Oh yes, I know there are definitely those who might not agree with the sentiments in the title of the post today; but for many of us, including me, we are all letting out a collective whoop of victory, from wherever we are!!

Definitely glad and proud of the pair on the way to the White House now. And doubly so too…

Where there is unity there is always victory. — Publilius Syrus

Poetic Sundays

The Con-Verse

As I continue exploring invented forms, I looked to ShadowPoetry this week and returned with the con-verse. A fun and short poetic form that I know you will enjoy trying out, and hopefully shout out a whoop of victory when you do finish writing it!! (that is not me though…)

h/t: ShadowPoetry

What is the Con-Verse?

The Con-Verse is all about couplets, three or more, with the first couplet having lines of 7 syllables each, and each couplet after that having one additional syllable until you reach a couplet of 11 syllables. And you can then repeat starting at 7 if you wish to continue the con-verse. This was created by Connie Marcum Wong.

The Con-Verse’s Characteristics

So here are this form’s key elements:

• metered and syllabic: 7,7,8,8,9,9,10,10,11,11
• rhymed: aa,bb,cc,dd,ee
• make it your own: chose to have only three couplets, or have repeated verses of 5 couplets for as long as you wish, or a 5 couplet verse followed by three to five couplets.

My Example

As the title of my poem states, this is (at least, in my opinion, for my son says it is not cringe-y)

A Cringe-y Con-verse-ly Ode to the Elections (aka A Whoop of Victory!)
laughter sounded everywhere (a7)
surrounded by whoops and cheer (a7)
people watched as the map turned blue (b8)
optimism along with hope grew (b8)
you see, fairness does win finally (c9)
this pair of winners fills us with glee..(c9)
vidya @ ladyinreadwrites

Recently

On the Home Front

I mentioned the pair of benches my teenager made as part of his Eagle Project recently for his middle school. And he has since created an Instructable on how to make them yourself. Check it out here or click on the image below

My Blog Posts

From my last Sunday Scribblings

• Nonfiction Roundup Post One: Cybils Awards
• The Next President: A Book Review & The Current Great Thing
• What a Wonderful World of Books and Words
• 3 Great Coding Books For the Little Coders
• My Year in Nonfiction: Looking Back and Then Forward
• Sunday Scribblings #49: Asking Zoltar What He Can See

Saying Goodbye

We bid a sad adieu to Alex Trebek as he finally lost his battle with cancer. And I know I definitely wished I could have met him someday or be on the sets of Jeopardy even if as a audience member, instead of playing along while watching on TV.

MyPhotoADay

Bookstagram Attempts

ONE

View this post on Instagram

Book Review: The Next President: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Future of America’s Presidents by @katemessner and illustrated by @mr.adamrex from @chroniclekidsbooks! A fun and fast read to get an interesting and brief look at the presidency and the presidents themselves. Perfect for the intended audience, and for just about everyone else as well! Check out my full review out on my blog now at https://bit.ly/32k6el9 . . . #nonfictionbooks #nonfictionnovember #bookcommunity #bookstagram #booklover #bookish #ladyinreadwrites #booklover #nonfictionreads #nonficnov #cybils2020 #AdamRex #TheNextPresident #UShistory #childrensbook #themoreyouknow #bookish #bookishlove #bookobsessed @shelf_aware_ #bibliophile #bibliophilelife #readingismagic

A post shared by Vidya (@ladyinreadwrites) on Nov 7, 2020 at 12:59pm PST

TWO

View this post on Instagram

Day 3 of Nonfiction November: Biography: Many of the nonfiction reads this year have been biographies. And this is one of my current reads. I am loving it so far… Look for my review of this soon. In the meantime, you can check out other picture book biographies on my blog – here – https://bit.ly/32fpAIb and here – https://bit.ly/2Gt1GkQ . . . #nonfictionbooks #nonfictionnovember #bookcommunity #bookstagram #booklover #bookish #ladyinreadwrites #booklover #nonfictionreads #bookstagramphotochallenge #nonficnov @julzreads @shelf_Aware_ #cybils2020 #becomingmuhammadali #kwamealexander #jamespatterson #middlegradebooks

A post shared by Vidya (@ladyinreadwrites) on Nov 4, 2020 at 6:57pm PST

The Others

ONE

View this post on Instagram

Rebel Pops “Small world,” said Coraline. “It’s big enough for her,” said the cat. “Spider’s webs only have to be large enough to catch flies.” ― Neil Gaiman, Coraline Caught – in my garden – this spider – after I literally ran into her web one morning a few weeks ago.. . . . #ru_inthegarden_20 #rebels_united #Rebels_united #pops #current_challenge #ladyinreadwrites #mybackyardgarden #bookishquotes #quotesfrombooks #coraline

A post shared by Vidya (@ladyinreadwrites) on Nov 3, 2020 at 6:20pm PST

TWO

View this post on Instagram

Day 2: Backyard Bliss; Day 307, 2020: “You can journey to the ends of the earth in search of success, but if you’re lucky, you will discover happiness in your own backyard.”- Russell Conwell Virtual classrooms do mean we can learn anywhere, like in the bliss of our own backyard! . . . #rebelsunitednov2020potd #rebels_united #ladyinreadwrites #backyardbliss #mybackyard

A post shared by Vidya (@ladyinreadwrites) on Nov 2, 2020 at 4:49pm PST

Upcoming

On My Blog and Home-front

Nothing new here… oh well, there is one of the most awaited festivals we celebrate – Deepavali (literally meaning a row of lights) – coming up this week. So I, like many Indians around the world, am going to (try to) make a few special treats for the festival. While we normally meet friends and family for the occasion, this time, is of course, going to be different. We will be celebrating virtually with loved ones. But the joy and warmth will still be present, I am sure of that.

This Week’s Celebrations

For this week, including today…

• Today Nov 8th is National STEM/STEAM Day as well as National Cappuccino Day (a few STEM books for young readers are listed here and here on my blog, as well as the coding related books in my recent posts)
• We celebrate more food this week with National Vanilla Cupcake Day on the 10th, National Sundae Day on the 11th, and National Spicy Guacamole Day on the 14th! In addition, with it being Deepavali (or Diwali, the Indian festival of light) on the 13th and 14th, it is sweets and snacks time for us ! Deepavali signifies the victory of good over evil, and people celebrate this victory of Rama over Ravana, of the victory of Krishna over Narakasura.
• The 12th is National Chicken Soup for the Soul Day while the 14th is National Family PJ Day (and if you are in India, it is also Children’s Day)
• And it being the second Week in November, it is National Young Reader’s Week (check out this list of National Book Award winners for your young readers along with all the nonfiction books I featured in my previous post); as well as Geography Awareness Week (couple of books and games I mentioned earlier are here and here)
• There are also lots of wonderful international/world celebrations this week with World Kindness Day on the 13th; World Science Day for Peace and Development on the 10th; it is World Quality Day on the second Thursday in November; World Freedom Day on the 9th.

Wrapping up my Sunday Scribblings

So dear reader, this was it for my Sunday Scribblings. I would love to hear your comments on my post(s), poetic Sunday section, and anything else. And which of these days do you plan to celebrate (or any other)? Also, I do look forward to reading your poems (hoping you have attempted one or the other forms so far?!)

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