Don’t we always seem to be looking for some extra time? A few additional minutes here or one more day of our break? That extra hour to finish an assignment? Or just some more time with loved ones? Like I mentioned in an earlier post about making up for lost time, we just need to be conscious of our time and use it well. We should treat time like Golem treats his “precious” – with utmost care.

Lucky for us, this week brings with it some extra time – a whole day in fact – with February 29th! So let us ensure we use it well, and treat that extra time like the once-in-a-four-year gift that it is.

Talking about this extra day every four years, today’s poetic form has a little something extra every fourth line – syllables! While it is not just one extra syllable (like our one extra day for the year), it is similar enough for me to feature it today.

This post contains Amazon and other affiliate links, that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support. Please see the full disclosure for more information. I only recommend products I definitely would (or have already) use myself

Poetic Sundays: The Endecha: The Fourth Line is a Little Extra!

Today, I bring you the endecha, a Spanish poetry form. No reason except what I already mentioned at the start of the post!

So What is the Endecha?

The Endecha is a 16th-century Spanish poetic form. It comes from the word Endechar meaning lament. Hence, these poems typically explore themes of loss, longing, and solitude. The imagery employed in Endecha poetry often conveys a sense of desolation or introspection, and helps convey the complexities of human emotion and experience.

The Endecha’s Characteristics

So the Endecha’s elements are that it is:

• stanzaic: very often written in one or more quatrains. The length of the poem itself is left to the poet, so it can be just one stanza or many.
• syllabic: syllabic count of 7-7-7-11 for each quatrain
• rhymed: I saw a couple different ones among the sources/poems I read, so you can pick any one of these: either abcb / defe /... or xaxa / xbxb / …., x being unrhymed.
• themed (optional): while the word itself means lament or dirge, the form can be used to ponder and emote not just grief

My Attempt at the Endecha: Looking for a Little Extra Time

Ephemeral Echoes: A Timeless Lament
Found an hour on a lost day
Then a whole day gained somewhere
But then all those times did flee
Like sand slipping through fingers, here, then nowhere.

I looked for those escaped hours
Searched high and low for days lost
Little did I realize
more time went by, became a thing of the past.
~ Vidya Tiru @ LadyInReadWrites

Recently

On My Blog & at Home

My recent posts since and including my last Sunday Scribblings:

• 13 Books that Inspired Oscar Winners and More
• Sunday Scribblings #177: See the Elegant and Powerful Kural

My son was home last weekend and we drove him and a friend back to college on Tuesday. We spent the day in his apartment finishing up work before stocking up his kitchen from Costco and then drove back home. But not before we had a sandwich for a late lunch at the amazing High Street Deli. We had the garden burger with their dutch crunch (simply perfect). However, you can customize any of their sandwiches to make them vegetarian if you wish.

And then yesterday, to close out my daughter’s winter break week, we drove to the city by the bay (San Francisco) and walked around Fisherman’s Wharf.

Parking tip for San Fran: during the weekends you can find (with some luck and some searching) a 2 hour parking spot on the road (free!!). Just try to ensure you can walk back to find another spot in that time. You only need to park the car 1/10th of a mile away from the first spot.

Upcoming (Some Extra Time Too!)

On My Blog & Homefront

Planning to use that extra time we get (is it really though?!).

This Week’s Celebrations

Literary Celebrations (close-to-it also!)

• Literary birthdays this week of February/March include: Victor Hugo on the 26th of February; Lawrence George Durrell, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Steinbeck, and Peter De Vries on the 27th; Hermione Lee, Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket!), and Tony Robbins on the 28th/29th; Ralph Ellison and Robert Lowell on 1st March; Dr. Seuss, Peter Straub, Olivia Manning, and John Irving on the 2nd; James Merrill and Patricia MacLachlan on March 3rd.
• February 26th observes National Letter to an Elder Day – celebrate it by sending an elder a handwritten letter to show you care. It is also Tell a Fairy Tale Day.
• Feb 28th is National Essay Day, in honor of Michel de Montaigne (his birthdate), who wrote the first-ever ‘essays’
• March brings with International Ideas Month so let those ideas flow!
• And March 1st being the first Friday of the month observes National Speech and Debate Education Day. 
• It is Read Across America Day on the 2nd of March and the month itself is Reading Month as well as Read an E-Book Month!
• The week of March 1sth through 7th observes National Ghostwriters Week as well as National Write a Letter of Appreciation Week annually.

Foodie Celebrations

• It is National Pistachio Day on the 26th of Feb.
• Followed by National Strawberry Day and National Protein Day on Feb 27th
• While National Chocolate Souffle Day on the 28th of Feb along with National Pancake Day make it a sweet day indeed!
• The last Thursday in February celebrates the humble toast with National Toast Day, and this year, it happens to be on the 29th.
• March to a healthy start with National Fruit Compote Day and National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day on the 1st of March
• Followed by some delish National Banana Cream Pie Day on March 2nd
• And then a day for cold treats of every kind with 33 Flavors Day on March 3rd (3/3!!). The 3rd is also National Moscow Mule Day and National Mulled Wine Day.

Other Celebrations

• Black Lives Matter Day is celebrated annually on February 26th in memory of Trayvon Martin
• The 26th is also Carpe Diem Day and
• While the 27th observes World NGO Day and National Polar Bear Day; and gives you a reason to step back in time (time once again, you ask!?) for it is National Retro Day!
• Then the 28th is Inconvenience Yourself Day (observed annually on the fourth Wednesday in February). A day where we make an effort to help others, even if it means, well, inconveniencing ourselves.
• And the 29th is National Time Refund Day (that extra time I mentioned already!). Since it is the last Thursday of the month, it is also Digital Learning Day
• March 1st celebrates women of color with National Black Women in Jazz and the Arts Day is 1st and International Women of Color Day. It is also World Music Therapy Day. What music is your therapy? And it is also It is also Global Day of Unplugging where, for a 24 hour period, running from sundown to sundown, you unplug from all your devices.
• And a couple of holidays for everyday – March 1st is also Share a Smile Day and World Compliment Day as well as Zero Discrimination Day.
• While March 2nd observes National Old Stuff Day and World Teen Mental Wellness Day.
• March 3rd brings many celebrations and observations, some listed below
  • This is one celebration for everyday – National I Want You to Be Happy Day 
  • A quirky holiday to observe – it is Talk In Third Person Day.
  • And it is also Hinamatsuri (the Dolls festival of Japan that is so very similar to the Golu I celebrate in fall each year)
  • Then there is World Wildlife Day.
  • As well as Namesake Day (which is celebrated on the first Sunday of March), and is the start of International Celebrate Your Name Week
  • Last but not the least, it is Simplify Your Life Day, where, on the third day of the third month, you choose three ways to make your life simple.

Multi-day events

• National Eating Disorders Awareness Week as well as National Invasive Species Week – Begin the Last Monday in February
• Makes sense to add this with all that talk of looking for time and trying to make up for lost time: National Procrastination Week – First two weeks in March (or when it is convenient)
• And yes, March is Women’s History Month.
• It is also National Craft Month.

Related Reads and More to do in that Extra Time

• The Magic of Fairy Tales: Tell One Today
• Great Fairy Tales, Fun Twists, and Mini Reviews For You
• Fairy Tales and Finding Magic in Life
• The Art of Letter Writing: Dear Reader, With Love

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?

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