Shari Della Penna
  • Home
  • About
    • My family
    • My work
    • My favorites
    • FAQ's
  • Contact
  • Blog

"Small acts of kindness can change and humanise our world."
   Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks 1948-2020
   ​Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, 1991-2020
                         Author, Advocate, Advisor

Trees . . . For Goodness Sake!

4/28/2020

2 Comments

 
“I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.”
                                                           from The Lorax
                                      written and illustrated by Dr. Seuss
                                                         Random House, 1971

   
​    We can’t hug our friends, neighbors, or even family members, but Nature is singing to me this spring. Especially this spring. It’s time to get out there and hug a tree!
    I wonder about tree-related words. “Forest” and “woods” are common enough, and woods are smaller than forests, but how about the difference between an orchard and a grove. Turns out they are both groups of trees, nut or fruit trees or a combination of both. I checked Grant Barrett’s website  https://www.waywordradio.org/orchard-vs-grove/ and found out that an orchard is specifically planted to raise fruits and or nuts and a grove is not necessarily planted, but is full of nut trees and / or fruit trees, anyway. Why is a group of orange trees called a grove and an apple farm called an orchard? Well, according to Grant, it just sounds better that way. So there you go!
    What is an arbor, then, and why do we call the holiday Arbor Day? According to
www.dictionary.com an arbor is “a leafy, shady recess formed by tree branches, shrubs, etc.”  
    Started as a formal holiday in 1872 by J. Sterling Morton shortly after he moved to Nebraska Territory, Morton recognized the importance of trees for holding the soil in place and for windbreaks, fuel, building materials, and shade from the hot prairie sun. Morton was a journalist and became editor of the first newspaper in Nebraska. He used his paper to write about his love of trees and encouraged many of his neighbors to plant the trees they sorely missed after moving West themselves.
    Other states passed legislation to institute Arbor Days of their own, and by 1920, forty-five states and territories celebrated Arbor Day. For many years, it was celebrated on April 22, J. Sterling Morton’s birthday.
     Many states observe Arbor Day on different dates throughout the year, though. They base their observance on the best tree-planting times in their area. The dates range from the third Friday in January in Florida and Louisiana to the first Friday in November in Texas and Hawaii. California celebrates for a whole week in March, but most states join the National celebration now held on the last Friday in April. Here’s a map. Just scroll over your state to find when your celebration is held. www.arborday.org/celebrate/dates.cfm  
​    Not wanting to let anyone down, since this is also still National Poetry Month, and the last Tuesday, at that, here’s my poem for the week.

                    Two Trees Trapped in Concrete
Twiny twigs tremble,
resemble fingers wind-dancing
​

while branches touch, catch, stretch skyward,
a lacy embrace.

Canopied leaves glow green and green.

But rumbly roots dig deep,
search for earth,
downward, downward, sideward, 
an ugly
unseen struggle
against
cement.
    And finally, here is an important good-news article from the Arbor Day Foundation’s blog.
    On Oct. 25, 2019, social media influencers partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation to launch an initiative called #TeamTrees. Their goal was to raise $20 million for tree planting by Jan. 1, 2020. During the next two months, more than 800,000 unique donors from 200 countries and territories around the globe visited TeamTrees.org to make a donation. On Dec. 19, that goal was surpassed and the promise of more than 20 million trees became a reality.
    Now the Arbor Day Foundation’s planting efforts are in full swing, as our goal is to plant all the trees funded through #TeamTrees by December of 2022. Nearly 30 projects have been selected for planting in 2020, and many more are being planned for the coming years. Following is an inside look at three of the projects benefitting from #TeamTrees this year. https://www.arborday.org/programs/replanting/teamtrees/ 
    Lots of cities across the United States are part of the Arbor Day’s Tree City USA program. Mine is. Find out if your city has that designation here  https://www.arborday.org/programs/treecityusa/directory.cfm  and how to become included if it is not.
    The symbols of each state include a tree. Find yours here https://statesymbolsusa.org/categories/state-tree     
    Thirty-three countries all over the world, including the United States, celebrate Arbor Days of their own.
    The whole world celebrates trees! 

