Adrift on air, land, or sea? Discover your purpose.

Take a good look at my desk while it's cleaned off, because it will not stay this way. There is a reflection of my honey on my computer screen as he sits at his desk. Love my new calendar. I will be sitting in the office chair, but I know you know that I will be "lounging" in that beach chair.

Everybody needs a great escape, a place where you can go in your mind to escape the reality of daily drudgery and doldrums. It's great to have a visual.   

 Be sure to use imagery in your writing. Make the reader feel, see, smell, taste, and hear what you do.

Trade winds rustle the palm frond umbrella which shades me from the blistering sun. My bare back sticks to the plastic cushion; my outstretched legs crisp; and my feet dangle. I arch my sandy toes  toward the curvature of the horizon and breathe in humid tropical air. The lapping waves soothe me into a five minute snooze. I awake, lick my salty lips. I'm sweaty and ready for a dip in the Caribbean Sea, my great escape.

I found this easel at the curb. A perfectly good  easel on one side and a chalk board on the other.

 I still cannot give up teaching. I so enjoy Mondays with Liam.  I spied the cute duckling in an empty box corral at the grocery store, on the side of a Downy box. I retrieved it, took it home, cut out the downy duckling, and after Liam painted the circle blue, we glued it onto his paper. Then he told a story; he used three related sentences. Every story has to have a balloon in it! Literacy begins when children make the connection between their spoken words and printed words. "Look what you said. These are YOUR words." Then we took a field trip.

 We spent the morning at the Science Center exploring air movement of objects. He was fascinated that he could balance a ball on a stream of air. He thought it was a hoot when he aimed the flex hose at me and it blew my hair. Wish you could have heard him giggle.

 At the float zone, children chose different colors, textures, and weights of cloth squares to design their own parachutes using pipe cleaners. Lots of thinking and reasoning going on. If the object was light enough and had an air pocket, the air gust would lift it up through the air tunnel, and it would blow out the open top and drift down. Wise guy realized the ones with many pipe cleaners were too heavy, so he found a cloth with no pipe cleaners, laid it on the white air vent, pressed the button for a burst of air, and was fascinated when his cloth floated gently and continuously to the top, then soared out and drifted down. He played here for half an hour.

Next he discovered air-forced ball play and gravity with tubes, PVC pipes, elbows and Ts. He placed the ball in the opening on the other side and air shot it out. He followed the ball's path...and loved every minute of this activity.

After a nap and late lunch, we went to the indoor "fwimming pool." I told him to say the "S" sound.

"Nana, I want to go to the SSSSSSSSfwimming pool."

It's fun to be two-and-a-half. This was an enjoyable, but a bittersweet day for me. My little guy is becoming a big guy. I was peeling an apple in the sink for his snack when I realized he was standing next to me looking into the sink. He has had a tremendous growth spurt.

You know, we grow in many ways: as writers, parents, grandparents, people. If you are adrift, floating without purpose, stretch yourself. Learn something new, maybe a new word; make a discovery, and surprise yourself.

Now I am off to fill in those little squares on my submission calendar...if I don't get lost at sea.