melissa.talk

Melissa

Speech pathologist. Spends her days helping people find their words, and the rest of the time playing music, picking flowers and jumping in the pool.

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Tap a flower

Every flower here makes a sound. Start anywhere.

Walks in the park

Most afternoons, if the weather's kind, Melissa does a lap of the park with something upbeat in her headphones. She stops for every flower, which makes it a long lap.

Park rules

Please stop and smell the flowers. All of them. Yes, that one too.

Upbeat music

Her playlists don't do sad. If there's a beat, she's clapping along. Clap a word with her, one beat for every syllable.

Rising up
Teaching some speech
Power struggle
With a 5-year-old

From her poem “Speechie Life”

watermelon

4 claps

Strings, keys and a voice

Melissa plays violin, piano and guitar, and she sings. Some evenings that's all four before dinner. Have a go.

Piano. Try C, E, G together.

Violin. Press and hold to bow.

Guitar. Tap to strum.

Voice. Pick a vowel and the garden sings it.

Poems & songs

She writes both. Her anthology, Seasons of Me, follows her through every kind of season, and some of the poems have grown into songs. Every poem has a beat, so tap this one out.

Look at the trees,

How they bend and sway

They don’t ever worry

They were made that way

Hear the birds as they chirp and sing

They sing a song in unity with everything

They do not worry about shelter or food

They trust the source and know that it’s all good

From “One”, in her anthology Seasons of Me.

Good food, good people

Long lunches, birthday singalongs and chats that run past dessert. The food is great. The people are the best part.

Who's bringing dessert?

Mel, play us something!

One more song, then a walk?

Same time next Sunday.

Swimming

Just for fun, never for times. Nothing clears the head quite like it.

Pop a bubble.