the dirigible plum

At this hour #sol22 7/31

At this hour…

A gentle rain plinks against the windows.

The lesson plans I didn’t have time to write on Friday beckon.

A cup of coffee, still hot, waits for me to take a sip.

Three cats curl across my outstretched legs, a warm, purring blanket.

The sky has not yet begun to brighten.

***********

My theme for Slice of Life 2022 is finding inspiration in the writing of others. Each day I plan to find my slice in someone else’s words or forms. Today’s slice idea was borrowed from Ramona at Pleasures from the Page who borrowed it from Leigh Anne at A Day in the Life who borrowed it from Julieanne at To Read To Write To Be. It was just the inspiration I needed on a time-crunched Monday morning when the lesson plans I haven’t yet written are due.

Posted

in

by

Elisabeth Ellington

Tags:

Comments

27 responses to “At this hour #sol22 7/31”

  1. Susan Kennedy Avatar
    Susan Kennedy

    Another great mentor found and recreated by you. Monday always does have a little urgency to it.

    Reply
    1. Elisabeth Ellington Avatar
      Elisabeth Ellington

      Sadly it does LOL. I always intend to have a LEISURELY Monday morning, but that doesn’t always happen.

      Reply
  2. Juliana Ellington Avatar
    Juliana Ellington

    What a wonderful photo of Oliver and Smudge! You borrowing from Ramona, who borrowed from Leigh Anne, who borrowed from Julieanne reminds me of Henry in Northanger Abbey telling Catherine about the old pelisse–still serviceable and much appreciated–being passed among friends.

    Reply
    1. Elisabeth Ellington Avatar
      Elisabeth Ellington

      Hahaha, our little slice pelisses! I so enjoy a slice idea that gets passed around. I saw two or three more rambling autobiographies this morning!

      Reply
  3. Book Dragon Avatar
    Book Dragon

    A simply beautiful slice. I am envious that you have three kitties on your lap – lucky you.
    I appreciate the context you provide at the end for the inspiration for your slice.

    Reply
    1. Elisabeth Ellington Avatar
      Elisabeth Ellington

      Three lap cat mornings are really great–exceeded only by the four or five lap cat morning!

      Reply
      1. Book Dragon Avatar
        Book Dragon

        5 cats?! I have feline envy. I have 2 and adore their companionship.

  4. margaretsmn Avatar
    margaretsmn

    I love the picture of the cuddling cats. This is a wonderful mentor text to steal. It’s so inspiring to write in community.

    Reply
    1. Elisabeth Ellington Avatar
      Elisabeth Ellington

      Such a strong mentor text! As soon as I saw Ramona’s, I knew I could steal it and then to discover the bonus of Leigh Anne’s and Julieanne’s writing for more inspiration!

      Reply
  5. jarhartz Avatar
    jarhartz

    Love being with you and the cats this morning, Thanks!

    Reply
    1. Elisabeth Ellington Avatar
      Elisabeth Ellington

      Thanks for giving us so many great lines in your original piece! Loved the meditative quality of your hour!

      Reply
  6. arjeha Avatar
    arjeha

    A gentle rain, a hot cup of coffee, a furry purring blanket, perfect.

    Reply
    1. Elisabeth Ellington Avatar
      Elisabeth Ellington

      Absolute perfection! Well, it would have been improved if I could have read and commented on slices instead of writing lesson plans! But sometimes there are tasks to complete first.

      Reply
  7. Jillfr Avatar
    Jillfr

    Love how you added pictures so we didn’t need to imagine this rainy, snowy Monday morning.

    Reply
    1. Elisabeth Ellington Avatar
      Elisabeth Ellington

      I recently changed my blog appearance and it seems like I need to be adding photos all the time to make it show up correctly. I was too lazy to take my own rainy morning picture but I did like the cityscape I found.

      Reply
  8. Slice of Life: At this Hour | Reflections on the Teche Avatar
    Slice of Life: At this Hour | Reflections on the Teche

    […] for this Slice comes from Julieanne Harmatz, who inspired Ramona, Leigh Anne, and Elisabeth, and […]

    Reply
  9. Ramona Avatar
    Ramona

    Oh, I was fearful that this year’s theme might mean a paucity of cat pics. I’m delighted to see Oliver (my grandson’s name)and Smudge (the best name ever) snuggling and snoozing amid your words.

    Reply
    1. Elisabeth Ellington Avatar
      Elisabeth Ellington

      Every time I spot a slice about a cat or a pet, I bookmark it so I can use it as inspiration later! We’ve got to have our cat photos!

      Reply
  10. Jennifer Floyd, Ed.D. Avatar
    Jennifer Floyd, Ed.D.

    I will definitely use your post as a mentor text! I love the visual of the cats as a “warm, purring blanket!” What a wonderful way to start the day!

    Reply
    1. Elisabeth Ellington Avatar
      Elisabeth Ellington

      It’s worth waking up early to get to start my day with some quiet time spent with my sweet cats.

      Reply
  11. SOL#2022 Day 7 – A Space for my Creative Efforts Avatar
    SOL#2022 Day 7 – A Space for my Creative Efforts

    […] for this Slice comes from Julieanne Harmatz, who inspired Ramona, Leigh Anne, and Elisabeth, Margaret and […]

    Reply
  12. vossh Avatar
    vossh

    I came to leave a comment for a comment, and found this delightful post! What an excellent insight into your morning. Short, sweet, and powerful. I’ll be using you as a mentor text as well! The goodness keeps passing on.

    Reply
    1. Elisabeth Ellington Avatar
      Elisabeth Ellington

      Thanks for visiting! I’m so glad you found a mentor text you can use. Inspiration from other slicers is my favorite part of writing this month.

      Reply
  13. Trina Avatar
    Trina

    I was definitely in crunch time early this morning. Why can’t I worker harder on Friday so I am not putting it together at the last minute?

    Your three purring cat blanket sounds so inviting! How could you ever end up leaving for school with those cuddly creatures enveloping you?

    Reply
    1. Elisabeth Ellington Avatar
      Elisabeth Ellington

      We had a wild impromptu grade level all day study hall on Friday because so many staff were out. So it’s no wonder I didn’t get my plans done! Still, I hate waking up Monday morning with that looming over my head. It’s not easy to leave the cat blanket in the mornings!

      Reply
  14. mschiubookawrites Avatar
    mschiubookawrites

    Sometimes simplicity is the answer. Though you had a looming deadline, you sliced with calm and comfort.

    Reply
    1. Elisabeth Ellington Avatar
      Elisabeth Ellington

      I was grateful to find such a calm (and short!) mentor text to inspire my writing!

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: