Poetry Challenge #213-One Grey Matter Shake Coming Up!
You can train your dog. You can train your car. But, can you train your dog to sit in your car on the train?
Think about it . . .
Hurrah! The work-out has begun!
Today, October 13, is Exercise Your Brain Day. Because, when it comes to your brain, it’s use it or lose it. Research has proven that doing routine things—same ole’-same ole’ does not exercise our brains. And just like the rest of us, without exercise, our brains get flabby.
Here are a few suggestions for ways shake up the grey stuff:
Poetry Challenge #213
One Grey Matter Shake Coming Up!
For today’s prompt, let’s exercise our brains by writing a poem that is also a riddle.
Latex on!
Pens up!
Timer set! GO!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 1990+ days ago. Now we take turns creating prompts to share with you. Our hope is that creatives—children & adults—will use our prompts as springboards to word play time. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .
Fin Pals ask Norman: What's Your Favorite Snack?
Norman T. Goldfish answers letters from readers. Click on the link to read his reply.
Say Kids: Do you have a favorite snack like Jaxon Wade? If so, what is it?
Do you suppose Norman the Goldfish has a favorite nibble?
Ready to read Norman’s answer? Scroll down past this fintastic drawing one of our finpals sent . . .
Glug
Glug
Glug . . .
Did you know that goldfish taste with their lips? It’s true. Humans have taste buds on their tongues. But goldfish don’t have tongues. They have taste buds on their lips and on the inside and outside of the mouth.
And, goldfish don’t just smell food in the water, they can smell danger!
To find out more, click over to 41 Facts about Goldfish
FINPALS Wanted!
Do you have a question for Norman the Goldfish—about friends, school, pets, family, life in and outside the fishbowl? Send him a letter or email!
Poetry Challenge #212 Mad As a Hatter
Mad as a hatter? Join the crowd for today is officially Mad Hatter’s Day!
Mad Hatters were well-known in the 1800’s. (Lewis Carroll didn’t create them . . . neither did Johnny Depp or Ed Wynn.)
Hatters—the people who made hats—haberdashers—often used mercury in the process. People who came into contact with mercury often ended up with many strange symptoms: shaking, mood swings, unpredictable behavior, and hallucinations. The saying “mad as a hatter” came to describe those strange behaviors. Characters appeared in books—Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland—or in comics illustrating these unpredictable behaviors.
Poetry Challenge #212
Mad As a Hatter
But what if your hat was mad? Why might it be mad? Is it dirty? Wet? Too hot? Tired of sitting on your head?
Write a personification poem from the point of view of a mad hat.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just do it!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 1990+ days ago. Now we take turns creating prompts to share with you. Our hope is that creatives—children & adults—will use our prompts as springboards to word play time. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .
VAMPIRE BABY Vants YOU!
FINALLY…finally…after 7 years adrift, my village has a bookstore! Red Jacket Books opened a few months ago—YIPPEE!!!! In an effort to spread the word and support independent bookstores we teamed up for a Vampire Give-Away! Which means you could be one of the lucky 20 pumpkins who win!
GIVEAWAY DETAILS:
The first 20 people who order a copy of Vampire Baby from Red Jacket Books win a swag bag of goodies—fangs included!
You can call the store or order on-line or in person. And, if you’d like it autographed, I’d be happy to!
Here’s the website link: https://redjacketbooks.com/products/vampire-baby
I thank you! Red Jacket Books thanks you!
Vampire Baby vil bite YOU!
Ember Grace asks Norman: How Old Are You?
Norman T. Goldfish answers letters from readers. Click on the link to read his reply.
Say Kids: How old do you think Norman is? Can you guess? Do you think you can tell how old a goldfish is just by looking at it?
Ready to read Norman’s answer?
Scroll down past this fintastic drawing one of our finpals sent . . .
Glug
Glug
Glug . . .
Turns out you can tell how old a goldfish is by looking at its caudal fin (that’s the proper name for its tail.) A goldfish’s tail grows longer and more pointy as it ages. Find out more about goldfish at wikihow.
Math Problem: If one human year equals five goldfish years (1=5), how old are you in goldfish years?
FINPALS Wanted!
Do you have a question for Norman the Goldfish—about friends, school, pets, family, life in and outside the fishbowl? Send him a letter or email!
Poetry Challenge #211-Coffee? Tea? Or...
