Tricotomania and more

Thanks to Andrea, I have recently found some really helpful business/life advice and I thought I’d share some of it with you. I started my own business a couple of years ago and after the first flurry of finding a few clients, I haven’t really worked that hard on growing or maintaining it. The work comes in big waves at predictable times of year and as long as I do a bit of work contacting existing clients at those times, I get enough work to keep those peaks maxed-out. I’m making a reasonable amount of money and have lots of time to homeschool and do other things. I went to a conference a couple of years ago where I met one new client. I got another new client by word of mouth. That client was also an organizer for another conference and hired me to give a presentation at that conference, out of which came a couple of new clients.

I love the work I do. Getting word-of-mouth recommendations is a good sign. As is all the repeat business. I also get lots of direct thank yous from people I work with, both the people who pay the bills and the people I help directly. I help university professors with their research plans and grant applications. Right now my clients are mostly university research offices or deans. They hire me to give presentations about grants to faculty and to review draft grant applications and provide comments. Like I say, they are happy with the work. And so are the faculty that I advise. And that work is some of what I want to be doing. I think it will remain a big part of my business. But it isn’t all of it.

One problem with that work is that the demand is concentrated in two 6-week periods. During those times I’m busy but the rest of the year is pretty slow. I can’t really do more work in those periods, so I can’t take on any more of that type of client because they will all want the same times of year. I started the business before I was homeschooling and one of the reasons that I slacked off on growing it was because I started to homeschool and needed to figure out how much time that would take and how I could balance the two. Now that we’ve been homeschooling for a couple of years, and Tigger is getting older, I think I can see how growth could be compatible. But growth means thinking differently about the business.

What I’d really like to be doing is something like life-coaching for academics. So still the focus on academic research planning, including grants, but working directly for the individual researchers/professors to help them be successful in their own terms and reduce their stress. Helping with grant applications might be part of that, but also helping people make longer term plans about their research and figure out when and where to apply for grants, helping with publication strategies, helping find time to do research and maybe provide some accountability so it doesn’t fall off of their to do list (as it so often does in favour of things like teaching preparation and administrative duties that have real deadlines and other people expecting things). I know people outside of higher education think that all academics care about is their research but most of the academics I know really struggle to find time to do their research because they are committed to teaching and it really can fill up all the space available.

Andrea pointed me in the direction of The Fluent Self. Havi Brookes has a bunch of interesting products and maintains a blog. She calls herself a “habits educator” and procrastination is one of the habits she can help with. I have her free sample material and thought it was interesting. Recently I took the plunge and purchased her Procrastination Dissolve-o-Matic. And I’m really liking her approach. I’ve been procrastinating about growing the coaching side of the business. I always wanted to do that kind of work, but when I started, the easiest way to get going was to use my contacts in research offices, to get the related work for them. Because the other thing was hard, I put it to one side and have basically been ignoring it. And I was getting enough work so it just stayed in the background and I didn’t pay it much attention. This kind of procrastination is what Havi refers to as “life procrastination”. It isn’t the little day to day stuff where you can say “If I didn’t spend so much time futzing around on the internet, I’d get that done.” It’s more of a big thing looming in the background that you are just ignoring while you get on with all kinds of other things, many of which are good things, like homeschooling, doing the business I am doing, … and a bit of futzing around on the internet.

I should note that Havi’s approach is what we in this household call (affectionately) “hippy shit”. We mean that in the best possible way. But it isn’t for everyone. (She has a page about what kind of people she wants to work with.) In fact, most people probably think it isn’t for me. When I was pregnant I signed up for an ante-natal yoga class (in North America you’d say “pre-natal”). It ran in 4-week blocks. And a few weeks in my partner admitted to me that he had expected me to come home from that class swearing and complaining and never go back. It’s not like I got pregnant at the beginning of our relationship or anything, either. We’d been together on and off for about 6 years at that point. He knew me pretty well.

I started going to that class when I was about 14 weeks pregnant and went every week right through my pregnancy. It was great. A bit of yoga. A bit of “what went right, what went wrong this week”. Some cool breathing techniques. Some basic anatomy instruction about birth. A bit of aromatherapy. All in all “hippy shit”. And it was great. My memory of labour is that it was tiring. Although there was some pain, it was all manageable. I had no drugs. I was in labour for many hours and did not swear once. Not once. In the normal course of a day, I swear frequently. I did not swear in labour. Most people who know me IRL think that is completely implausible. That’s how good that particular brand of hippy shit was.

