(This blog was originally posted on Tea & Stumpets group blog site.) I work at a news organization that considers shining the light on the actions of local governmental one of its prime responsibilities. So every day in the paper we publish different “Your Right to Know” briefs–things like what budget dollars are allocated for…
Category: Uncategorized
Train ride from … ?
This blog originally appeared at The Roses of Prose where we’ve been exploring movie themes. To check out what my friends are writing, go here. This is a true story. I will use it in fiction some day. Until then, I couldn’t think of a better story to share for this month’s topic. It happened…
Memories of Beach Days
When my sons were of school age, June meant the ending of the school year. In their later grades, I worked full-time, so summertime meant finding activities for them throughout the summer (translation: keep them busy so they wouldn’t maim each other). But in their earlier years, I worked part-time from home (transcribing court depositions…talk…
Happy May
Happy May! May is my favorite month of the year. It’s usually a perfect temperature in the mid-Atlantic area where I live — not too hot, not too cold. May also means it’s time to plant, and although I don’t have the gift making things grow, I love the colors that blossom on trees, shrubs…
You owe me a hug, son
My older son turned 30 today. I looked in the mirror this morning and saw skin crisscrossed with lines that weren’t there yesterday, sections of my face and neck dragging and drooping that, I swear, just yesterday were smooth and, if not firm, at least firmER. I feel ancient, as if his turning this magical…
It’s pre-springtime already!
News flash! Punxsutawney Phil just saw his shadow. Six more weeks of winter! I must confess, I don’t pay much attention to Phil. For one thing, since moving to southeastern Virginia, where the weather changes as frequently as what’s playing on the TV in my house (translation: at least six times an hour, if my…
Chillin’ for the holidays
Every year I tend to go on a rant about “The Holidays” — the increasing commercialization of what, to me, is a sacred holiday, the crazed Black Friday shoppers who this year even resorted to tasing to get the best of fellow bargain hunters. (Really, people??) I need to stop there. I can feel my…
Lessons of a novice author panelist
A couple Sundays ago I had the privilege of participating in the Fall for the Book event in Fairfax, Virginia. I was wearing two hats for the day: the first as organizer for the two romance panels (historical and suspense), and second as a first-time panelist on the suspense panel (Ticking Clocks: How to create pressure-cooker…
Jersey Girl’s lifetime memories ‘down the shore’
When I was a kid, like most kids in America, I flew out of the schoolyard on that last day of school and looked forward to the next ten weeks of vacation–days of sleeping late, reading every day and night, games with the kids in the neighborhood, camping out in the backyard, and the beach….
Dear Home Improvement Store Lady…
I had a truly graceless moment yesterday evening that took only seconds to erupt but several months in the making. It all started in April when I visited my sister and brother-in-law in Florida. They had one of those new-fangled infrared grills. I nodded and said, “Oh, that’s nice.” My husband, however, starting poking around its…