Coffee?
Latte? Americano? Cappuccino? Cold Brew? Espresso?
Why not? After all, it is National Coffee Day (Sept 29). While we’re on the subject:
Lore has it that in the 17th century, one Baba Budan, a Sufi Saint/Monk/Tourist, made the pilgrimage from India to Mecca, and while visiting the Yemen port city of Mocha, was served a drink called “Quahwa” which wowed him. So, even though it was illegal to take green coffee seeds from Arabia, Baba Budan hid 7 green coffee seeds in his beard and smuggled them back home to Mysore. He planted them, they grew, he shared the quahwa with friends, they grew some too, thus bringing coffee to India. Put that in your coffee mill and grind it!
Or… maybe, after all that, you prefer Tea?
Darjeeling, Earl Gray, English Breakfast, chamomile, mint?
or Hot Chocolate?
Raspberry? Mexican? with whipped cream? marshmallows? Fluff?
Rumor has it Starbucks Pumpkin Spice is back!
Poetry Challenge #211
Coffee? Tea? Or . . . What’s Your Pleasure?
Whatever you like to drink, it’s time to make up a new flavor. Write a poem about this flavor and give it a great name. Make us see it, smell it, taste it, and WANT it.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just do it!
Once you've finished your poem, treat yourself to a cup of your creation and a movie. Here’s more about Baba Budan courtesy of Akara Coffee.
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 1990+ days ago. Now we take turns creating prompts to share with you. Our hope is that creatives—children & adults—will use our prompts as springboards to word play time. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .
Fin Pals ask Norman: What Do You Want to be When You Grow UP?
Norman T. Goldfish answers letters from readers. Click on the link to read his reply.
Say Kids: Do you think Norman imagines what he’ll be when he grows up the way we humans do? Do you think he ever imagines what it would be like to be a human? Do you ever wonder what it would be like to be a fish?
Ready to read Norman’s answer? Scroll down past this fintastic drawing one of our finpals sent . . .
Glug
Glug
Glug . . .
Dolphins are super swimmers! To learn more about them click over to the Dolphin Rescue Center website. It’s Norman approved!
And Big Fat Zombie Goldfish is a really finny book. Check it out!
FINPALS Wanted!
Do you have a question for Norman the Goldfish—about friends, school, pets, family, life in and outside the fishbowl? Send him a letter or email!
Poetry Challenge #210-Engines Off!
Hide those car keys! Engines Off! Today is World Car Free Day.
Ever wonder why cars are also called “autos”? I’m thinking it’s to bless or blame one guy, Nicolaus Otto, who in 1876 “invented an effective gas motor engine.” Daimler and Benz may have built cars before him, but Otto’s 4-stroke internal combustion engine called the “Otto Cycle Engine” is what made the wheels go around…and around and around and around…
January 29, 1886 Benz was granted the first automobile patent.
…Which seemed to make everyone, especially the oil & gas industry, very happy. Until sometime in the 50s, when some folks poked their heads out of the exhaust fumes and realized that cars were changing our cities, neighborhoods, lives. According to the National Day Calendar website, “from 1956 to 1957, the Netherlands and Belgium held car-free Sundays.” On September 22, 2000, the European Car Free Day was held. It has since been an annual event for 46 countries and 2,000 cities all over the world—and now, here!
Poetry Challenge #210
Engines Off!
Take a moment to silence those noisy engines—if only in your mind—and imagine a day without cars. Any cars on the road, or buses, motorcycles, lawnmowers, too. What would you do? What sounds could you hear that you don’t usually? Where might you go and how would you get there?
If you can agree that the world—for this one car-free day—would be a quieter and probably slower place, challenge yourself to use quieter and slower sounding words.
“Quieter” words are those without hard-sounding endings: the hard K,G,T consonants.
“Slower words often have repeated vowel sounds and repeated soft consonants: double s, double m or n sounds.
Set Your Timer for 7 Minutes
Start Writing!
Don’t Think About it, just do it!
Awwway weeeeee goooooooo!
Cindy Faughnan and I began this 7-Minute Poetry Challenge 1990+ days ago. Now we take turns creating prompts to share with you. Our hope is that creatives—children & adults—will use our prompts as springboards to word play time. If you join us in the Challenge, let us know by posting the title, a note, or if you want, the whole poem in the comments.
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl):
All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in . . .