Thinking and writing about teaching, parenting and life.
Today is my spouse’s birthday. He never asks for much – usually just a family hike – so I thought I’d write in honour of him today. I’ve aimed for a sort of interlocking visual haiku series.
Happy Birthday, Andre. Life is better with you in it.
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Persistence and Pedagogy 
What a loving tributeāyāall are blessed to have one another. Happy day to both of you!
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Thanks – this started as a list – kind of like the one you wrote a while ago about the things your spouse puts up with š but then I had to add pictures and then…well, here we are.
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I love reading this about your amazing spouse. You obviously share a lot of laughs and love. I also love the haiku form with repetition. I wonder what Andre thinks of your post dedicated to him?
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I posted it while he was out with Mr 11 – heāll see it when he returns.
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I have been a fan of Amanda’s writing and was tickled to see a post about me. The interlocking haiku is perfect format for me, I love that kind of essentialist writing with playful whit.
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love, love, love this format. Thanks for the inspiration; totally want to try!
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heads up that the dang photos took me forever – but only because I had to find them, match them to the lines and then download etc. Still – it was loads of fun.
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This is lyrical imagery! Each picture became part of a larger story and this reminds me of what might be a multimodal task for the narrative unit. It’s interesting that this is more than a tribute to Andre for me – this is Andre relationally and the many different aspects of his role as partner, father, friend, etc. So clever.
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Thank you!! I wanted it to *feel* like Andre, you know? I can’t wait to show it to him.
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Nailed it.
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This was so clever! I loved the stories the pictures and haikus told!
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Thank you!
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wow! Great format, both for the haiku but also how you laid it out with photos.
Hoping I can remember this for another day! Extremely well done!
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Thank you! It was a lot of fun to make.
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What a special gift for your husband! I love that you included photographs, even if they did take a long time. And I love the idea of interlocking haiku! If there isn’t such a thing, there should be! I want to try it next month, when I am doing poetry every day for a month. Thanks for sharing this with us.
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He just got home & got to see this – he loves it! (which makes me very happy)
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This is so sweet. Real men do cook and play w/ cats and are all the things you name. Love it. Happy birthday, Andre. Congratulations on finding a good man, a friend, a partner to take this crazy ride with. ā¤ļøā¤ļø
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Thanks!
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Wow! I feel like I’ve experienced the grandest introduction to Andre! Thank you for sharing your joy and love with all of us. Happy Birthday to Andre and enjoy the celebration!
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Happy Birthday to Andre. This is such a cool form. For a more time consuming task, please make it into a photo book for him. It reads like it could be a picture book. Those silly photos are the best.
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He is, in fact, very silly. Those pictures were easy to find š I suspect you two would get along famously
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Almost as silly as a Midnight Turkey.
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What a wonderful way to recognize your husband in all his dimensions! I was deeply moved and am sure he will be as well. I think humbleswede is onto something with the idea of creating a photo book! Terrific, heart-warming post!
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He liked it – but you know who *really * liked it? My mother in law š
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Happy birthday to the creator of family. I canāt imagine a better title. ā¤ļø
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Love the humour and warmth of this post — I am sure Andre would smile and laugh. All of the photos help me get a sense of you and your family. The layout is really effective. Hope there was a great birthday celebration!
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Thanks to your efforts, interlocking haiku stanzas graced with well-curated photos is now a thing.
(haiku+Kodakchrome=haikudachrome?)
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Oh this is so cool, I can imagine the photos took forever to find, but so worth it. I can’t decide which photo I like best, they’re all so good (maybe playing chess with the cat?) and that cats and babies love him, yes that’s the sign of a real man! Such a warm glimpse into your lovely family!
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