It has been a long while away from my blog for me. I am not sure how things got out of hand and then the days kept moving past me until, well, today. So for today, I have scribbled a bit more than usual, and thus it has another section listing 13 wonderful things from these past few days; or rather, one thing for each day I have been away. Well, it is not yet 13 whole days, but I thought to list thirteen things anyways.

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13 Wonderful Things

# 1: Discovering Local Hidden Gems

#2 – Having Everyone Home

My son chose to come home for the three-day weekend, and I am glad for it (that he wants to visit whenever the opportunity arises<3). We did have a brief outing together and hiked for a couple of hours or so in the county park I mentioned above, and for the rest of the time, it was homework and study time. We then drove him back to his dorm, stopping midway through for lunch (Trader Joes prepared salads and wraps are a delicious life-saver) and eating in the shade of a tree at some farmland off the highway. All in all, a wonderful weekend.

#3 – Life is Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

So, on our way to drop off my daughter and three other scouts from her troop for a snow camping weekend at Camp Hi-Sierra near Long Barn, CA, last Friday, we noticed an accident. Someone else mentioned that a vehicle had gone off the cliff there and at that particular point in the road, it was a pretty steep drop.

So I worried about it until earlier this week, when I did a search which led me to a news article that talked about the lone male passenger/driver of the truck who had been rescued using the ‘jaws of death’ tool; and only minor injuries after having gone down 400 feet down that mountainside! In fact, the vehicle was finally retrieved on Sunday when we went back to pick up the scouts from the camp (we saw what remained of the truck and that made me doubly glad that the person was recovering somewhere).

#4 – Top Ten (Not Really Ten) Tuesday

This week’s theme for Top Ten Tuesday over at ThatArtsyReaderGirl was books that I have loved but never mentioned. I did mention a few such books in another post here, so here are a few other random reads that I read over the years but haven’t talked about as much as I want to.

• Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• Airport (as well as Hotel and Wheels) by Arthur Hailey
• The Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau. I recall reading this brilliant yet searing novel of racism and rank decades ago and feeling
• Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
• The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
• Word Fun by Michael Dahl

Why is this on the list? Because making up book lists is wonderful indeed!

#5 – Wondrous Words

• geosmin (n): refers to both the earthy scent and to an organic compound with an earthy scent and flavor, produced particularly by microorganisms in the soil.

Geosmin was the smell of survival. – From 52 Ways to Walk by Annabel Streets

This reminded me of one of my favorite words, petrichor, which is the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil.

For Wondrous Words Wednesday over at ElzaReads

#6 – Gold Rush Towns: Stepping Back in Time

#7 – Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

#8 – Found: Wise Words on a Bench

#9 – Some Thoughts on Grammar

It was National Grammar Day on the 4th of March, so here are a couple of quotes that caught my fancy.

• Grammar is the logic of speech, even as logic is the grammar of reason. ~ Richard C. Trench
• If you can’t win an argument, correct their grammar instead. ~ Anon

#10 – Loving the Wild Side

World Wildlife Day snuck past me this week (March 3rd). The United Nations made this official in December 2013 at the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly. This special day “has now become the most important global annual event dedicated to wildlife.” While the date is over, we should work towards the goals to protect our wildlife everyday. And of course, you can choose to celebrate by learning more about wildlife through books!

#11 – Airbnbs

We stayed at our very first Airbnb last weekend, and here are my thoughts about it (extracted from my review):

Barry and Davy Jones helped make our first Airbnb stay as one filled with wonderful memories to cherish. Their place is beautiful, comfortable, quiet, and to put it simply – more than perfect! Really the best place to stay for visiting the local Gold Rush towns, Calaveras Big Trees, and even Yosemite. 

#12 – Help the Refugees

And speaking of Airbnb, you might have already seen this piece of news about how people all over the world are using it as a means to donate directly to Ukranian families. In addition, you can also help house refugees by offering stays for free or at a discount via Airbnb here. Wonderful, right?

A friend of mine who lives in Poland told me he is hosting two families in his apartment, and mentioned how heartwarming it is to see everyone come together to help.

#13 – Taking a Break

While I delight in writing my blog posts and enjoy hearing from all of you, I realize that taking a break can be rejuvenating.

Poetic Sundays: Celebrating Women: Musette

This month, I plan to bring poetic forms created by or popularized by women, in honor of Women History Month. I do feature such forms often; however, for this month, it is a more focused effort. Earlier posts with forms from Emily Romano (who invented today’s featured form) are here and here.

What is the Musette?

The Musette, created by Emily Romano is a short poem of three tercets, with a simple rhyme and syllabic pattern. I am sure you will have as much fun writing one as I did.