   
                    -—stay curious! (and smile back at Mother Nature)   
2 Comments

’Tis the Day Before Earth Day

4/21/2020

4 Comments

 
    Earth Mother walked across the African savannahs wearing a robe fringed with falling rain. She filled the water holes and sharpened the thorn bushes.
                                                        from Earth Mother
                                                   written by Ellen Jackson
                                         illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon
                                               Walker Publishing Inc., 2005
                                                     read on-line 4/21/2020

           https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zq58hc7B8A&t=334s 
    The rest of Earth Mother shows how Earth Mother received thanks from humans for providing frogs to eat, but they complained about the pesky mosquitoes. She received thanks from the frogs for providing mosquitoes to eat, but they complained of humans eating their kind. She received thanks from the mosquitoes for providing humans, so juicy, but the mosquitoes complained about the frogs, always eating them. 
    Then, Earth Mother said goodnight to the beetles, to the hawks, to the people, to the sunbirds, to the frogs, the whales, to the mosquitoes and the fireflies, and to her children everywhere. 
    And then she went to sleep and the world, in its own way, was perfect.  
    I remember when I learned about conservation. My teacher stressed that the word meant “to use wisely,” not “to save.” I took that message home and my mom told me a story. 
    Mom told me about my dad’s mom. She saved a pair of silk stockings my dad brought home for her when he returned from fighting in World War II. 
    She never wore them. Babba (we called her) kept them in her dresser drawer instead. Too pretty, too expensive to wear, lest they wear out. My mom and my aunt found them, still in their box, still wrapped in tissue paper when they closed up the house after Babba and my grandpy passed away. 
    When my mom tried to lift those stockings out of their carefully protected place, the material had disintegrated. 
    “What a shame,” I remember my mom saying. “No one got to enjoy them.”
    To me, conservation is kinda the same. For me, the opposite of conserve is “waste,” not “use.” Some consumables we need: water; fabric for clothing; materials for shelter. We need to enjoy them. They can be replaced, regrown. They are renewable. 
    Here’s my poem for Earth Day, 2020.
              Lament to Our Mother: What Have We Done?
Atmosphere, breathless
smokestacks relentless,
spew carbon high,
hiding the clouds.

Oceans fantastic
succumb to more plastic
than even a whale
can enshroud.

Ground so polluted
crops are diluted.
They feed but don’t nurture 
our souls. 

Machines clack and clatter
exhausting all matter
of solitude, 
solace, control.

Thunberg, Muir, Gore,
and so many more
warned catastrophically
clear.

But icebergs drip, dripping
hurricanes whipping
cause us to all 
live in fear.

Does she take it in stride, 
All patience and pride?

Our Mother Earth
can’t reconcile
our path to destruction
discarding instruction.

She brings out her
sunshine and smiles.  

    This week marks several anniversaries.
    It’s been 10 years since the Deep Water Horizon explosion caused the largest oil spill in United States history. Located in the Gulf of Mexico, 11 people were killed, millions of gallons of oil spewed into the water for 87 days, countless marine wildlife were killed. A toxic crude oil component (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs) are still found in Gulf fish and mammals. Billions were spent by BP and the government on clean-up. Research is ongoing.
    Early in 1970 Richard Nixon, of all people, signed the Environmental Protection Act into law. This led to The Clean Air Act and the The Clean Water Act, also to Nixon’s credit. 
    Clean Air Act programs have lowered levels of common and toxic pollutants. Although water continues to be polluted in many places, strides have been made to protect and clean our vital life-source. 
    This year marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. It truly has become a world phenomenon. Because of distancing recommendations by health experts the world over, Earth Day celebrations and challenges have all moved on-line. https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2020/ 
    Billions of dollars are spent each year on research and programs like installation of solar panels on private homes, electric cars, and discovering how to harness the energy in our garbage. 
    More people are more aware of the Climate Catastrophe, the unnecessary use of single-use (especially but not only) plastic, food waste, air and water pollution. Becoming aware is the first step toward taking action and speaking out. 
    Greta Thunberg is inspiring kids all over the world and admonishing the grown-ups.
    Even in this pandemic, maybe because of this pandemic, people are becoming aware of what we really need and what we really need to do.
                                -—stay curious! (and celebrate our Earth)
4 Comments

