowledge

Forewarning:  There is danger involved with going to the secret places

Costs:  keeping the secret will keep others from learning lessons of history

Dividends:  Other characters who learn about the secret share with others

Prerequisites: what events will be shared? (research needed)

Preconditions:  Who or what might get in the way of sharing the secret

Still have a lot of thinking to do but here is my general outline for getting started.  I am sure there might be subheadings under each…not sure how it will look yet.  I really want the history to be connected with the development/settling of Ohio from territory to statehood…this is my thinking today!

Grandma's Hands

Grandma's Hands...

Grandma's hands were busy hands
Cooking the whole day through
Watching her hold her fa kanal,
many tasks to do!

Frying and flipping the chicken
in the sizzling skillet of lard
Mixing bouillon and onion into the rice
Maybe cooking wasn't so hard.

Smelling butter and brown sugar
Another pan to clean,
In go the sweet potatoes
Creating a yummy scene!

Filling the boiler with water
Turning up the heat,
Stirring in the salt and green beans
Grandma's flavoring can't be beat!

Grandma's tap-tap-tapping spoon,
Making us all aware,
Leading us to the table
Hearing food would soon be there...

Grandma's hands were serving hands,
Dinner hot and ready,
Bringing food out to the table,
Carrying slow and steady...

Leading us in saying Grace
Hands folded in to pray
Thanking for the delicious food
She labored on all day!

Devouring tasty morsels
Going back for more,
Filling and piling food on our plates
Pallet pleasure to be sure!

Now her spoon, a scraping spoon
Cleaning up the dishes,
Piling up inside the sink
Floating there like fishes...

Grandma's hands were cleaning hands
Washing and putting things away,
Readying the kitchen for a rest
Until the dawn of a new day...

I dedicate this poem to my Grandma Helen Sandor Farkas.
She was always cooking tasty treats for someone...with her fa kanal in hand!
Miss you Grammie!  Thanks for all your work...
I never appreciated you as much as I should have while you were here...