October 10, 2025
Stepping Lively
Skipping Rope
Today, joy is skipping rope,
exuberant and carrying hope
with lightness of heart, not
a smidgen of heaviness on her part
nor even a backward glance
as, with great cheer, she chants:
teddy bear teddy bear turn around
teddy bear teddy bear touch the ground!
feet are lifting, hands are spinning
voice is lilting, face is grinning
joy calls out in feisty glee:
policeman caught me
put me in jail
all I had was ginger ale
red hot chili peppers 3, 4, 5 …
look at me! got out alive!
—dotty seiter
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3 x 3″; watercolor on paper
card #22 in a series of color swatches
2025
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Notes about poem and painting:
• I went to paint the gorgeous colors of these peppers, and the fifth grader in me was back on the playground at the American School in the Hague doing red hot chili peppers with my jump rope—I had to write “Skipping.” Dave will be happy to see rhyme: a real poem!
• Not was tricky to capture. I don’t know that I’ve ever before given such scrutiny to the rate at which red peppers turn from their emergent green to their mature red. I wanted to have both a fully red and and an in-transition pepper at hand at the same time for my color swatches. It took me several days and a few delicious salads before I achieved my goal!
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15 responses to “Stepping Lively”
Last post didn’t go through first shot so I copied and put in notes… it went through so didn’t need it.
Wish I could go back to my jumprope days……. actually didn’t notice or expect the ryhmes! Went to do a re-read. All your poems are real! Tell Dave!
Love the peppers, we can buy them in all colors, orange, green and reds. Maybe I’ll try growing some! Great colors….. try mixing more dk green to the red to get an almost black tone.
Breaking in a new computer, holidays then the weekend, then more holidays, family….(no complaints) my drawing course with lots of homework (no complaints) I hardly know what side is up!
Again, thank you for taking the extra effort to get your comments through. I often do what you do, i.e. put comments in notes b/f posting to guard against potential glitches, but not consistently enough to meet with 100% success when commenting!
I do periodically pull out a jump rope but, boy howdy, my jumping ain’t what it used to be! I well remember with SUCH delight jumping rope for much of each daily half-hour recess at my elementary school in 5th and 6th grade!
Your not noticing the rhymes on first reading is high praise in my books. I see rhyme, not unlike good grammar, as something that enhances to great effect while simultaneously passing without notice.
Thanks for the color-mixing tip, Carol. I do/did mix dark green to the red but evidently not abundantly enough; one thing I need to remember more fully is that watercolor dries to a less intense color than when applied and still wet.
I can appreciate your fullness of life of late, a no-complaints fullness that can often result in hardly knowing what side is up!
This perky poem put a spring in my step today! Your childhood joy took me back to my monkey bars and rope skipping days. I’m tickled that Dave was finally pleased with your “real poem.” But I agree with Carol Lee….all your poems are “real.”
You captured those scrumptious peppers perfectly…in your painting and your photograph! Yay!
MaryAnn, monkey bars! While I did often swing from same, skipping rope was more my gig.
I do chuckle at Dave’s knee-jerk that’s-not-a-poem assertion when he reads or hears a poem without rhyme. I think his reaction is not unlike mine of instantly thinking of jumping rope when the words “red hot chili peppers” come my way. Those childhood associations get hard-wired!!!
Thanks for your shared pleasure in my painting and photo of painting!
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And from where did all those rhymes originate? They’re known by so many from all different parts of North America. I particularly loved the hand clapping games, too, that you did with one other friend and sometimes a whole circle of friends. The rhythm and cadence and speed of matching hands to verse. Didn’t you just love those?! Great and happy poem, Dottie.
You captured the deep and rich colors of those peppers so well. Love that.
BTW… what are you doing with these pieces? Are they in their own journal? Maybe put them in little frames and dedicate a whole wall (room?) to them?
YES YES YES to the rhythm and cadence and speed of matching hands or feet to verses. Totally loved that. Camp songs with hand motions also! To this day, when I see kids doing hand clapping games I stop in my tracks instantly, mesmerized!
I loved capturing the deep rich colors of these garden peppers of ours. Thanks, Roseanne.
As to what I’m doing with all these pieces, good question! I’ve painted 29 color swatch cards. Caroline is in possession of 9. I have 16 in a stack standing vertically, propped up against something a few inches away from the laptop on my desk, where I see them off and on all day every day with the most recent one at the front and in view. And 4 are painted in my travel journal from which they can be cut to join the others.
In addition to all the cards, I have photographs of all 29 color swatch cards paired with their botanical references.
I haven’t decided where to go next with them but am entertaining multiple ideas: small frames? a large grouping of small frames? all the same size? maybe a few different sizes? original watercolor swatches? printed photos? a mix of both? printed in a book? No decisions made yet!
Thank you for your comments and questions, Roseanne. I always value your input : )
Simone! Fun to see you at my blog this morning! Thank you for your perspective on the fresh outlook of children’s play, forgoing the heavy layers that can easily develop later in life. This poem was a fun jump (pun acknowledged!) back into the ease and physical play and happy chanting of my rope-skipping childhood days : )
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