Flights of Fancy

4/14/2020

1 Comment

 
Open your beak and
sing!
    tra la la
    tweet, tweet, tweet
    hum, hum, hum
    cheep! cheep! cheep!
                                                   from: Hooray For Birds
                            
      written and illustrated by Lucy Cousins
                                                    Candlewick Press, 2017

       Here’s my next installment for National Poetry Month. This poem may sound like a flight of fancy, but it came from remembering that answerless question “if you could be any animal you want, what would you be”?     
                           On a Wing and a Prayer
If I were a bird, I would not be an eagle
all beak and talons
​snatching a mouse or a weasel. 


If I were a bird, I would not be a crow
all black and murderous
waiting in branches above and below. 

I would not be a swan, either
all graceful necked and gliding
around and around going yon and hither. 

I might be wren or a junco
Or an Indigo Bunting
warbling wonder in backyard bushes 

because I like the sounds of their names.

       While I try to physically distance myself from all the bad and scary news out there and continue to hunker down and stay safe, I find myself sitting in front of my laptop for sometimes longish stretches. Since I have a wonderful view of the bird feeder, I’ve kept track of my feathered visitors.
    Sparrows, too many to count! one kind with a white band around its neck and one more mottled
    Tuffted titmouses (mice?)
    Black Capped Chickadees (who might be considering the bird house, the same one the wrens rejected last year)
    a pair of cardinals
    a smallish woodpecker, I don’t know what kind
    a pair of bluebirds (They were in the backyard. I get up and move around, sometimes!)
    finches (red and yellow)
    A hawk sometimes watches from a perch on one of the trees in the side yard.
    squawky crows, too (of course, not on the feeder)
    robins, naturally (also not on the feeder, pecking for worms, though)
       
​       Try this for wonderful information about birds: https://www.audubon.org/joy-of-birds 

       And this one to listen: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/how-to-learn-bird-songs-and-calls/  Tap the “Bird ID” tab at the top to find the bird you’re looking at and listen, too.
       
       Lots of squirrels try to climb aboard the feeder, but mostly they stay on the ground and clean up the seeds the birds drop. Chipmunks travel up and down the downspout. They come out and fill their cheeks almost to bursting then scamper off to do damage in my garden. I’ve seen the holes they dug around the parsley just now trying to come back in full force. 

    My garden, such as it is, needs attention. I also keep promising my houseplants an outdoor vacation. Maybe next week.
    Till then, 
                                       -—stay curious! (and dare to imagine)   
1 Comment

Questions in the Flower Garden

4/7/2020

2 Comments

 
June bug, june bug,
do you know me?
My leaves point like swords,
and my petals wave like flags.
I am an iris.                    
                      From: Bumblebee, Bumblebee, Do You Know Me?
                            written and illustrated by Anne F. Rockwell
                                                         HarperCollins, 1999
                     read online on Libby through www.libraryvisit.org

     I like to think of myself as firmly grounded. In my beliefs about the way the world works, my rudimentary understanding of science, my religion. In my family relationships and my friendships, too. 
    I like to think of myself as flexible, though. Able to bend with the wind, compromise within reason, work for the common good. 
    Grounded as the opposite of flighty. Even though I will stand up for what I believe to be true, and I try to stand up for myself, like the Violet, I’d rather hug the ground.
    Here’s this week’s poem for National Poetry Month, a comparison between violets and irises, both spring bloomers, but each with a different attitude.         
                      Questions in the Flower Garden
Violets, intimidated by Nature, 
safe from nibblers, grazers, and flyers,
grow in clusters, hug the ground.

But Irises, tall and stately, 
line up singular 
row 
by 
row, 
fearless. 
Flaunting flags as if 
to battle pounding rain and whipping wind. 

Can one receive more
wonder?
reverence?
awe?

Can one be wiser than the other?
Less a subject of Mother Nature?

Can one be less rooted?

Can anyone?


                                     -—stay curious! (and enjoy the moment)                                                                       
2 Comments

         I'm a children's writer and poet intent on observing the world and nurturing those I find in my small space .

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly