Balancing Funny with Not-So-Funny (mourning a tree like the over sensitive person I am)

I shared these 1st two stories on my Facebook author page but I’m going to share ’em here for those who haven’t liked that page and read those stories. Walking The Dog I was traveling home from the Boston Post Road last week when I saw a young girl of 7 or 8 y/o walking […]

Bait Shop Sexism

I’ve been meaning to vent about something. A few months ago, I was determined to resume fishing as a Spring/Summer ‘hobby.’ Mind you, my father took me all the time when I was growing up. “Gender-specific activities” were not imposed upon my child self. It was the same to everyone if I wanted to squat […]

BRAIN PLUMAGE

“You see yourself descending From the building to the ground And you watch the sky receding And you spin to see the traffic Rising up and it’s so quiet Then you wake”–Adam Duritz I went to an IMax theater in Boston last week and saw a docu-film in 3-D about South Pacific sea life. […]

It Rains Diamonds on Uranus; Happy Mother’s Day Carol

…I was thinking that sometimes inspiration isn’t so bold that it’s wearing a velour jumpsuit. Sometimes it’s as simple as a cartwheeling spider or a rainbow tree. Noticing (and seeking out) beautiful eccentricities enhance my life. But I’m getting ahead of myself… So, picture this: A young black man is scheduled as keynote speaker to […]

Queen Anne’s Lace and violent outbursts of energy

I love this so-called weed. Don’t go there. This blog is not about that kind of weed. I mean an actual weed. It’s roots smell like carrots. It’s leaves smell like parsley. When seeds form, the flower is a balled up nest. Its white cluster of flowers form an umbrella. It’s the white Queen Anne’s […]

Cypress Knees. Because.

Cypress trees grow in marshlands and swamps. They make the most amazing pieces of furniture… Furniture I will never own; will never afford. take this table for example: http://www.thomsonrusticfurnishings.com sells this lovely functional piece of cypress tree art: Below I’ve put a picture of cypress ‘knees’ as they appear in a swamp… (What are […]

Some of Crows’ and Ravens’ Roles in Fairy Tales and myth and Literature

I think of ravens and crows interchangeably. I can’t help it; I just do. Ravens are bigger in size although there are other differences too; like their voices. Supposedly the crow can say ‘uh-huh’, ‘caw’, ‘eh-aw’, ‘kow’, ‘aww’, and sound real nasal, whereas the raven is harsher and says things like ‘kraa’, or it makes […]

Peeves, Yeats, Hurdles, Goldilocks, importance of full stops

I function “best” when I’m in the Goldilocks zone. That is to say, when it’s not ‘too’ this, and it’s not ‘too’ that. When everything is going along just right in the world in a nice practiced routine. But who doesn’t function best like that, right? But take for instance a family member I once […]

Digging In Boxes

Digging In Boxes There are ‘noun friendly’ languages like English and then there are ‘verb friendly’ languages like Korean, Hindi, and Japanese. In the latter languages, nouns are frequently dropped and names for activities are emphasized in the earliest years of life when parents are teaching children to speak. On the other hand, parents […]

Resistance to Change and Toilet Tissue and Birds and Stuff

I was thinking about adaptations, about how “equipped” living organisms are to survive within given environments. And also, I was thinking about how ill-equipped I often ‘feel.’ Some birds that are incapable of flight—– like Penguins and Ostriches (because they do not fly), have eggs that are round as opposed […]

Fascinating modern architecture to 1700 manor houses…it’s all good

Recently I’ve been reflecting about architecture. I’m reading a historical book called The Manor: Three centuries at a slave plantation on Long Island by Mac Griswold. This 70 year old woman, Mac, is a cultural landscape historian, a fascinating job. When she was a little girl in the 1950s growing up in New Jersey, […]

Stroll Through Vermont (in my head)

Cloud collecting mountains surround. Unpaved roads ramble. Roadside produce stands are unmanned by vendors. A locked metal box with a slit in the top is seen amongst the piles of tomatoes, squash and ears of corn with a handwritten note beside it: HONOR SYSTEM- Set your price and leave money in box No views on […]

Keeping it Real, Feeling CRAFTY

I pick up things all the time. They don’t have to be shiny. Sometimes something catches my eye. How about sticks? You know…twigs, tree arms, small limbs, branches, tree offshoots, switches. That’s what I’m talking about. I guess it’s just that time of year when I get an urge to collect, to craft, to bring […]

Contemplation on Dead Greyhounds and Women’s Rights; Ultimately Life Lessons

Some people are surely meant to be in our lives, but not necessarily to be in them for a lifetime. I think of course of those people in my own life who came and went on in death before I would’ve liked. My spouse left three children whose ages were 23, 14 and 9. I […]

Side by Side Poems, Edna’s and Mine: Spring and Autumn

I came upon a prompt to write poetry, and I find that endeavor to be a fun thing, so I decided to read my favorite poet Edna St. Vincent Millay for inspiration. I will never […]

Dog Walking As an Exercise In Art Appreciation

The sidewalk I stand on is most common: pitted, crumbling around the edges, cracked, with the common faced weeds of suburban blight sprouting between those cracks. Between a “rock and a hard place,” yeah. Empty lots, exhaust-bathed roadsides and overpass embankments are breeding grounds for “weeds,” which are defined as undesirable, unattractive, or troublesome, especially […]