Weekend Round-Up

A Favorite Seasonal Poem  

Spring
by Mary Oliver

Faith
is the instructor,
We need no other.

Guess what I am,
He says in his
incomparably lovely

young-man voice.
because I love the world
I think of grass,

I think of leaves
and the bold sun,
I think of the rushes

in the black marshes
just coming back
from under the pure white

and now finally melting
stubs of snow.
Whatever we know or don't know

leads us to say:
Teacher, what do you mean?
But faith is still there, and silent.

Then he who owns
the incomparable voice
suddenly flows upward

and out of the room
and I follow
obedient and happy.

Of course I am thinking
the Lord was once young
and will never in fact be old.

And who else could be, who goes off
down the green path, 
carrying his sandals, and singing?

Vegan French Toast

Cook's notes: Check out this link for several Sweet Healthy Breakfast Recipes

 http://frame.bloglovin.com/?post=4836115650&blog=3320251

Follow this link for more information on Top Ten Best Historical Fiction Books for Kids http://www.pragmaticmom.com/2016/04/top-10-hstorical-fiction-books-kids/ 
Celebrate spring with Blackberry Lime Smoothies! They are sure to bring a little extra sunshine your way!

http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/blackberry-lime-smoothie/#more-23571

Best New Book Discovery

In her first work of nonfiction, Lee Smith utilizes wit, wisdom, and graceful prose for which she is known for as a writer to share stories (a collection of essays) of her early days in the small coal town of Grundy, Virginia—and beyond.

For the inimitable Lee Smith, place is paramount. For forty-five years, her fiction has lived and breathed with the rhythms and people of the Appalachian South. But never before has she written her own story. Set deep in the rugged Appalachian Mountains, the Grundy of Lee Smith’s youth was a place of coal miners, mountain music, and her daddy’s dimestore. It was in that dimestore--listening to customers and inventing life histories for the store’s dolls--that she began to learn the craft of storytelling.

One of the best things about this book is that it told many stories--the stories of Smith as a child, a writer, a teacher, a parent, a wife.  I particularly liked when she shared details of her writing life. It is a heartfelt memoir written with beauty, grace and her trademark humor. A memoir that is not to be missed.