monday's mulling: writer's block

Back in the days of teaching Language Arts (Reading and Writing) one of the exercises I would have my students do is a free write. They could write about anything they wanted for 10 minutes, topic of their choice, their pen had to stay on the paper, and the pen had to keep moving. Blank stares and panic moments. "I don't what to write about. I can't write for 10 minutes straight." This was typically how we began our Mondays. I asked them about their weekends...what did they do, who did they see, any yummy foods or desserts, did they listen to any good music...to prompt some thoughts. To keep writing, to keep the pen moving when there was a writer's block, they made loops. This was a way of relaxing the brain and letting the thought energy flow. It took time and it worked and yes, a few of the little angels pushed this to the limit and we had chats.

I have writer's block right now so this later-in-the-day post is me typing away...keeping the fingers moving. This post will probably be all over the place but it's going to happen. While I was filling this page full of loops, lots of thoughts came to mind. It really does work.

Yesterday, my granddaughter was baptized. She wore her mother's baptismal gown and looked so sweet. The gospel reading was really weird...talking about the division of families due to differences in their views on faith. It didn't seem right for a baptismal celebration, welcoming a new member into the church, and what really irritated me, it mentioned a daughter-in-law turning against her mother-in-law. I guess mother-in-law jokes started back in biblical times. But whatever...it was a beautiful day for both sides of the family.

On our way home from Cleveland, my boss sent out this week's work schedule. We texted a bit and she mentioned that she was exhausted because her son who helps run the farm and the business is on vacation with his wife's family (the daughter-in-law/mother-in-law thing again 😁) and how much she appreciates all that he does. I have a bunch of veggies leftover from the salad I made for the lunch to celebrate the baptism so I've put together a salad to take to her. This morning Todd mentioned having chicken and salad for dinner tonight so I got out a package of chicken thighs and thawed them. He asked me why I was thawing chicken. "For dinner." "It's already taken care of." So now I'm making chicken and noodles to take to my boss. I don't have any wide egg noodles so I'm using the spaetzle that we bought in Frankenmuth, Michigan, last December that has been sitting in the pantry all this time. I'm a big proponent of "use what you got." This lady is such a kind person, hard worker, and does so much to help others. I just want to help her catch a breath.

David from The Adventures of Travel Penguin has traveled to all 50 states and since January has made a weekly post in alphabetical order about a state. In a couple weeks he is going to share his adventures in Ohio. I am looking forward to what he has to say about the Buckeye State.

And now I need to work on the rest of this week's posts. We're having a "Big Chill" weekend with college friends and there won't be time to write but there will be time to gather stories!