In February it will be

My snowman's anniversary

With cake for him and soup for me!

Happy once, happy Twice   

Happy chicken soup with rice.

Ah, February - the month that we usually pronounce and spell incorrectly. It is a month I love because we've lots of family birthdays. From children to grandchildren, the oldest will now be 60, the youngest just 9. It is the amethyst month, and that is my favorite stone - not my own birthstone, alas. 

I first began to feature Maurice Sendak's "Chicken Soup with Rice" back in 2014. This year, so far, has been a record cold one in our country - and a record hot one down in Australia - so I thought I'd bring out the soup again. My own chicken soup has noodles in it - but it is delicious, if I do say so myself. Soup is the obvious supper to have on chilly winter days. As my mother would say, it warms the cockles of your heart. And I wanted to know what those cockles are. O.K., I just googled it and learned something. You should too. 

Have a Fabulous February everyone.

JUNE

Well, here we are, well past the Ides of June, and I've not posted the verse for this month. It's been a scorcher of a June this year. Temperatures for the last weeks have been in the 90's - not conducive to thinking of soup, but here it is: 

June

In June I saw a charming group

Of roses all begin to droop

I pepped them up with chicken soup!

Sprinkle once, sprinkle twice

Sprinkle chicken soup with rice

                                           by Maurice Sendak 

I think we all could use a bit of pepping up these days.

MAY

MAY

In May I truly think it best

to be a robin lightly dressed

concocting soup inside my nest.

Mix it once

mix it twice

mix that chicken soup with rice.

                                            by Maurice Sendak

No, I didn't forget my chicken soup with rice. Early in the May 1st morning I did post about the marvelous month of May, but later in the day I otherwise occupied. I was delightedly visiting with the daughter of my heart. We had a ladies luncheon to attend too, so I was busy, busy, busy. Happy, happy, happy. 

APRIL

April
In April I will go away
To far off Spain or old Bombay
And dream about hot soup all day.
Oh, my, oh, once, oh, my, oh, twice
Oh, my, oh, chicken soup with rice.

Yes, today is April Fool's Day. No fooling today, but if you would like to read something silly, NASA has this for you. If you would like to read something serene, The Writer's Almanac has a bit of Keats for you. While you're there, you can read about one of my favorite authors, Anne McCaffrey, the inventor of Zen Hugs. I'd really love to be going away to Spain or old Bombay, or any place else for that matter. A trip in the lovely month of April is just what everywinter-weary soul needs.

MARCH

March
In March the wind blows down the door
And spills my soup upon the floor
It laps it up and roars for more
Blowing once, blowing twice
Blowing chicken soup with rice

Geeeeze Loueeeeeze, I did it again! I forgot to post the poem for March. We're heading to the last of the verses, though I didn't start them the same way Sendak did. I started in July. Maybe that what is throwing off my inner scheduling.

Yes, this March has been windy so far. It better not spill my soup upon the floor - I just cleaned and waxed it!

FEBRUARY

In February it will be

My snowman's anniversary

With cake for him and soup for me!

Happy once, happy Twice   

Happy chicken soup with rice.

Ah, February - the month that we usually pronounce and spell incorrectly. It is a month I love because we've lots of family birthdays. From children to great-grandchildren, the oldest will be 56, the youngest just 1 - she is so sweet, I could just take a bite out of her. It is the amethyst month, and that is my favorite stone - not my own birthstone, alas. 

Have a Fabulous February everyone.

JANUARY

       January

In January it's so nice
While slipping on the sliding ice
To sip hot chicken soup with rice
Sipping once, sipping twice
Sipping chicken soup with rice

January: the yearly restart of my sputtering engine of ambition. I had all good intentions, but New Year’s Day found me completely wanting.  My mind slipped on the sliding ice and I forgot to post this month’s poem. Perhaps it is appropriate to post it today, because it is certainly icy out there. The whole country is still bundled up. I think I’ll go have another cup of coffee.

   

DECEMBER

In December I will be a baubled bangled Christmas tree

 with soup bowls draped all over me.

     Merry once

     merry twice

            merry chicken soup with rice.

In this month's Chicken Soup With Rice, Maurice Sendak's idea isn't so far-fetched to me.  At a museum exhibit of Christmas trees I once saw a fabulous tree laden with dozens of different tea cups. No saucers, just the cups. Picture them tied on to the branches with matching ribbons, and all these interspersed with glass balls of different colors, and lots of little white lights. It was spectacular. 

