May I share a melody and invite you to think about lilacs today? Composed by Sergei Rachmaninov around 1900, the song Siren enhances a poem by Ekaterina Beketova (1855-1892) who, in her short life, wrote poignant verses begging to be set to music. In the … Read more
It’s springtime and school competitions are blooming, at least in our little world. Today’s extravaganza involved the granddaughter getting on a bus (exciting for a 3rd grader who does not ordinarily ride school buses) and traveling to a neighboring school for a Fine Arts Competition. … Read more
Trees block our view of the sunrise. What else did I expect once we left the open skies of Texas for the forested hills of Winston-Salem? No surprises there. Of the things I miss about Texas, the wonders of the sky matter the most. Serious … Read more
My refrigerator is covered with oblong magnets stamped with art. I buy these after museum visits and, yes, I know: they are kitschy. Plus they are overpriced and the paintings aren’t well reproduced. Still, I get a kick out them, particularly watching them migrate while … Read more
Even after all these years, William Ernest Henley’s Invictus remains the one poem memorized in school that won’t leave my mind. It’s not that I don’t enjoy it being there. But, seriously, why has it lingered while so many others left? Partly I know the … Read more
“They’re so orange.” A selection of paints? A pile of fabric swatches? No. This was Daughter #1’s comment about, of all things, a list of consonants in her poetics text. We read aloud “b, c, d, f, g, h,. . . v, x, y, z,” … Read more
I am a geek. I know this because I can see it in my children’s eyes when I discover any sort of academic tidbit hiding in real life and attempt to point it out to them. Sometimes they smirk or even glaze over a bit. … Read more