The Musette’s Characteristics

At its most basic, the musette’s characteristics are that it is:

• Stanzaic: has three 3-line stanzas or tercets
• Syllabic: with a syllabic structure of 2/4/2 for each stanza
• Rhymed: stanza 1: a/b/a; stanza 2: c/d/c; stanza 3: e/f/e
• Titled: the title should reflect the content

So this is how it looks (minus a meaningful title)

xa
xxxb
xa

xc
xxxd
xc

xe
xxxf
xe

My Example, or Humble First Attempt

Wonderfully Infectious
Laughter
is contagious
my dear

As are
smiles, giggles, and
humor.

So why
not laugh some more
do try!
~Vidya Tiru @LadyInReadWrites

Further reading and h/t

• ShadowPoetry (and you can also find great examples of this form – by Emily Romana, the form’s creator, and others – through the provided link)

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Recently

On My Blog

My recent posts since and including my last Sunday Scribblings:

• Sunday Scribblings #97: Fascinating Fairy Tales and Poems With Power
• The Magic of Picture Books and of Olympics
• Top Ten Twos Day: 22 Wonderful Books With Titles Featuring Duos (of a sort!)

& at Home

Everything I can say has been covered in the 13 Things section!!

Upcoming

On My Blog & Homefront

Hoping a few posts at least:

• Mini-reviews of a few books pending review for a while now (March 7th)
• Review for ‘The Ogress and the Orphans,’ by Kelly Barnhill (blog tour stop on March 8th right here)
• A wordless post on this Wednesday??
• And more…

This Week’s Celebrations

Literary Celebrations (close-to-it also!)

• Literary birthdays this week of March include: Andrea Levy on the 7th; Kenneth Grahame and Kenneth Douglas Stewart Anderson on the 8th; Shashi Tharoor, Rochelle Potkar, and Elizabeth Sewell on the 9th; Johanna Lindsey on the 10th; Douglas Adams on the 11th; Carl Hiaasen, Dave Eggers, Edward Albee, Jack Kerouac, and Virginia Hamilton on the 12th; Ridley Pearson on the 13th
• March 8th is National Proofreading Day
• The 12th is World Day Against Cyber Censorship
• Newspapers in Education Week – starting the first Saturday in March 
• Read an E-Book Week and Words Matter Week – during the first Full Week in March

Foodie Celebrations

• March 7th is National Cereal Day and National Flapjack Day
• The 8th of March celebrates National Peanut Cluster Day
• National Blueberry Popover Day is on March 10th
• March 11th is National Oatmeal Nut Waffles Day
• End the week with a sweet treat as it is National Coconut Torte Day on March 13th

Other Celebrations

• National Be Heard  Day is on the 7th of March as is World Tennis Day (celebrated on the first Monday in March)
• March 8th is certainly important, it being International Women’s Day
• The 9th is National Barbie Day and I do appreciate that of late, they have more diverse dolls (here is one list). It is also National Get Over it Day
  • To be honest, we have never had a Barbie doll at home, simply because I was already grown up by the time this was a fad in India, and my own daughter never seemed to want one when she was younger.
• March 10th is National Mario Day, National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, and International Bagpipe Day. Being the second Thursday in March, it is also World Kidney Day
  • Mario: the first video game I played! Brings back wonderful memories.
• March 11th is National Johnny Appleseed Day and National Worship of Tools Day
• The 12 of March is National Girl Scout Day, National Plant a Flower Day, and National Working Moms Day 
• March 13th is National Good Samaritan Day, National Jewel Day too (so wear your sparklies!), and Daylight Saving Time here in the US (being the second Sunday in March)

Multi-day events

• This week of International Women’s Day (March 8th) celebrates Women of Aviation Worldwide Week, No More Week and International Women’s Week 
• The Iditarod Race started yesterday, the first Saturday in March. I have seen photos and always marvel at everything about it.
• It is also Girl Scout Week (Week of March 12, which is Girl Scout Day)
• And of course, since I missed posting the previous week, here are a few of the many month long celebrations: Irish-American Heritage Month, National Craft Month, National Trisomy Awareness Month, and yes, National Women’s History Month!

Related Reads About Wonderful Things

• Writing this post reminded me of a most beautiful picture book: The Wonderful Things You’ll Be. Click to check my review of this book.

Wrapping up my Sunday Scribblings

So dear reader, you have reached the end of this Sunday Scribblings! As always, I welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions about this post. And do let me know if you plan to celebrate any of these mentioned celebrations this coming week/month? Also, what are some of the wonderful things that happened recently to you or that you heard of?

Linking this to the Sunday Post over at the Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday Salon