Hello, poetry friends! It’s my turn to host this wonderful community of creatives, and I couldn’t be more excited! I’m not much of a technology person, so figuring out the whole linky business was…a bit of a challenge, but hopefully everything works out according to plan!
This summer has been a roller coaster around here – at times I feel like my family’s administrative assistant, trying to keep everyone’s appointments organized! I’m an analog person at heart, and I eschew phone schedling in favour of a good old fashioned kitchen wall calender, upon which all of our important dates are marked, in different coloured ink, mind you, so we can attempt to keep track of all our various comings and goings. There’s only three of us in our immediate family, I can only wonder at how larger families manage to keep all their many balls in the air without losing any of them – or their minds!
All this to say, I’m a bit muddled right now – in fact, the only reason I remembered that I’m hosting this week’s Poetry Friday is because I made sure to highlight it on the kitchen calendar! Thank you, past me!
This little ode to family scheduling can be sung to the tune of Frere Jacques, if you’re so inclined. 😉
I’m so excited to read everyone’s beautiful posts this week – please leave your link using the inimitable Mr. Linky below.
OH, you brought back good, good memories. I made up little songs and sayings for EVERYthing when my kids were young. We’d sing our home address, morning routines, toothbrushing! It helped me as much as the kids. Thanks for hosting. The Inklings are sharing triptychs.
Ha! Your post brings back memories, Jane, and I’ll pass along to my daughter. Her little ones are still quite small, but she’ll be singing this tune soon enough in coming years…. Wishing you a wonderful end-of-summer/start-to-a-new-school-year (though I think you all don’t start as early as we US Southerners). Thanks so much for hosting! :0)
Jane, congratulations on successfully working with Mr. Linky! Great job. Appreciate you hosting.
Oops – that was me, RobynHB. ;0)
Hooray for multi-colored calendars! Singing to “Frere Jacques” makes everything more fun. 🙂 Thanks for hosting us, Jane!
Sorry for being anonymous!
Tabatha
Lovely little ditty Jane! I like keeping track with kitchen calendars, studio calendars, I need many, and also digitally too. Thanks for hosting us, and Happy August! Michelle K
Oh, I can relate to this! I’ve been traveling a lot for 2.5 weeks, but the weeks leading up to that were literally 3-4 things a day! All the appointments! So many things.
Family scheduling and its sometimes chaotic turns remains a constant-even as an involved grandparent. Your ode and its accompanying questions definitely strike a chord and elicit memories, Jane. Are we there yet? Thank you for hosting this week.
Loved your poem as it brought back lovely memories of long car rides to the Outer Banks! And yes to different colored inks!!!! As someone who struggles to keep things organized, i appreciated this post very much!!
What a fun ditty/poem, Jane. I remember those calendars filled with dates well! I, too, still prefer the wall calendar, but duplicate the info on my phone as well. Thanks so much for hosting today! I’ve shared my link with Mr. Linky above, but my post won’t go live for a few more hours https://www.teachingauthors.com/2025/08/frequentlyaskedquestions.html
Carmela Martino here. Don’t know why my comment about my TeachingAuthors post listed me as Anonymous. I thought I was logged in!
Thanks for hosting us this week! Time has been slippery these days (weeks? months?) in my hands, too. Your song is my song!
I was definitely inclined to sing your poem aloud this morning, much to the entertainment of my cats 🙂 I’ve been enjoying losing track of days of the week this summer, but I do remember those days when I was responsible for the crazy schedules of my three young children! I still shudder thinking about spring baseball scheduling. Ugh! Thanks so much for the trip down memory lane and for hosting this week.
Here’s to all the organizers who keep families moving forward! Thank you for hosting, Jane!
Thanks for hosting. I’m now in grandmother mode, so I’m venturing back to singing tunes. I love making up new words to an old tune. Good luck with all your juggling.
Jane, Thank you for hosting. I can relate to your calendar with multi-colored ink. I used to highlight ours in three colors when my three boys were younger. Hold on to this busy time for you’ll miss it when it’s gone. My three “boys” are now 30, 25, and 23 years old! Time flies.
Oh, Jane, I love this! Your poem is a musical gem, and I can so relate. I still love analog planning. There are only three of us in our house right now too (my husband, me, our young adult daughter) and I still have a family wall calendar, my planner, and a whiteboard in the kitchen that serves as Reminder Central (for three ADHD brains.) 😀
Thanks for hosting! (And Mr. Linky is cooperating with you very nicely!)
Thank you for hosting this week, Jane! I love a good wall calendar, but without lists, I’d be completely lost!