Just as the weather turns, I begin to think about escaping the cold and inevitable snow and ice. Usually, when I weigh the advantages of warmer climes over the temperate ones, the four-season locales get the edge and I realize it is less about the weather and more about the travel. In thinking about this […]

Read more "I’m Envious of Your Trip"

Patrice lives on an estate in Bosbury with her menagerie of animals. Patrice has been taking in the “undesirables” since the death of her husband. Callie, who is half Patrice’s age, is an animal behaviorist, i.e., a “pet whisperer.” A few months ago, Patrice called Callie to help out with one of the animals in […]

Read more "The Fire (Word Count 2140: an 8-10 Minute Read)"

“Each person is only given so many evenings and each wasted evening is a gross violation against the natural course of your only life.” That is a quote by this guy: Charles Bukowski was a prolific writer of poems, short stories, and novels. Above and beyond all those words, I happened across the above quote […]

Read more "S.W.E.R.N.Y"

Thirty years ago tomorrow, when most of you will read this, I kissed a boy. He wasn’t any ordinary boy. He was the boy I would eventually give/lose my virginity to. (It was a square deal; he was a virgin as well.) How have three decades gone by? Moreover, how is it that I have […]

Read more "Uncharted Waters"

When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in? I found this question on a list with forty-nine other “mind-freeing” questions. There were the standard ones like: If you won $1,000,000.00, would you quit your job? What’s your greatest fear? Who do […]

Read more "Everyday Bravery"

While I humbly refer to myself as a “writer,” I spend as much — if not more  — time wearing the hat of an “editor.” Here’s how I’ve managed my writing/editing. 1.  Write novel on laptop. 2.  Print out novel changing it from single space to double space and only on one side of page. […]

Read more "Which is more Grueling? Tangoing or Writing?"

When Rob and I were first dating we’d spend a ridiculous amount of time talking, usually on the phone and late into the night. It was then, in the early stages of “get to know you,” that I got an inkling that Rob was a pretty bright guy. There was one particular litmus test which […]

Read more "Care to Play?"

Is there anything in life better than a unicorn?  Beautiful, peaceful, mysterious, and rare. Oh, I know: how about a unicorn with its best friend, the mermaid? No, no: how about the unicorn and the mermaid underneath a tree that looks like it grows leaves but once you get up close you discover the tree […]

Read more "A Unicorn and a Mermaid: Life is GOOD!"

                          There are some things in my life which I have loved wholly, deeply, and passionately. I would pursue these with the drive of a hungry lioness with cubs to feed and an elderly antelope in sight. I went after them — fervently. […]

Read more "Force(d) (out) of Habit"

Winter, for many who live in New England, is a season for outdoor fun: skiing, skating, snowshoeing, snowball fights, snow angels. All those things that make the cold less so due to the offset found in winter’s enjoyment. It is also a season of special chores: shoveling, sanding, salting, getting children in and out — […]

Read more "Winter Euthanasia"