Going Back In Time

Florida was my home for 18 years. In a way, it will always be my home. So much of who I am today was formed in the Sunshine State, albeit from the shadows as I am not really found of heat or sun. Yes, I did willingly move to Florida but until you live here you don't understand how oppressive the sun is. It never really stops trying to scorch the invaders so it can go back to being a happy mosquito infested swamp. We all have our glory days, and Florida misses when its very nature repelled development.

State of Things July

Wow, what a month!! It is hard to believe that in five days it will be over. And then it will be back to my day job and the stresses and pressures of being an American educator.

Sometimes There Are No Villains

And no victims. Photo by Irina Iriser on Pexels.com In fiction, there is a villain to oppose the hero. In the wake of a villian's terror, victims call and plead for help. In real life, no so much. And that's just the way it is. No matter how much you want there to be. It …

Continue reading Sometimes There Are No Villains

Get Away – Don’t Tell

This is the second weekend that I have left the Big House on the hill for the wonders of the city and a room in a friend’s home. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com For the second weekend in a row, the stress and anxiety of the past weeks along remnants of the pandemic have drift …

Continue reading Get Away – Don’t Tell

Work-Life Balance vs. Dreams

Tomorrow, I will go back to the day job for the first time in sixty-four days.  Summer is over for me in less than twelve hours.   Nearly half that time traveling and writing; it has been wonderful.  Next Spring if the editing gods are kind I will have two new pieces ready for publication. But, my …

Continue reading Work-Life Balance vs. Dreams

Home Sweet Home

The Day with Verbs

Up with the throbbing  head again No wine to blame stumbled out the door into the world locking myself out meandered my way back in set to work putting things here and there walked the dog recycling to the bin errands ran dishes to the sink clothes to the hamper litter to the bin walked …

Continue reading The Day with Verbs

A New Year’s Message

How you begin this year should not indicate how the rest of it is going to go.  A few bad days doesn't mean that the whole year is going to suck. Please remember that as you move through these first couple of weeks of 2016.  It is a new year, but the only magical thing …

Continue reading A New Year’s Message

Writing Exercise – I am Poem #1

Every nine weeks, my students write a new I-Am poem to help build  their writing portfolio and so they can see how they changed over the course of the year.  It is interesting to read them because often times even though they know that their poems will be read by me they confess little truths …

Continue reading Writing Exercise – I am Poem #1

Starting and Stopping

For the last year, I have been starting to get better: better at writing daily, at exercising, and at this game called life. And then I stopped. I would love to rationalize my behavior, but I am closing in on my fortieth year of life and frankly, I'm tired. Tired of being too scared to …

Continue reading Starting and Stopping