The Song of the Bee

Buzz! buzz! buzz!
This is the song of the bee.
His legs are of yellow;
A jolly, good fellow,
And yet what a great worker is he.

In days that are sunny
He’s getting his honey,
In days that are cloudy
He’s making his wax:
On pinks and on lilies,
And gay daffodillies,
And columbine blossoms,
He levies a tax!

Buzz! buzz! buzz!
The sweet-smelling clover,
He, humming, hangs over;
The scent of the roses
Makes fragrant his wings:
He never gets lazy;
From thistle and daisy,
And weeds of the meadow,
Some treasure he brings.

Buzz! buzz! buzz!
From morning’s first light
Till the coming of night,
He’s singing and toiling
The summer day through.
Oh! We may get weary,
And think work is dreary;
‘Tis harder by far
To have nothing to do.


Our family can say this poem together from memory. :)

Random Quotes from Books

"So please, Oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in it's place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall."
--Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl

"Knowledge will not always take the place of simple observation."
--The Elephant and his son, Arnold Lobel

"Sometimes the feeling is more important than the word."
--Nobody Stole the Pie, Sonia Levitin

"I assure you that you can pick up more information when you are listening than when you are talking."
--Trumpet of the Swan, E. B. White

"Some people talk in a whisper,
And some people talk in a drawl;
And some people talk-and-talk-and-talk-
and-talk-and-talk
And never say anything at all."
--Thoughts on the Talkers, Walter R. Brooks

"Front yards are boring.
Backyards tell stories."
--Backyards, James Stevenson

"Grown ups sure do a lot of pretending and call it politeness."
--Miss Charity Comes to Stay, Alberta Wilson Constant

"I speak quietly,
I do not sing,
I whisper, for beauty
is a fragile thing."
--Marigolds, Charlotte Zolotow

"Really, sometimes life just knocks me out!"
--The Alfred Summer, Jan Slepian

"I have no time to grow old... I am too busy for that.
It is very idle to grow old."
--The Golden Key, George MacDonald

"I am a bear of Very Little Brain, and long words Bother me."
--Winnie-the-Pooh, A.A. Milne

"And half the fun of nearly everything, you know, is thinking about it beforehand, or afterward."
--Uncle Wiggily's Story Book, Howard R. Garis

"The world is so you have something to stand on."
--A Hole is to Dig, Ruth Krauss

"Without a doubt, there is such a thing as too much order."
--The Crocodile in the Bathroom, Arnold Lobel

"It is helpful to know the proper way to behave, so one can decide whether or not to be proper."
--Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine

"Safety is all well and good: I prefer freedom."
--The Trumpet of the Swan, E.B. White

(All of these quotes are from, "What the Door Mouse Said" and were collected by Amy Gash)

Words

Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. --C. S. Lewis

The Blue Bowl

By Blanche Bane Kuder

All day I did the little things,
The little things that do not show;
I brought the kindling for the fire
I set the candles in a row,
I filled a bowl with marigolds,
The shallow bowl you love the best-
And made the house a pleasant place
Where weariness might take its rest.


The hours sped on, my eager feet
Could not keep pace with my desire.
So much to do, so little time!
I could not let my body tire;
Yet, when the coming of the night
Blotted the garden from my sight,
And on the narrow, graveled walks
Between the guarding flower stalks
I heard your step: I was not through


You came into the quiet room
That glowed enchanted with the bloom
Of yellow flame. I saw your face,
Illumined by the firelit space,
Slowly grow still and comforted-
"It's good to be at home," you said.

Elegy for Rose

By Carissa Mann


Sweet smelling,
Gorgeous,
Enchanting
I reach
And pluck
Ouch!


Now in water
In the center
Of our table
Petals the color of
Peaches and cream.
Wow.


Eating pancakes,
I notice
A change-
The rose is blushing!
Red petals tinged
With purple.


My friend
And I
Sip mint tea.
“Oh! How lovely.
A purple rose.”
I spy a hint of darkness.


Dusting the oak table,
I glance up
Rose is
Brown.
I pick up the petals
That have fallen.


Our table
Is bare,
Colorless.
Only memories
Of beauty
Remain.

Nature

By Carissa Mann

Outside my back door,

You surround me–

Grass pressed under my feet,

Birdsong on the air,

Perfume of wildflowers dancing,

A stream giggles past,

My hand rests on tree bark.

Outside the van window,
I see you again–
Sun slipping away,
Trees rushing past,
Birds in a line,
Pink and gold clouds,
Lengthening shadows.


Everywhere I look,
I discover you–
Hiding in a city park,
Sheltering me in a forest,
Sleeping in a campground,
Hurrying on a river,
Once again, you greet me.

A Few Random Quotes I Found and Liked...

"The really tough thing about humility is that you can't brag about it." Gene Brown

"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less." Rick Warren

"I don't suffer from insanity. I love it."

"'I am bored' generally means, 'I am boring.'" Dennis Prager

"The best time for planning a book is when you're doing the dishes." Agatha Christie

"The man who trims himself to suit everybody will soon whittle himself away." Charles Schwab

"You have to be an original, because if you're like someone else, what do they need you for?" Bernadette Rodgers