Every month a question will be posed that may prompt you to share advice, insight, a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. You can write about anything that relates to your writing journey.
Let's give a warm welcome to our co-hosts: Beth Camp, Jean Davis, Yvonne Ventresca, and PJ Colando!
This month's question is: Since it's back to school time, let's talk English class. What's a writing rule you learned in school that messed you up as a writer?
My first English/writing teacher was my mother. That makes me lucky because in homeschooling me she quickly realized I learned differently than my sister. We didn't have a name or diagnosis for it back then, but it turns out I'm mildly dyslexic, and it's enough to make me a bad speller, to transpose numbers and to be a slow (but avid) reader. When it came to writing, she was the one who recognized when I was eight, despite all the spelling mistakes, that I might have a talent for writing. She was my first and ever strongest cheerleader. That said, when I did get enrolled in a "regular" school, I had some pretty awesome English teachers who also encouraged me, despite the red marks all over my papers for misspellings or misplaced commas or dangling participles or whatever. They saw I could write a good story, essay, or poem, so they overlooked a lot of my stumbling blunders.
Origins: a recurring post in which I delve into the history of a word or phrase.
I am preempting Origins this month to bring you a small tour of my visit home to the Virgin Island
The Battery in Cruz Bay, built by the Danes in 1764.
However, a Danish census shows that settlers were living on St. John as early as 1680.
Although it is much modified, this the house I first lived in when we moved to St. John in 1955.
The picture on the right shows me and mother on the street in front of the house.
Too many years after publication, my books are finally for sale on island
and I had a wonderful little book signings
My cousin Rafe Boulon and his wife, Kimberly.
Sunset from Susannaberg, looking northwest into the Atlantic.
Trunk Bay. My grandparents bought it in 1928.
They build a summer home here to escape the "hustle and bustle" of living in Puerto Rico.
After World War II my grandmother converted the six bedroom home into a guesthouse which she ran, without electricity until 1960 when the beach was transferred to the National Park.
Me, early in the morning at Trunk.
The windmill at Annaberg. When I was a kid a family lived in the windmill.
It had a roof and second floor.
There are some magnificent and dramatic rock structures.
Catherineberg, the most complete and beautiful of all the windmills.
The walls of most of these ruins are between four and five feet thick.
All the buildings on all the islands were constructed by enslaved Africans.
Wild donkeys are everywhere. Sometimes they are a nuisance.
An example of the clarity of the water.
This is looking down through about 4 feet of water.
Wild donkeys are everywhere. Sometimes they are a nuisance.
Unfortunately tourists think it's fun to feed them people food
which cause tumorous fatty deposits to develop. Feeding them also makes them bold.
People think they are tame, but they aren't. They can kick and bite without warning.
Cairns at Solomon Bay. I stacked the one on the left.
My sister climbing out of Solomon. Most of the trail follows the contour of the hill, but there are a couple of steep rocky places. We did pretty darn good for a couple of old broads.
Iguana on the trail to Solomon.
Magens Bay, St. Thomas.
Sunrise from St. Thomas looking east down Sir Francis Drake Passage.
Yes, that Sir Francis Drake. He did sail through the passage.
The island to the left is Tortola, British Virgin Islands.
St. John is to the right. A mere quarter of a mile separates the BVI from the USVI.
Fort Christian, St. Thomas. The first building constructed after the Danes took possession of the islands. The first phase of its building began in 1666 and was finished between 1671 and 1680.
This is the third iteration of the Lutheran Church to be built on this site and dates to 1793.
It is the oldest established church in the islands, dating back to about the time the fort was built.
Hotel 1829.
After being shuttered for many years,
new owners are giving this beautiful hotel a facelift and hopefully will soon be reopened.
The most precious part of this building is the large Tiffany stain glassed window from 1910.
The Sewer.
Being Thankful
Today I'm ever so thankful for the month I got to spend on my island home with family and friends.
Even went through tropical storm Ernesto!
What are you thankful for? Did you go anywhere special this summer? Did you have any good English teachers?
Lucky for us your mother and teachers encouraged you to write. I enjoyed learning about your time in the Virgin Islands and am glad you got so much time there with your sister.
ReplyDeleteThat's so cool that your mom was your teacher and encouraged you to write. Thanks for sharing all the awesome pictures of your trip home. It must have been really good to spend so much time with your sister.
ReplyDeleteAwesome photos! And cool your books are for sale there now.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing about your mother, Bish. What a wonderful memory. English wasn't my mother's first language and yet she was a great help with my homework. I learned from her that anything is possible if you want to learn.
ReplyDeleteThat's wonderful you got to go home and take your books with you for an appearance.
ReplyDeleteFantastic photos, Bish. I felt as though I was on a mini-vacation. Awesome that you held a book signing in your hometown. That is Success! And how blessed you were to have your mother as first teacher.
ReplyDeleteLove the photos! And how fortunate that your mother was an excellent first teacher.
ReplyDeleteHappy IWSG Blog Hop Day!
Thank you for sharing your home--it's beautiful!
ReplyDeleteHi Bish - lovely photos of your home and early era history ... fascinating. I gave up learning English, when I had French and Latin going on ... thankfully I seem to be able to cope! Cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteThat early encouragement really does matter, and it's good that your mother was able to figure out your dyslexia and help you--it's much too easy for a smart kid to cover it up through grade school and not get the help, but when there are only 2 students, I guess it's pretty obvious! Great photos, too--thanks for sharing those.
ReplyDelete