As I was reading through the Procrastination Dissolve-o-Matic the other day, I come across similar things. A bit of yoga. A bit of breathing. And this piece of advice: “Resistance is futile.” The ante-natal class teacher said it this way: “What you resist persists.” This sounds crazy the first time you come across it. But it works. Really. I figure if it can work for labour pain, it can work for crazy emotional baggage. So I’m all up with not resisting (fighting, beating, or other violent resistance metaphors) my procrastination. And even just doing a little bit of Havi’s technique got me to write 2 e-mails today. One a response to someone I helped (paid for by her employer) who had asked me if there were any opportunities for me to help her with longer term research planning and one from someone I met (paid for by her employer) last spring who was very happy with how I made sense of her research plans (as presented less than clearly in a draft grant application) and wanted more of that “life coaching” for her research life.

I had no idea how to respond to these people who wanted the service that I most want to provide. I was stuck. Mostly on questions of how much to charge. But the intermediate stage in figuring that out is figuring out how much time people need in what kinds of intervals to do what kinds of things. And so I just e-mailed them and asked. I told them that I was stuck but this is what I really want to do and that I’d give them a deal on the coaching in return for some help with the figuring it out. Scary. But totally okay once I stopped worrying about it. And Havi’s techniques helped me do that. Hurray!

That was step 1. Which is more steps than I’ve taken in a couple of years on this particular project so Woo! Hoo! I’m celebrating that little step. And feeling like the next step might be easier.

The to do list (for growing the business) in no particular order:

• sort out a website (I’ve made some small steps on this)
• decide whether it is feasible to do in-person sessions with people or a workshop or something during a big academic conference in May
• figure out this pricing thing (there is a different brand of hippy shit to help with that here; I need to read his blog more because I bet there is more in there that would help me)
  
• talk to some more individual (potential) clients about how this thing might work

For those of you who are academics or know academics who might be interested. Here is my list of “who I want to work with”: social sciences and humanities; no economists (possible exception for feminist economists or other non-mainstream economists); working in Canada (or wanting to work in Canada). And one of my special skills is what one client called the “bablefish for humanists”. If that makes sense to you (or your academic friend), I can help. When I get my business website sorted, I’ll have more information about my background and qualifications, what services I offer, and all that stuff.

While looking for something else, I discovered the BBC Big Cat pages. The internet sure has changed things though the live webcams and the video streaming of the TV program is not available outside the UK. What a shame.

When Tigger was little, we used to watch Big Cat Diary on Sunday evenings while we had our dinner. It is such an amazing program, following specific lions, cheetahs, and leopards in the Masai Mara. Some of the same presenters are still with the program and as I watched an episode of Big Cat Raw on the website, one of the questions was about a leopard (Shadow) I remembered from that time. (I moved to Canada in January 2003 so that gives you a sense of when.) I notice that they now have a Masai presenter as well as the English ones.

Tigger used to be fascinated by this program right along with us. Sometimes if I thought about it, I wondered about watching a program that showed lions hunting and mating to a 3-year old vegetarian but she never seemed to be disturbed by it. In fact, after we had moved here (so she must have been about 6), I remember being in the video store considering renting Two Brothers. It was rated PG but from the blurb, I thought she’d like it. I was explaining to her that it was rated PG for violence but it looked like maybe the violence was tiger violence. She looked at me funny and said something like “But Mummy, tiger violence isn’t real violence. They can’t be vegetarians like people can.”

Anyway, even without the main program and the live webcams the Big Cat site looks like it has some interesting things to explore. I might have to check out more of the site with Tigger. I’m not sure whether she remembers the program or not. The extra features and links are also interesting and include maps and related radio programs. If anyone is studying African animals, this would be a great resource.

Tigger is currently doing a cell biology/microscopy course. That prompted her to get out the microscope her grandmother had picked up for her free or cheap somewhere. She checked it out and thinks it is good for her purposes but we need some slides and cover slips and things. So I suggested that she ask her science teacher where he gets his stuff.

She came home with a borrowed copy of his catalogue from ProlabScientific and advice that it is better to phone them than order online. I note that slides and coverslips are in their back-to-school sale flyer. Hurray. (I also noted that they have a battery operated acceleration timer in the $40 range which is much cheaper than what I’d seen before, when we get back to thinking about physics.) There offices are right here in Ottawa. I’m not sure if that will make a difference on shipping (or mean I have a pick-up option).

For all you people teaching biology: any recommendations on which prepared slides we should order? Tigger would like some.  I don’t want to spend lots and lots of money but I’m happy to get some if they will be of ongoing use. Any ideas?

I dragged that box of stuff up from the basement and spread the contents all over the floor …

As you can see there are big chunks of canvas screenprinted in purple and green (also purple and pink) and several batik things. Still in that Rubbermaid bin is some really nice fabric I saw in Italy many many years ago (pre-Tigger, who is now 11) and just had to have some of even though I have no idea what to do with it, and a clean wool blanket with a few mouse holes in it that I thought could be used to make a jacket or something, possibly dyed. Not on the list for today.

Today, I actually cut up a bunch of that screen printed canvas and made some bags. They have no handles. I think I need to go buy some handle stuff like the handles on the other canvas bags that are around here. There is leftover plain canvas but it is pretty stiff and sewing a tube and turning it might be kind of a PITA. You never know, so could shopping for some stuff to make handles with.

  There is the first one, sitting by the sewing machine. The second one is the same except that the side panels are plain white canvas because I didn’t have enough of the screen printed part for all 5 sides. Why I thought it was more important for the bottom to be printed than the sides, I cannot explain. It made sense at the time.

Tomorrow I will tackle the pink and purples stuff (which has circles instead of hexagons) and make a couple more. And decide what to do about handles. And then I might throw out some of the other stuff and maybe decide which stuff is worth doing something with. I do like some of it, but some of the batik things are creative experiments that didn’t work. There is no good reason for me to have them 12 years on, much less having moved them across the ocean in a shipping container.

As I was loitering at the children’s information desk in the library today, I leafed through a magazine from the Children’s Book Centre they had sitting on the counter. In it I came across details of a contest associated with Children’s Book Week (November 15-22). The contest deadline is December 15th and winners will be announced in April. It is open to kids in grades 2 through 6 and since school is based so firmly on age, I’m assuming you just figure out which grade you kid would be in where s/he in school. Individual kids can enter. They encourage teachers (and librarians) to use this as a basis of activities but it looks like it is not necessary for entries to come through schools. Details can be found here. And there is a link to a PDF of the entry form on that page.

It seems that in this house the deadline imposed by a contest and the possibility of winning a $200 bookstore gift certificate are just the motivation needed to actually work hard on one piece of writing, going through the whole process of revision and so on. After the publishing experience, I should have figured this out sooner. Lots of writing happens but revision needs some external motivation.

With that in mind, I also started to look for other possibilities. The Royal Canadian Legion runs a contest for Remembrance Day, though it is unclear whether homeschoolers are eligible. I’ve e-mailed my local branch to ask, and to find out deadlines. I fear I’ve missed this year, since it is only a month away but maybe next year. I noticed a couple of books of poetry specifically on war and peace recently so a little unit on war poetry that includes writing some of our own might be a good idea.

A quick google search led me to the Canadian Authors Association page on writing contests though it is mostly for adult writers.  However, there is a youth category in the local branch contest for young people age 13-17 which isn’t that far off.

This page (at Wordwrights Canada) has some contests but only for 2007-08. There is an interesting one sponsored by Habitat for Humanity (a charity we support) on the meaning of home, deadline November 14th.

This one is not the right age group for us but if you have a child in grade 4 or 5, the World Literacy Council has an annual creative writing program linked to their Write to Read program. I found information on the TVO site.

Folks in Manitoba and Saskatchewan should keep an eye out for this year’s McNally Robinson Dear Canada contest for kids in grades 5 and 6. Last year’s deadline was in April. And GMAC seems to sponsor a contest with a spring deadline too but there doesn’t seem to be details of this year’s contest yet. A couple of different sources had links to this page, so maybe that’s the place to go when it comes back.

If anyone knows of others, shout out in the comments.

Praire Poppins had just an inspiring post up yesterday with lists of ideas for handmade gifts for the holidays. I love reading her blog and often wish I could be that relaxed about making things on a regular basis. I’m still in a mode where I feel like that is a “hobby” for my “spare time”. This is nuts, I know. But I’m working on it slowly.

