Quote of the Day:  Rich man, poor man, come away.  Come to dance the Macabray. from The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

This is an excellent book to be reading the week before Halloween.  I was inspired to pick it up by this sweet, young thing…

She was reading The Graveyard Book and learned of the song Danse Macabre which I happened to find in a classical book, level 4, challenging, yet accessible to her.  We looked it up on Wikipedia and heard a chilling recording.  Click here for the link.  I get excited about connections between the arts and our lives and when it brings out creativity in my students, and myself.
Besides reading a spooky Halloween book, I have taken a bit of a blog break to spend some school-free days with my boys.  It was teacher convention time, so we visited a corn maze…
Off they run!

They’re out there somewhere!

Even big girls like to slide.

 
That was a lovely walk between the corn stalks, talking to my friend about art and artist dreams, and losing and finding our kids.
The next night, the boys dragged me to The Haunted Trail at the Arboretum.  Yikes!  One of the first guys got a real scream out of me because he was dressed in camoflage and popped out of the rustling leaves.  After that, I linked my arm in my 12-year-old and grabbed onto one of the twins.  As they say in my next of the woods, Uff-da!  Of course, the boys LOVED it.
I also received a great blog award for literary excellence from Laura over at Pray for Rain.  Her blog has history and writing tips and I really like reading it.
We are asked to name five of our favorite words, and name three favorite bloggers.
Words:
Phantasmagoric (usually found in the works of Poe)
Adventure (as in, Let’s go on an adventure!)
Rhythm (life, music, my heart, my passion)
Fabulous! (It’s just fun to say, especially when it’s true.)
Extraordinary (however you pronounce it, that’s what I strive to be.)

And, now for the Literary Bloggers that I follow:
Roxane, at Peace Garden Mama for building up readers and writers.
Shannon, at Book Dreaming because she believes that picture books have something for kids of all ages.
And, Kittie, at The Block, for her post on passing books along to people in other countries and cultures in a mission to bring hope and education.

Thanks for reading about all my recent adventures!

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  What adventures have you been on lately?