Oops - I said I'd be back this week, but I'm trying to get a baby quilt finished before Morgan's shower this weekend. ;0) See you NEXT Friday! This week, our lovely and thoughtful Patricia has the Roundup over at Reverie. Happy November!
Life on the Deckle Edge
Poetry Friday - Go See Carol!
October 24, 2024
Quick wave from Florida - I'm visiting my Florida Fam this weekend but will be back next week. Enjoy all the poetry magic this week at Beyond Literacy Week with our wonderful Carol. :0)
Poetry Friday - Spider, Spider Reprise
October 17, 2024
Click here for a link to the upcycled spider necklace in my Etsy shop. ;0)
Greetings, Poetry Lovers! Many thanks to all for the kind comments, thoughts & prayers in recent weeks as our region (and our family) has been dealing with hurricanes. We got internet back last Friday evening, and Seth and Ginnie (Asheville area) got power back on then as well. They're still waiting on internet and well water testing, but they have running water to use for everything but drinking. My Florida family is cleaning up from Milton, but everyone is safe and well. My brother Mike and his partner Scott in St. Pete went to a hotel there at a higher elevation; with 100 mph winds, not only did the power go out as expected, but water blew in their room through the AC and window seals, soaking the carpet, the wind blew the lobby doors in, and at around 1 a.m., a piece of roof was banging against their window. But they're okay! Please continue to send good thoughts for those who are grieving and for so many who have lost their homes and businesses. It's going to be a long road.
This month, I got another FaceTime from the wee laddie (our two year-old grandson) with a fun surprise from their mailbox (second time this has happened!). Highlights HELLO reprinted another one of my poems, this one from six years ago. Many of you have seen it, but since they reprinted it, I will too!
Spider, Spider
by Robyn Hood Black
Spider, spider,
Weave and spin
Down, around,
And up again
Spider, spider,
Time to rest
in your round
And webby nest.
©Highlights for Children
Maria Neradova illustrated the poem.
I wrote this poem about a golden orb weaver who graced the outside of our kitchen window in Beaufort. We have various orb weavers here in the mountains (& they built webs much earlier than usual this year). But I haven't seen my "traditional" golden orb weavers this fall, with their gilded webs. You know what I'm finally seeing in abundance? Joro spiders. They arrived in this part of the country from Asia about a decade ago. They are large and their webs are large! There is some concern that the joros are displacing native spiders; studies are ongoing, I believe. Do you have them where you live? I think they've been making their way up the East Coast.
As far as comparing these two weavers of the woods, here's an article from last year discussing their attributes. And while my daughter Morgan was brave enough to take a photo of the HELLO spread, she'd just as soon not run into any REAL spiders, thank you. I, on the other hand, find them fascinating and am a spider relocator when they insist on making webs at eye level in the back (or front!) door jambs. (They can be territorial, though, and often come right back.) And even though these two types of spiders might give you a Halloween fright, they're not harmful to humans.
I also dropped in a little insert of a Halloween-y necklace I've just listed on Etsy. I happened upon some fun random spider web designs in the endpapers of a 1927 educational book, and, well, I couldn't help myself.
Matt is awfully busy this month with MANY new books and such at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme, but he's kindly hosting the Roundup this week - Many Thanks, Matt!
11 Comments
Poetry Friday - Another Hurricane Update
October 10, 2024
Greetings, Friends & Poetry Lovers - For the third Poetry Friday in a row, I'm afraid instead of poetry I just have a personal update from my phone. Whew, what couple weeks it's been. The Helene update is that the region is still reeling in the aftermath, but Greenville County (SC) is making progress. Schools opened here again on Wednesday. County trucks have picked up 40,000 metric tons of debris as of a couple days ago, and they'll continue until Oct. 31. There are still huge stacks on our little road. We still don't have internet/WiFi in our part of the county, those of us who have Spectrum anyway. More folks are getting power back. Our Seth & Ginnie up in the Asheville area have been volunteering a lot & are still waiting on power. I hope they get it soon, as nighttime temperatures are taking a big dip.
