Having recently slogged through few drably written works of non-fiction (perhaps I’ll write about one or both…or not), I was grateful to join Ellen Gaydos in farm fields and pig pens, in the humid heat and crisp cold, on sleep challenged nights and lolling weekend days off the job. Pig Years, is so much more […]
In four months I’ll be on pilgrimage in Scotland, leading up to that time I’m relying on Nan Shepherd to orient me to her native landscape (and weather)… ________ The Cairngorm mountains as Nan Shepherd (1893-1981) shares them in The Living Mountain are, to borrow words she uses in her chapter on water, like “two […]
For a fun writing exercise, try sitting down for five minutes to write about something using only one syllable words. It’s good for your brain and can be entertaining to read afterwards. For an example, here’s a piece I wrote in a short sitting about my half blind cat named Uno. Try it yourself! _______________ […]
Everyone is counting these days.
A recent visit to a coffee shop in a “gentrifying” neighborhood struck me hard…this came next. Fragmented. Straddling the realms of essay and poetry… ____________________ Everything’s White The space. “Design inspired.” Subway tile. Perfectly straight lain. White. Sleek. Seeing double. But it’s the mirror. Behind the TshhhT. TshhhT. Weeeeeerrrnt. Macchiato. Cappuccino. Inviting tables for two. veined marble. White, with grey streaks. Then […]
The ice, snow, and cold makes winter seem bleak. Just as can the dark times of our lives. Those times when it seems like we’re stuck in some stark, frigidity that won’t break lose, or when we feel as though we can’t see clearly our path to growth. Even when we know intellectually that things […]
It’s damp and grey and growing colder this late November day. As I sit wrapped in a scarf and vest, chilled at my desk, I’m wistful for summer. She had her time though, and moved on as nature ordains. But I still can’t get used to this coolness. So I sit and write poetry about […]
Mountain biking is a frustrating and demoralizing endeavor! It has riled me up into a furnace of ranting and rage. It has eroded my confidence and soiled my sense of ability. It has ignited tirades of expletives accompanied by trance-like head shaking accompanied with vows never to do it again. Sometimes the pitch I’m slogging […]
Last December my husband and I were invited to a holiday dinner. The invitation relayed the usual details: date, time, the hosts address, and a request to contribute a dish to the menu. But there was something different about this invitation. We were asked also to: “Think about something that you might let go […]
There is a common feature to many of the stories that I shepherd my clients through as they explore and expand their own stories. Over and over there is a setting off, a leaving behind, a movement away from something, often as a result of banishment or forcing out by “others.” (In quotes…because that’s […]