It’s been a weird month weather wise. We’ve had heat warnings along with snow warnings! During this chaos, I’ve been busy with a couple courses including “Writing Nature Essays” and “Foundations for Practitioners of Horticultural Therapy”, both of which I really enjoyed and highly recommend.
Now I’m looking forward to a break where I can play more in my garden and do some more reading.
-Read 24 books for the Mount TBR 2021 challenge.
Alas, I didn’t do any this month! I am looking forward to catching up over the next few months.
-Read 12 nature related books to enhance my horticultural therapy study.
“The Nature Fix” by Florence Williams
So much goodness in this book. It’s hard for me to pick just a couple of quotes to give you, because there is so much to share.
Instead I will share this:
“Distilling what I learned, I came up with a kind of ultrasimple coda: Go outside, often, sometimes in wild places. Bring friends or not. Breathe.”
You can watch this video for a little bit more.
-Read 12 books that are either memoir, poetry, or soul books.
Unbelievably I didn’t read any this month, but I am ahead in this category anyway.
-Work on my writing 15 minutes a day.
Done!
-Read 3 creative nonfiction essays a week.
Done! My favourites:
“Helping my mother clean out her closet, the year before she died” by Kandace Chapple
I cannot imagine doing this!
Favourite quote:
“I couldn’t stand to clean out an entire closet, haul away my mother’s wardrobe while she still sat there, living and breathing. I wanted to hear my mother say this wasn’t happening. I wanted another summer with her under the crabapple tree and silver maple, where the branches had met above and grown together, cupping mother and daughter each season.”
“The Single Sentence” by Kandace Chapple
While writing an obituary, a single sentence Chapple writes about her mom changes her approach to parenting.
“Can You Tie My Shoe?” by Kris Martinez
Martinez writes how she chose alcohol over her life, but then decided on her life.
Favourite quote:
“…not every sixth grader knows how to tie her shoes. And we are not the only family who has been through a thing.
But thankfully, we survived.”
“Widow’s Walk” by Melissa Knox
A stunning essay on grief!
“Shaping the Narrative” by Kelly Eden
In this braided essay, Eden compares her life to the essays she edits.
-Read 5 picture books per month
Done! My favourites:
“Different? Same!” By Heather Teckavec, illustrated by Pippa Curnick
Differences are shown in a group of animals but the group also always has something the same, e.g., they may all live in a different place but they also all have whiskers.
“The Hike” by Alison Farrell
Three friends go on a discovery hike. Lots of great labelled drawings too!
“Percy’s Museum” by Sara O’Leary; illustrated by Carmen Mok
Percy moves an discovers that his new house just isn’t the same as his old house until he starts exploring his backyard.
-Submit one story to a contest per season.
I finally submitted my story to CANSCAIP’s Writing for Children Competition.
Also I am participating in the Mix ’n’ Match Mini Writing Challenge.
-Attend one writing webinar per month.
“Love Your Mother Earth” with Diana Beresford-Kroeger (Toronto Storytelling Festival)
“Song of the Universe” with Diana Beresford-Kroeger (Toronto Storytelling Festival)
-Work on one lesson of a writing course per month.
I’m not doing well in this category at all.
-Attend a writing group session per week.
Done!
-Blog at least twice a month.
-Weekly treasure:
Challenges:
HaikuForTwo
I wrote one using two words from “The Nature Fix”.
Shoe’s Seeds & Stories
@Copyright 2021 Linda Schueler
Shoe's Seeds & Stories 
Congrats on achieving so many goals. Thanks for including links to the 2 essay by Kandace Chapple. I was so moved by both of them. Had me remembering the last months with my Mom.
She’s a fantastic teacher!