I have a personal Milton update too, as my family is spread out over Central Florida. (I grew up in Orlando.) I didn't sleep much Wednesday night; they certainly didn't! But everyone in our family is okay. Lots of downed trees and power outages. My niece's family is hoping their lake stays in its banks in coming days. My brother Mike & his partner Scott live in St. Pete. They left their home to ride out the storm in a hotel there with an elevation of about 50 feet. They lost power, as expected, but then the 100-plus-mile-an-hour winds blew through the lobby doors and blew water through the window seal and air conditioner into their room, soaking the carpet on that side. An edge of the roof hung down and banged against their window. Then the city shut off all water at midnight because of a line break. I'm sure it's a night they won't forget any time soon. But they are good and their house didn't sustain major damage, though water did come up to the doorstep as evidenced by the water line.
Continued prayers for all who have been affected by these devastating storms. I love October, and I'm used to a sleepless night or two each year during hurricane season, but this year for us has been another level. Stay safe & dry and go enjoy all the Poetry Friday goodness at Jama's Alphabet Soup!
Poetry Friday - Helene Update
October 3, 2024
Greetings, Friends & Poetry Lovers. Trying to post from my phone. I just have an update this week. We did end up in the direct path of Helene as the storm hit the Southern Appalachians. We had dozens of trees down here, and about 15 cut up and cleared out by our wonderful neighbor and his formidable crew and big equipment. We've gotten to know our neighbors better. Who knew I'd be dragging out our hurricane box here instead of at the coast? We lost power overnight Thursday, which means water for us, too, since we're on a well. We were all safe inside and accounted for; our son & future daughter-in-law came here from the Asheville area to ride it out. (They've been in Charlotte a few days this week.) We were beyond grateful here to get power restored Wed. night, and I hope more and more folks can say that each day. So many crews are working hard. In Upstate SC, the death tolll from Helene has now exceeded that from Hugo in 1989. We're about a dozen miles from the NC line, and I'm sure you've seen the apocalyptic-looking images of flooding. We've been a bit cut off from news, but it's overwhelming. Seth & Ginnie aren't sure when they can get back to their home north of Asheville in a lovely small town, but they did eventually hear from neighbors that the houses are standing. They are driving to Asheville Friday to distribute supplies they've bought through a Go Fund Me a friend set up. Thanks for all the care & concern via social media; please keep prayers and support coming for those whose lives have been upended. Helicopters have been going back and forth overhead all week, and I imagine that will continue for a while. I hope to get back to Poetry Friday soon; not sure when we'll have internet/WiFi. Please go see Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference for this week's Roundup. XO, Robyn (PS - The inner city church where Seth is one of the pastors is Haywood Street Congregation if you'd like to look up and/or support. I believe it's haywoodstreet.org but if I leave this attempt to post I'll lose it. Just discovered that. Thanks!)
Poetry Friday - Helene Interruption....
September 26, 2024
Greetings as I post this late Thursday eve; I was SO planning on having a real post this week. Alas, the pup (well, almost 15 months old now) had some complications after neutering last week that still require lots of TLC and another week in a cone, and then Helene came on the scene. All my family as well as some friends (including our Jan!) are in Florida. It's been a busy day of checking in.
And here in the lower Appalachians, we've had a stalled front that was already causing excessive rain, and which then tapped into the Gulf energy and sucked it up like a straw. Rivers are already exceeding their banks. Our son and future daughter-in-law came down from the higher hills north of Asheville to ride this out with us here in the SC Upstate. So we're all under Tropical Storm Warnings (!) and Flood Warnings. Schools in areas around us in Georgia, SC, and NC are closed.
Not sure we'll have power into tomorrow, so let me send wishes for safety to all, and you'll find the Roundup this week with our wonderful Irene. (Here's hoping the storm is not causing too much trouble in Alabama.) She's got a peek into a new book she and Charles are launching next week, THE MISTAKES THAT MADE US.
Poetry Friday - Go See Linda B., Welcoming Fall....
