Great news! I’ve launched a new website! Please visit me over at Smelling Salts Journal! Check out the Welcome post and then have a browse around! But, wait, what’s happening to The Lunchbox Season? The Lunchbox Season will still be here, in magazine form. Over the next few months, I’ll be reorganizing the site so you […]
It’s the SPOOKY installment of our Monday Game Night! This month’s game night is a two part venture. First, we’re going to play “Scary Scrabble.” Then, we’re going to improvise stories from the words on the board. 1. Play Scary Scrabble Tonight, we’re going to play Scrabble, but we’ll award double the points for a scary/Halloween […]
Inspired by … Book Lists This December, I read through several amazing lists of “Books read in 2014” and other year-end reviews by movers and shakers in my own little literary community and beyond. I was awe-struck by Nathalie Foy and Vicki Ziegler‘s lists of books-read and favourite reads for 2014. Greg Zimmerman’s singular account of reading Jane Eyre for the […]
Grief strikes people at odd and often unexpected moments. In the summer of 2013, my brother Peter died of a reaction to a prescription medication. At the time, I found it difficult to discuss his loss with the kids. Pete had suffered for years from addiction and mental illness, which had made him a stranger […]
We did some free writing over the weekend, and I asked the kids to write “Night Poems.” Usually, I have little prompts for them, encouraging them to write in a certain style or to choose a specific image to concentrate on … i.e. “Make a List of Things You’d See in the Sky” or “Write from the […]
For years, the kids’ teachers have been suggesting that they keep track of their after-school and weekend reading in little notebooks. This year, however, we seem to be at a crossroads. Now that Bea’s a little older, her teacher expects his students to be independent in terms of their reading habits. Still, Bea likes to […]
Word on the Street, Canada’s Book & Magazine Festival, has got to be one of the most awesome events held in the city of Toronto [and across the country] all year long! WOTS! WOTS? What’s better than a park full of books and magazines and book and magazine people? Personally, I can’t think of much…. This […]
School’s back in session, and you know what that means! It’s time for another fall-thick magazine of posts at The Lunchbox Season! To kick things off, we’re providing a little inspiration board for autumn! Our Summer of Funner Bucket List provided such a great guide for us that we decided to create a Fall 2013 […]
Over the past few weeks, the kids have been working with Blaise on a fantastic video project to coincide with the release of his second book of poems, Zeppelin (Nightwood Editions, 2013). I remember walking downstairs a few weeks ago and being utterly appalled to find that, after several hours of painting their “movie sets,” […]
It’s snowing today. It’s snowing hard. Of course, the schools in the city aren’t officially closed. But, I’ve got one kid home sick already. [Poor Bea’s recovering from pneumonia.] There’s really no point in making the GROUP effort to get the other one off to school through a boot-rise of snow, especially with more coming. […]
Firefly Kin of the beetle, you glow like a star, one you can catch and let go. – Blaise Moritz When he was in grade school (I like to think of him in grade school!), my husband wrote a haiku that remains as thrilling, now, as it must have been, then. Since the kids are […]
December 17, 2011 21st Day of Advent 8 Days til Christmas WRITE & PERFORM A CHRISTMAS CAROL! _____________________________ Find a Tune You Like Or Invent One of Your Own Add Original Lyrics And Grab a Microphone It`s Our Annual Family Christmas Carol Hootenanny Be Ready With Your Original Tunes! The Gang Meets Tonight At Seven O’clock […]
December 13, 2011 17th Day of Advent 12 Days ’til Christmas CHRISTMAS CRACK-UPS Knock-Knock! Who’s There? Santa. Santa Who? ____insert funny bit here!____ Write Holiday Knock-Knock Jokes and Other Silly Sayings Featuring your Favourite Christmas Characters: Santa, the Elves, Rudolph, Frosty, the Grinch… When you’re finished, place your jokes into an envelope and send them to a […]
DECEMBER 7, 2011 11TH DAY OF ADVENT 18 DAYS ‘TIL CHRISTMAS SOME STORIES SAY IT’S A PALACE OF ICE AND SNOW, OR A FACTORY, OR, AS IN BABAR’S PRJMNESWE, AN ELABORATE UNDERGROUND NETWORK OF CAVES. WHERE DO YOU IMAGINE SANTA’S ELVES DO ALL THEIR HANDIWORK? DRAW YOUR OWN PICTURE OF SANTA’S WORKSHOP TODAY! Here’s a […]
December 6, 2011 – 10th Day of Advent – 19 Days ’til Christmas ANOTHER WRITING DAY DESCENDS! Let’s Make a Newspaper for Family and Friends, A Record of All You’ve Accomplished this Year To Place Inside Of Cards Full of Holiday Cheer! _____________________________ The kids have been really interested in making comic books at home this year […]
November 29, 2011 3rd Day of Advent 26 Days ’til Christmas Tuesdays are for Correspondence Write a Letter to a Friend Each Tuesday in Advent, we’ll be writing a letter, note, or email to someone we love. {Santa included, of course!} Today’s Advent Shadowbox is filled with Christmas stamps, holiday cards, and charcoal pencils: On the Glass, […]
WELCOME! We’ll be up and running not long after Labour Day. Until then, catch us at our sister site, Summer of Funner!
