wordsfromanneli

Thoughts, ideas, photos, and stories.


48 Comments

Grade Three-Four Coup

This post is inspired by those beautiful photos on Lynette’s blog where she often showcases the lakes to the north and south of Penticton, B.C. (Okanagan Lake and Skaha Lake).  Please visit her blog by clicking on the link at the end of this post.

On one of Lynette’s posts I told her that the kids in my class threw me into Okanagan Lake and I promised I’d post the photo if I could find it.

Well, it’s not flattering. I look like a drowned rat, but you can see from the look on the kids’ faces that they loved every minute of it.

It  was an end-of-the-school-year picnic on Okanagan Lake and I had the help of a few of the parents to supervise and make sure no one got into trouble at the lake. I should have hired someone to save me from getting into trouble myself.

I had such a lovely class and we had a great picnic and games by the beach. But then I heard someone whisper a call for rebellion.

“Let’s throw the teacher into the lake!”

I looked for the parent helpers who suddenly were nowhere to be seen. Next thing I knew, four of my little angels had hold of my limbs, an arm or a leg each, and swung me back and forth. I heard them shouting through my squeals, “One! Two! Three! HEAVE!”

And “Splash!” That’s all she wrote.

 

I still remember shy little Maureen, grinning like crazy. I think it was her mother who took my picture to immortalize the drowned rat who was her child’s teacher.

That was decades ago, but I remember that splash like it was yesterday.

It’s lucky for those little eight- and nine-year-olds that I loved them all so much.

 

Lynette’s posts:

Sunday Bench

 


36 Comments

Red, Aren’t You?

These pears are one of my favourites. Firm and juicy and not so quick to bruise after you pick them.

They are red. Aren’t you?

Let me try that again. Put a little bit of French into the second part.

They are Red Anjou.

So delicious.

These pears are believed to have originated near the city of Angers, France, which was the seat of the Plantagenet dynasty. The pears showed up in the United States in 1842 and now represent 34 % of the  U.S. pear market.

I’m not surprised they’re popular. They are so tasty.


48 Comments

Iris

This is the last of my alternating flower and bird photo poems. I suppose I could call them phoems. Thank you to those who hung in there until the end. I’ll spare you now and space out my posts a little more.

I love the heat, yet here I am,

With lolling tongue stuck out,

But please don’t take offense, madame,

I’m no ill-mannered lout.

 

 

I lure the bees in with my tongue,

They pollinate my throat,

And even though I’m still so young,

My beauty is of note.

 


27 Comments

Hollyhocks

I don’t know if any of you followed Barb Beacham’s blog “Life in the Foothills,” but I got to know her a little bit through her posts. Way back, more than ten years ago, she sent me seeds of these hollyhocks from plants in her yard in California, which I planted in my garden here on Vancouver Island.  Sadly, Barb died of cancer in November of 2015, but her hollyhocks live on and I think of her each year as I watch her flowers bloom. She had a great sense of humour and I admired her creative writing. I still miss her.

The hollyhocks are strong and fine,

They bloom so straight and tall,

They like to stand up in a line,

And stay until it’s fall.

 

The flowers are like megaphones,

But silently they stand,

They like a group, but standalones

Do fine and look so grand.


23 Comments

Lunaria

Otherwise known as money plant, silver dollar plant, and honesty (for its seed pods’ transparency).

My lengthy bloom should suit your needs,

You’ll find me in your garden,

With dollar coins to hold the seeds,

My greed I hope you’ll pardon.

 

I don’t ask much, just water me,

I’ll grow most anywhere,

In every yard I ought to be,

I’ll grow up tall and fair.