September 19, 2024
Happy Poetry Friday - I've had my hands full with caring for Rookie, who had the dreaded neuter surgery on Wednesday. (Vets recommend waiting until dogs are older now, unlike the way it was last time we had male pups. It's better to wait until their skeletons have fully developed. But I'm discovering it's rougher on THEM - even though it's the responsible and right thing to do, of course.) But Linda Baie's hands have been busy crafting a beautiful poem welcoming Fall, and a lovely host post. Check it out here at TeacherDance.
Poetry Friday - A Spring 2025 Anthology Shout-out
September 12, 2024
Greetings, Poetry Lovers! I don't have a poem this week, but I have the gorgeous cover of a new book of poems coming in the Spring from Candlewick. IF I COULD CHOOSE A BEST DAY: POEMS OF POSSIBILITY is a project that began to bloom from "poetic forever friends" (and I&C Construction Company duo) Irene Latham and Charles Waters several years ago. It features uplifting collage and painted mosaic illustrations by Olivia Sua. (Click here for her website.)
I'm honored to have a poem in this collection, and can't wait to see this beautiful book!
I'm also looking forward to reading all the poems. Here's the list of the 31 poets:
Lacresha Berry * Robyn Hood Black * JaNay Brown-Wood * Joseph Bruchac * Siv Cedering * Emily Dickinson * Rebecca Kai Dotlich * Nikki Grimes * Jolene Gutiérrez * Georgia Heard * Anna Grossnickle Hines * Irene Latham * Renée M. LaTulippe * Nancy Tupper Ling * Sylvia Liu * Rebekah Lowell * Vikram Madan * Guadalupe García McCall * Lilian Moore * Eric Ode * Bob Raczka * Lisa Rogers * Sydell Rosenberg * Laura Purdie Salas * Janice Scully * Teresa Owens Smith * Gabi Snyder * Sarah Grace Tuttle * Amy Ludwig VanDerwater * Charles Waters * Janet Wong
Here's the Amazon link, the Bookshop.org link, and the Barnes & Noble link.
I plan to savor this book when it comes out; it's sure to open the vistas of imagination. And I bet I'll end up giving it as a gift a LOT.
Congratulations to Irene & Charles, and to Olivia Sua, and all the Candlewick team. If we've waited a several years, I guess we can wait a few more months! It comes out March 1, 2025.
Speaking of someone who ignites imaginations, please soar over to My Juicy Little Universe where the amazing Heidi is our host this week. Thanks, Heidi!
Poetry Friday - News From Georgia
September 5, 2024
Greetings, Poetry Lovers - September has arrived, and in the South, school is in full swing.
And we are already trying to process another school shooting. Another horrific, senseless tragedy which has cut lives short and traumatized a community.
When we lived in North Georgia, Jeff & I helped with our kids' church youth group and hosted a weekly high school bible study get-together at our house. One of our regulars was a fun, accomplished, kind, talented young man, an Eagle Scout, who ended up marrying his high school sweetheart (another fun, accomplished, kind and talented young lady in our group). He is now a teacher. He teaches at Apalachee High School in Winder. We've gone a few years without seeing them, but we texted Wednesday night. He had posted early in the day that he and his students were safe.
One of our daughter's former co-workers, a teacher, has a brother who teaches at that school. Our son-in-law works with someone whose good friend is a coach there.
We are all connected. We are praying for the Apalachee High School community, for the families whose lives have been shattered.
Nothing will change until we stop valuing easy access to military-style assault weapons more than we value the lives of our children.
voting booth
every one
is Superman
Robyn Hood Black
Here are a couple of links if you'd like to explore more on the subject. The Brady Campaign has been working on gun violence prevention issues for decades, and here's a link to Sandy Hook Promise.
The very talented Buffy Silverman has our Roundup this week - thanks, Buffy!
Poetry Friday - Go See Susan!
August 29, 2024
I got a bit busy in artsyletters-land this week and didn't conjure up a post, but please go visit Susan at Chicken Spaghetti for this week's Roundup! See you next week, when it will be - gulp! - September!