I Received a Beautiful Gift: It has Tickled my Heart AND is Inspiring this Weeks Posts on WORDS…Thank You Donna Ridge!
The universe always delivers! Last year we sold our townhouse to a lovely couple for Ontario, Donna and James Ridge. Crazy coincidences, they are from the Burlington/Hamilton area. Donna is a semi retired teacher who taught with H.W.D.S.B. the same board I taught with for over 20 years! They both love reading, words and nature (avid hikers, cyclists and birders). James in particular is an outstanding writer and published author. They have both been encouraging and supportive of my journey as a writer. I like to think as we enter upon our first year of new friendship it has been a year of mutual inspiration and fun.
This past weekend I was asking myself: Will I be able to be motivated to post blogs in the hopes of meeting my goal of 100 posts in 100 days? On Saturday Donna gifted this 900-year-old fairy, The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. WOW, this book is a treasure! I highly recommend that every family pick up a copy as it is a poetic, artistic and meditative reminder of the powerful magic of nature. The artwork by Jackie Morris is hypnotically alluring. The extensive collection of 40 creatures lost, reminds us how we have lost touch with nature and replaced it by the world of virtual reality. We are reminded there is a breathtaking natural world. We only have to reflect on these 40 words which we use to identify and celebrate our purest and sacred creatures, (sans hidden agendas, politics and self absorbed emotions), our forgotten innocent animals. Robert Macfarlane waves his magic word wand and enraptures us with mindful poetry. The subtitle aptly is titled A Spell Book. THANK YOU, I am mesmerized AND I am inspired for a week of reflective writing!
This is an excellent book for the children in your family. I highly recommend it as a unit of study when hiking and teaching your children at home. It can be used as a scavenger guide to find these creatures. The PDF guide is an outstanding resource to guide learning in terms of literary development plus discoveries in natural sciences.
https://www.johnmuirtrust.org/assets/000/002/830/LOST_WORDS_Explorers-Guide_pages_original.pdf.
If you aren’t blessed with children in your lives then pick it up to support your own pleasure hikes and use it as an entry point for meditation.
Savouring this book, thinking about our new friends Donna and James and their love of words I have begun a week long of pondering about the power of words. I can only imagine that given our physical distancing from the world at large the words we are using at home are weighing heavier on all of us whether it is for ‘teaching lessons’ or communicating with dignity and love.
Dazzle’s Challenge: Take a hike in the forest and take pictures of creatures and or plants that capture your attention. Return home to write a poem and or draw what you have seen. Be creative.
Quick Take Away Links:
https://www.thelostwords.org/video/
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34837005-the-lost-words
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-friday-edition-1.4889158/the-lost-words-book-gives-new-life-to-nature-terms-cut-from-oxford-junior-dictionary-1.4889465
