4/4 April haiku

I managed to write one haiku a day this month (even if I don't love them all) and I managed to write a 38 page paper for a journal...that was promptly desk-rejected because I didn't anonymize my cover letter (because they didn't say to anonymize it) and because I left my self-citations as "Author, 2023" rather than "Author, Year" (and that mistake is on me because I overlooked that small detail). But I just resubmitted it so I think it should be good. I hope it should be good...good enough to not get desk rejected again. The deadline is today, so...

I spent most of the day crossing things off of a long-neglected do-stuff-around-the-house list. 

I'd been looking for another toddler bicycle seat to try with our bikes because Benjamin would really like to go for more bike rides and the park isn't that far. I mean, it's too far to walk, in my opinion (at least regularly), but it's a perfect distance for biking. 

After submitting my paper I looked at seats on Amazon for a while, intending to measure certain parts of our bikes to see what seats might work with what frames. The last time we scored a bike seat on the Buy Nothing group it worked on none of our bikes. Literally none of them. And we have like 5 adult bikes in our garage to choose from. So that was a bit frustrating. 

We got rid of that one, though, and obtaining a new one has been on the back burner of my mind. 

So I spent some time looking on Amazon.

But then this morning, I opened Facebook and the very first post was someone on the Buy Nothing Group giving away a brand new "universal" toddler seat. What are the odds?! 

Probably higher than you might think.

Rachel and I drove by to pick it up (I had Rachel drive because the address was near the pool, and she needed to try driving there before swim season starts...and we start living at the pool). 

It took me nearly two hours, but I finally got that sucker on a bike. 

For being a "universal" fit, I sure had to try it on a lot of bikes before finding a match. It felt a bit like Cinderella's slipper (which as we all know was anything but universal). 

It wouldn't fit on Andrew's bike because he has shock absorbers on his saddle.

It wouldn't fit on Miriam's bike (Rachel's old bike) because her seat post had too large of a circumference.

The other bike (A Buy Nothing find!) that we had sitting on the wall also had too large of a circumference.

I did't even try Rachel's bike because she has road tires and those scare me, but I did measure her seat post and it would have worked with her bike.

Finally, we found that it fit nicely on the bike Benjamin has been using (another Buy Nothing find!). The seat post was just the right circumference. The seat stays were just the right place. Everything worked great!

And then I discovered that his back brakes need to be adjusted before I can ride (you have to squeeze the lever entirely to the handlebars for the brakes to engage at all; I prefer my brakes to be more sensitive (and Benjamin can ride the bike that Miriam...typically doesn't)). So I might have to remove the whole thing to access the brakes and that thought makes me...kind of want to scream...which is a sign that it's time to put that project away for another day.

Instead I made the kids help me clean the garage. 

All of that has very little do with poetry, except that while I was making the kids help tidy the garage Phoebe drew with chalk and I wrote about that today.

Here's the last set of April haiku:

April 24

so many hills
same effort, slower pace
speed burst at the top

April 25

a fledgling wren
hopping on low branches
screeching at the kids

April 26

stranded on a 
secluded traffic island
waiting for a sign

April 27

tidy lawns
manicured to perfection
not in my backyard

April 28

sounds of crickets
pulse and thrum through the window
open them wide

April 29

I ran today
then stayed inside to edit,
trimming words like grass

April 30

chalk drawings
colourful abstractions
only she can decipher

And here are some pictures of Phoebe making her chalk drawings, not from today (I was too busy to take pictures), but from earlier days. She enjoys drawing with chalk and so is fairly constantly covered in chalk. When Andrew got home today (he had to work on campus today) he said with some degree of concern, "Ummm...is Phoebe really pale or..."

"Oh! That's just chalk!" I assured him. 

I had washed off her hands before dinner but had completely forgotten about her face.

Anyway...pictures!

She is drawing Baba from Puffin Rock. She kept adding all sorts of details, talking about wings and beaks and eyes. I, personally, am unsure where any bits are, but she seems to know.

She is showing a clear preference for her left hand these days. She used to switch back and forth so we weren't sure where she'd land, but the left is her clear favourite. I don't think she'll switch to right any time soon.

And let's take a moment to appreciate how expertly she uses her chalk, wearing them down to wafer-thin coins before she casts them aside. See how thin that pink chalk is that she has (above)!?

Below she's finally put it down (by her foot) to start working with a fresher piece of chalk:

And here's another day of chalk:

She's the sweetest, dustiest baby on the block!