Robyn Hood Black - children's author, poet, artist

Oops - I said I'd be back this week, but I'm trying to get a baby quilt finished before Morgan's shower this weekend. ;0) See you NEXT Friday! This week, our lovely and thoughtful Patricia has the Roundup over at Reverie. Happy November!

Quick wave from Florida - I'm visiting my Florida Fam this weekend but will be back next week. Enjoy all the poetry magic this week at Beyond Literacy Week with  our wonderful Carol. :0)

 

Greetings, Poetry Lovers! Many thanks to all for the kind comments, thoughts & prayers in recent weeks as our region (and our family) has been dealing with hurricanes.  We got internet back last Friday evening, and Seth and Ginnie (Asheville area) got power back on then as well. They're still waiting on internet and well water testing, but they have running water to use for everything but drinking. My Florida family is cleaning up from Milton, but everyone is safe and well.  My brother Mike and his partner Scott in St. Pete went to a hotel there at a higher elevation; with 100 mph winds, not only did the power go out as expected, but water blew in their room through the AC and window seals, soaking the carpet, the wind blew the lobby doors in, and at around 1 a.m., a piece of roof was banging against their window.  But they're okay! Please continue to send good thoughts for those who are grieving and for so many who have lost their homes and businesses.  It's going to be a long road.

 

This month, I got another FaceTime from the wee laddie (our two year-old grandson) with a fun surprise from their mailbox (second time this has happened!).  Highlights HELLO reprinted another one of my poems, this one from six years ago.  Many of you have seen it, but since they reprinted it, I will too!

 

 

 Spider, Spider

 

    by Robyn Hood Black

 

 

   Spider, spider,

   Weave and spin

   Down, around,

   And up again

 

   Spider, spider,

   Time to rest

   in your round

   And webby nest.

 

©Highlights for Children

 

Maria Neradova illustrated the poem. 

 

I wrote this poem about a golden orb weaver who graced the outside of our kitchen window in Beaufort.  We have various orb weavers here in the mountains (& they built webs much earlier than usual this year).  But I haven't seen my "traditional" golden orb weavers this fall, with their gilded webs. You know what I'm finally seeing in abundance? Joro spiders.  They arrived in this part of the country from Asia about a decade ago. They are large and their webs are large!  There is some concern that the joros are displacing native spiders; studies are ongoing, I believe.  Do you have them where you live?  I think they've been making their way up the East Coast.

 

As far as comparing these two weavers of the woods, here's an article from last year discussing their attributes. And while my daughter Morgan was brave enough to take a photo of the HELLO spread, she'd just as soon not run into any REAL spiders, thank you.  I, on the other hand, find them fascinating and am a spider relocator when they insist on making webs at eye level in the back (or front!) door jambs.  (They can be territorial, though, and often come right back.)  And even though these two types of spiders might give you a Halloween fright, they're not harmful to humans. 

 

I also dropped in a little insert of a Halloween-y necklace I've just listed on Etsy. I happened upon some fun random spider web designs in the endpapers of a 1927 educational book, and, well, I couldn't help myself. 

 

Matt is awfully busy this month with MANY new books and such at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme, but he's kindly hosting the Roundup this week - Many Thanks, Matt!

  Greetings, Friends & Poetry Lovers - For the third Poetry Friday in a row, I'm afraid instead of poetry I just have a personal update from my phone. Whew, what couple weeks it's been. The Helene update is that the region is still reeling in the aftermath, but Greenville County (SC) is making progress. Schools opened here again on Wednesday. County trucks have picked up 40,000 metric tons of debris as of a couple days ago, and they'll continue until Oct. 31. There are still huge stacks on our little road. We still don't have internet/WiFi in our part of the county, those of us who have Spectrum anyway. More folks are getting power back. Our Seth & Ginnie up in the Asheville area have been volunteering a lot & are still waiting on power. I hope they get it soon, as nighttime temperatures are taking a big dip.

 

 I have a personal Milton update too, as my family is spread out over Central Florida. (I grew up in Orlando.) I didn't sleep much Wednesday night; they certainly didn't! But everyone in our family is okay. Lots of downed trees and power outages.  My niece's family is hoping their lake stays in its banks in coming days.  My brother Mike & his partner Scott live in St. Pete. They left their home to ride out the storm in a hotel there with an elevation of about 50 feet. They lost power, as expected, but then the 100-plus-mile-an-hour winds blew through the lobby doors and blew water through the window seal and air conditioner into their room, soaking the carpet on that side. An edge of the roof hung down and banged against their window. Then the city shut off all water at midnight because of a line break. I'm sure it's a night they won't forget any time soon. But they are good and their house didn't sustain major damage, though water did come up to the doorstep as evidenced by the water line. 

Continued prayers for all who have been affected by these devastating storms. I love October, and I'm used to a sleepless night or two each year during hurricane season, but this year for us has been another level. Stay safe & dry and go enjoy all the Poetry Friday goodness at Jama's Alphabet Soup! 

Greetings, Friends & Poetry Lovers. Trying to post from my phone. I just have an update this week. We did end up in the direct path of Helene as the storm hit the Southern Appalachians. We had dozens of trees down here, and about 15 cut up and cleared out by our wonderful neighbor and his formidable crew and big equipment. We've gotten to know our neighbors better. Who knew I'd be dragging out our hurricane box here instead of at the coast? We lost power overnight Thursday, which means water for us, too, since we're on a well. We were all safe inside and accounted for; our son & future daughter-in-law came here from the Asheville area to ride it out. (They've been in Charlotte a few days this week.)  We were beyond grateful here to get power restored Wed. night, and I hope more and more folks can say that each day. So many crews are working hard. In Upstate SC, the death tolll from Helene has now exceeded that from Hugo in 1989. We're about a dozen miles from the NC line, and I'm sure you've seen the apocalyptic-looking images of flooding. We've been a bit cut off from news, but it's overwhelming. Seth & Ginnie aren't sure when they can get back to their home north of Asheville in a lovely small town, but they did eventually hear from neighbors that the houses are standing. They are driving to Asheville Friday to distribute supplies they've bought through a Go Fund Me a friend set up. Thanks for all the care & concern via social media; please keep prayers and support coming for those whose lives have been upended. Helicopters have been going back and forth overhead all week, and I imagine that will continue for a while. I hope to get back to Poetry Friday soon; not sure when we'll have internet/WiFi. Please go see Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference for this week's Roundup. XO, Robyn (PS - The inner city church where Seth is one of the pastors is Haywood Street Congregation if you'd like to look up and/or support. I believe it's haywoodstreet.org but if I leave this attempt to post I'll lose it. Just discovered that. Thanks!)