Charlie also had a good post up about the nature of creativity the other day.  He’s addressing a different audience but I think his stages of the creative process make a lot of sense. And they really help those of us who struggle with the “I’m not creative” issue to see what it really looks like and how to nurture it. And yes, I struggle with that, too. I have long thought that I wasn’t creative. Quilting and knitting have really brought me a long way with the creativity but it still feels quite dangerous when I step outside certain frameworks. Designing quilts felt safe because I didn’t have to draw anything but straight sided geometric figures. I’m good at math. I can do that. And I think that gave me the confidence to play with colours and things.

Anyway, the following have been incubating for various lengths of time. Some I just need to go and put into action. Others I need some help with because I don’t actually know what to do next.

Make canvas tote bags. This needs action. Many years ago I did a textile arts class (which is where I met Emily, I think) and I have some heavy canvas that I screen printed for dining room chair seat covers in the basement. Those chairs are long gone and the colours aren’t going to go with my kitchen but I bet they would make good shopping bags.

Make cards with some of my photographs. Yeah, that sounds funny doesn’t it. Me and photographs. But I do have some I took quite a while ago that are interesting close-ups of nature — ice formations, tree bark, etc. I’ve messed around with them a bit in iPhoto and I really like them and they look good printed out. I’ve done a couple of one-off cards but the problem is the size of paper.  This one needs help. Is is possible to get square cards made with digital photos for a reasonable price? And how? Or can you buy supplies and print them (probably not ideal)? I don’t even know what to ask at a printers to get a decent price. Some look best cropped square but there are others that would be best as rectangles. I’ve even wondered about the viability of printing enough to sell.

When I go down to the basement to find that canvas I suspect I will also find any number of other bits of batik, screen printing and whatnot from that class (we did it for several terms; it was fun). I should really think of something to do with that stuff, too. That will really need some incubation though. I think I’ve always worried they wouldn’t wash well but I have used a couple of the batik pieces either as patches for Freya’s pants (when she was smaller) or as coasters and they seem to hold up just fine. So maybe some creative appliqué is in order.

I also know that there is an only-just-started baby quilt in a basket somewhere (the baby it was originally intended for is now 2.5 years old). Also a Mariners Compass quilt square (probably cushion sized, but I’m not sure) that I started before I  moved to Canada (so that would be 2002).

And I must knit baby hats. Friends are having babies in December. And toddler hats. That 2.5 year old likes my hats.

When I went to pick up the rest of the purple wool the other day, I got distracted by a new shipment of Fleece Artist yarns. I’ve admired their Celtic vest for a while but there was never a colourway that I liked. This time they had a really nice on with a deep burgundy, turquoisey blue, yellow and orange. (Which I can’t see on their website. And they don’t put colour names on the skeins because there is so much variation.) I thought it would look great with my burgundy cords. So I snatched it up. Only later did I discover that there was only enough yarn for the small size. I am not a small size.

Throw into this mix that  for the past few days I have felt like crap. I’ve had a cold and that has mostly meant that I have had no energy, shivers, and have needed to just lie on the sofa for long stretches of the day. Reading tired my eyes out pretty quickly. So knitting something on 7mm needles with a stitch pattern that was a little bit interesting but not complicated seemed like a good idea. In this enfeebled mental state, I decided to just cast on and go and see what happened.

Well, the obvious happened. I knit the back and about half of one front and realized that I wasn’t going to have enough yarn for a large vest. Still living in hope, I got out a damp cloth and my steam iron and blocked what I’d done. Nope. There was nowhere to make any yarn savings. On top of that, this is a short vest and I really could do with making it longer. So I’ve ripped it out and am in the process of skeining it up on the niddy-noddy to spritz and let dry to get rid of the kinks.

My options are: (1) buy another skein and knit the large size with more length. This pattern is knit from 2 balls alternating so even getting a coordinating colourway would work just fine. But it’s $40 a skein and I’m not sure I want and $80 vest. (2) knit something else with the yarn, like a stole or a poncho-type thing. The stitch pattern is really nice, flatters the multi-coloured yarn, and is quite squooshy. I think if I knit a bit rectangle and then attach one short end to the opposite end of the long side it could work. I’d have something to wear with my cords to keep warm and my hands would still be free (a stole would mean forever adjusting it).

I think I’ll probably go for option 2, not least because I don’t want to go back to the yarn store. And I really should knit some more of Jaali. Speaking of which, I have started. It starts with a cable and hem that you knit and then pick up stitches along the side of. So I only have 17 stitches on the needles. I’ve done about 4 or 5 of the cables. Now that this cold seems to have moved into its end phase (more stuffy but also more energy) maybe I can cope with the little needles again. But first I must finish untangling and reskeining my Fleece Artist…

Oh, and I might look for something suitable at Rhinebeck to knit the darn vest in.

I picked up Donna Jo Napoli’s Fire in the Hills at the library the other week. We’ve read some of her work before (The King of Mulberry Street) and really enjoyed it. Excellent historical fiction. This one is shelved in the teen section and refers to things younger kids might not be ready for (like rape and prostitution; no vivid descriptions or anything, but recognition that it happened). But this is another excellent book about WWII that focuses on something that I certainly haven’t come across much.

The main character is an Italian boy, Roberto, who is 14 at the beginning of the story and 16 by the end. The novel covers the period from 1943 to the end of the war and tells the story of Roberto’s return to his home city of Venice. Through flashbacks you get some of the story of how he came to be on an American ship attacking Sicily at the beginning of the book and some idea of what he’s seen of the war before this story begins. I notice on the jacket that it is a sequel to Stones in the Water. We haven’t read the first book and that didn’t affect our enjoyment of this at all.

The bulk of the book deals with Roberto’s involvement with the Italian resistance, the partigiani. This is fascinating material and gives a very interesting perspective on the war. First of all it indicates how complicated allegiances were and how and why they might have shifted. You get a view of the war from the ground but kind of from the margins.

But you also get a very good sense of both the horror of war and how people might respond to that. It is interesting that Roberto has seen a lot of horror and this has made him more pacifist. He doesn’t want to kill anyone. This is treated as a valued option within the story and he finds many ways to help the resistance that don’t involve killing anyone. This aspect of the story provides a realistic treatment of some very complicated ethical dillemmas. And they are treated well. We see the necessity of fighting back against brutality. We see the illogic of much of the violence. And we see a very human character grapple with notions of honour and pacifism. There are no easy answers and the book doesn’t give any. There is no Hollywood ending.

For people who want to avoid representations of violence and brutality, you won’t want to read this book. We all respond to representations of violence differently and we need to make our own judgements. For those who are prepared to read about violence if it is dealt with well, I recommend this book. It certainly doesn’t pull any punches on the brutality of war. But it doesn’t glorify violence either or provide unnecessarily graphic detail. There is no attempt at some kind of sado-masochistic pleasure and the violence is not there to entertain. But war is brutal and this is not glossed over.

Tigger did not seem upset by the book though we haven’t talked about it in detail. She did say that it was definitely a daytime book. I would not recommend this as a bedtime read aloud.

As with many of the best historical novels, there are some notes at the end providing some of the basic facts. In addition, the songs of the partigiani are an important part of the story and the author directs you to websites where you can hear some of these songs and learn the lyrics. She states that the most well known of the resistance songs is Bella Ciao which you can learn here. The music is one of the things that Roberto uses to conquer his fear and keep himself going in hard times. It might be interesting to learn some of the songs and talk about them in relation to how music can help us through difficult times.

For those who want their children to learn about war without glorifying it and to address the complex issues war raises, this would be a good addition to your library. I might now have a look at Stones in the Water, too, though I think it might deal with the more well worn issues of deportation and life in the camps.

Sometimes I wonder whether new readers of the blog make a funny WTF face when they see the blog title. I know some of my knitting buddies still read here but I also worry sometimes that they might not care so much about all the homeschooling stuff. I’ve been in a knitting funk. I did those stranded hats when I was in Europe and some mittens. (I’d link to those blog posts but I know the photos got lost in the move from Typepad.)

I have an almost finished sweater (this one; there are other posts after that one, in the knitting category, that give some of the backstory; I like the fact that the year doesn’t show up in the date of the post but it is at least 2 years ago) in the basket in the living room that brings up all kinds of negative feelings when I even think about picking it up again. I had such great dreams for that sweater and then the sleeves were too long (waaaaay too long) and I took out the sleeves and then I tried it on and it seemed to big and I took back a bit at the shoulder and restarted the sleeves (top down, picking up from around the armhole) and … well it still sits there. Beautiful cushy yarn. I think maybe I overthought it and should have just knit something straight from the pattern.

Hanami was great. It reminded me that I love knitting lace. And I got lots of compliments on it when I wore it to church a couple of weeks ago. And I’ve done some socks. For my dad and for a friend. They were both very appreciative. And looking through some of the photos I realize I’ve also done that wrap sweater for myself, a baby sweater for a friend, and the little vest for Tigger. But I haven’t been inspired.

And then Twist Collective came out. I bought two patterns. And then didn’t do anything about either of them. The whole idea of starting a project that might go horribly wrong like the unfinished sweater in the basket seems to have been holding me back. But the other day I went to the LYS to look for yarn. I took some patterns with me that I thought I might like to knit and looked at all the yarn in the shop several times. Picked it up and felt it. Considered it.

The only thing that really spoke to me was some Lang Merino Superwash. I wasn’t sure if the gauge was right for Jaali but it looked close. And then I had a total freeze about colour. But I looked and felt and considered. And walked out empty-handed.

Emily is also starting Jaali and posted about her yarn decisions the other day. That prompted me to look up the ball band gauge on the recommended yarn and realize it is the same as that on the Lang. I considered colour a bit more and was still stuck, but realized that if I really want to make it purple, I just need to go get some grey wool fabric and make another pair of the wonder-pants (I have a pattern that fits great and looks great and I even modified it to put decent pockets in it.). I have been thinking about making grey wool pants anyway.

So today I went back to the LYS and stared at the Lang and squeezed it and contemplated colour. There was a great red (only 3 balls) but I already have a lot of red tops and even a great red Manos de Uraguay sweater that I wear a lot in the winter. I seriously considered a couple of shades of orange. I bought an orange t-shirt this summer and I think it looks okay on me but I don’t think I’m ready to dive into orange for a sweater. And there was a really nice plum/eggplant colour (ha, I notice it is officially called “aubergine”). I knit a sweater in some Jo Sharp cotton in that colour a few years ago and wore it lots. I still do sometimes. It’s a great colour for me. And I don’t really have that many purple tops (partly because I can only wear them with my jeans these days; my grey pants are all too big or too dressy).

I bought purple. They only had 10 balls and I need 15, but the other store had 5 more and I can probably pick them up tomorrow or Monday.

And I knit a swatch. A good big swatch. I decided on 3.5mm needles because the pattern gauge is a bit tighter than the ball band guage. I cast-on what should be enough for a 6 inch swatch if I get gauge (plus a couple of stitches each side for a garter stitch border) and knit what should be enough for a 6 inch swatch (plus garter borders). I just measured it and it is 15.5 cm by 16 cm inside the borders. That’s pretty darn close. Now I’m going to wash it and see what happens.

… several days later …

It grew. So I knit another swatch on 3.25 mm needles. This on is 23 stitches and 32 rows to 4″. I’m calling that close enough. Not least because I don’t have a 3 mm circular. And because the really crucial thing is going to be the row gauge on the cables. I’m still undecided on how much ease but will probably err on the side of too little since my stitch gauge is going to make it come out a tiny bit larger and because I have learned from experience that that is the way to err. Fitted is good.

Maybe I’ll go cast on now…

I was reading Sheila’s post about writing poetry with her kids and realized that I forgot to update you all on my own poetry challenge.

First, I now read the poem that Becky posts on Fridays instead of skimming over it or skipping that post altogether. Sometime’s I need to force myself to do it because my instinct is still to skim or skip. I discover that “it will not kill me” (as I say to Tigger about eating the odd raisin/bit of zucchini/etc) and that it isn’t even painful. I need to keep doing this until my instinct shifts a bit.

Second, I am hosting Teatimes when it is my turn with our homeschool group. My first session of that was this past Tuesday. I went to the library on Monday and grabbed a few things off the shelf to add to the collection of poetry books that we have. The kids each brought something. I made tea and fruit punch. Tigger made cookies and picked flowers from the garden for a centrepiece (and chose a tablecloth). Some of the kids were more enthusiastic than others. Some read more fluently aloud than others (2 speak German at home and are less confident about their English, I think). But everyone read. I said it was okay to choose short things. I also said we all had to choose one poem new to us. Baby steps challenges. It was fun. Some of them were practically begging to read another one. After an hour or so I dismissed them to go play.

One thing I noticed is that Tigger likes what might be called grown up poems. The stuff I find vaguely scary.  I don’t know what the other kids thought but I noticed a real difference in style between what she chose to read and what others chose to read. She also like Shel Silverstein and John Hegley but she chose to read other stuff. This is clearly an area where I need to take a lead from her and not be scared of this stuff.

So the book Sheila mentioned about how to write poetry sounds like something we could maybe do in our December meeting or next term or something. Though apparently Tigger wrote some poetry when she was on holiday in the Gaspésie recently.