OCTOBER

Well Holey Socks, I just discovered that last week's post didn't post. A Senior Moment perhaps?  One never knows.  Today's post is below this one. Sorry!

                 October
               In October I'll be host
               To witches, goblins and a ghost
               I'll serve them chicken soup on toast
               Whoopy once, whoopy twice
               Whoopy chicken soup with rice

Ah yes, it is finally October. The days are getting shorter and cooler. All I can say to that is "Whoopy!"  I don't know about serving chicken soup on toast - with toast, of course, but not on it.  Maybe in it. I love chicken soup, and I can whip up a great chicken noodle soup in no time at all. I once, in my childhood, I suppose, loved Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup.  Not any more. I bought a can a while ago, just for nostalgia sake, and it now seems watered down and blah. Needs salt too.  I know they're de-salting a lot of prepared foods (while others seem loaded with salt. Typical.) De-salting for our health, over salting for flavor.

In these coming winter months I will enjoy my chicken soup in the form of Knorr or Maggi bouillon. A mug of hot bouillon on a cold afternoon is comfort at its quickest and finest.

SEPTEMBER

September

In September, for a while

I will ride a crocodile

Down the chicken soup-y Nile

Paddle once, paddle twice

Paddle chicken soup with rice

One September afternoon years ago marked the family's introduction to Maurice Sendak's Chicken Soup With Rice. Granddaughter Mollie came home from her first day at school reciting this verse. She was hilarious! She put in every word, every nuance of body language her little frame could muster up. She was especially funny when she went "down the chicken-soupy Nile", waving her arms to her sides like a seasoned Egyptian dancer. She paddled like crazy  - not just 'once', not just 'twice' - while stressing the words "CHICK-en SOUP with RICE". 

Seeing as how Mollie is now twenty-three and a mother herself, this is a cherished family memory.

AUGUST

August

In August it will be so hot
I will become a cooking pot
Cooking soup of course-why not?
Cooking once, cooking twice
Cooking chicken soup with rice

Maurice Sendak

August – ah, just one more month of hot weather – I hope! The humidity has

 been unusually high here this year. I usually take a walk each morning 

before the sun rises and it gets a wee bit too hot for me, but not lately. 

I open up that front door and it feels like I’m heading into a sauna. 

Wham!

Then I nicely close the door and say “Not today Geraldine”, Geraldine being one of my mother’s flippant nicknames for me when she was about to say “No”.

To ‘celebrate’ the first of August, I believe I will make chicken soup tonight.

No rice – we like fine noodles. (Sorry Mr. Sendak!) By this time of year we’ve gone through the stockpile of frozen soups, so it’s time to start stockpiling again. I can’t think of a better way to start.

While searching Google's picture files for August, I came upon this
interesting photo. I wonder where this was taken.
Did she dive from that bamboo pole?
Splash!

I'd love to do that - but then I get a 'visual' of my fat-old-lady self,
and I have myself a good laugh.
Maybe in my next life - hmmmm?

JULY

July
In July I'll take a peep
Into the cool and fishy deep
Where chicken soup is selling cheap
Selling once, selling twice
Selling chicken soup with rice

This is the July stanza from Maurice Sendak’s Chicken Soup With Rice. I first heard this poem when my granddaughter Mollie came home from school reciting the September stanza, all the while undulating her arms like an Egyptian belly dancer and telling us about a crocodile going “down the chicken soup-y Nile”. Her body language and recitation were hilarious.

Each month they learned a new stanza, though I don’t know what happened for June through August. By that time it was old hat. But since then, Chicken Soup With Rice has become my second-favorite nonsense poem. Jabberwocky is first, of course.  So for a while, on the chicken soup-y Nile, I’ll send along that month’s stanza.  Be sure to memorize them all – there will be a “quickie quiz” later on. 

IN AUGUST...

…it will be so hot
I will become a cooking pot
Cooking soup of course-why not?
Cooking once, cooking twice
Cooking chicken soup with rice

 

Maurice Sendak reminds us that any time is a good time for soup. I think I’ll create a quick pot of chicken soup for lunch today – with fine noodles instead of rice. Couldn’t be easier!