The following poem, written for the New Year 2004, was a featured “Poem of the Day” at Poets Against the War online that year and also appeared in The New River Valley Free Press. I think it still applies. Sign of the Times Put a “Do Not Disturb” sign over the forest Hang an “Out [...]
Mara came over to break in the new Deluxe Lazy Susan Scrabble game that I got for Christmas from my son Dylan. She brought me a gift. It was something of Elliot’s (our mutual friend that passed away in November) that she had set aside for me when she and some other friends were closing [...]
1. Number 36 in my “100 Things About Me” says, “I read all the Hobbit books, The Narnia Chronicles, The Borrowers series, and most of The Mossflower books out loud to my sons when they were young.” Last Christmas holiday, we all went to see the final installment in “The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.” [...]
When my Asheville potter son, Josh, comes to visit and we’re catching up, I take notes. That’s how I know that he and two other potters recently excavated 430,000 pounds of blue clay from Turkey Creek in Leicester, North Carolina. It took 3 days, 11 dump trucks and a trac-hoe, and cost $3,500 to do [...]
My brother Jim died in July 2001, and my brother Dan died a month later, in August. In the six months after they died, I wrote “The Jim and Dan Stories,” a chronicle of the grieving process that weaves together stories of growing up as one of nine siblings with the details of my brothers’ [...]
I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was six. Mother took me to see him in a department store and he asked for my autograph. ~ Shirley Temple Black When you stop believing in Santa Claus is when you start getting clothes. ~ Unknown Santa Claus wears a Red Suit…he must be a communist. [...]
AKA: What’s Under Your Tree? Just in time for Christmas? An alternative to sitting on Santa’s lap? This is a new take on “The Google Oracle” I posted in October. Type your name in a search engine like this: “Colleen needs” and see what Google divines for you. Colleen needs a new computer. Colleen needs [...]
1. I can never write, type, or say “number 9” without thinking of the Beatles song of the same name. 2. I remember when there were no malls. 3. When my son, Josh, was 5 years old, a few days after Christmas, he said, “Santa’s still watching us, right?” 4. Growing up, I knew from [...]
From a scoop of luscious moon… at the Milky Way counter…the stars have spilled over…in an icy cold night. My brothers, Jim and Dan, died a month apart in the summer of 2001. The first Christmas after their deaths, I was still mourning and deeply involved in writing what would become my first book, “The [...]
The following is a conversation I had with my son, Josh, when he was 5 years old: Josh: Does Santa die? Why doesn’t he die? Me: Maybe he’s magical. What do you think? Josh: I don’t know. I just want to see if you know. I guess I don’t believe in Santa cause how can [...]
AKA: I am My Father’s Daughter My husband was home from work because of the snow. It was 11:30 and I was just getting breakfast, after having put in a load of laundry, fed the dog, wrapped a Christmas package for mailing, gotten the upstairs bedroom ready for the respite foster care I was scheduled [...]
When my first husband and our two young children moved from Texas to Virginia to homestead nearly 20 years ago, we drove through Riner, the next town over from Floyd, took one deep whiff of the cow manure that was wafting down the road, rolled up our car windows and began to question our plans. [...]
AKA: Not all that glitters is gold ~ JRR Tolkein Having 4 legs to balance her, our dog, Jazzy, didn’t have to slide her way down to the mailbox like I did. What we have here is a white Christmas with a little extra sparkle. There is no snow to shovel. Only ice and frozen [...]
AKA: 13 Things about My Father… 1. My father was a cross between Santa Claus and Jackie Gleason. 2. The last time I saw him, he was in the hospital after a car accident. I told my mom and sister to go for lunch and that I would meet up with them later because I [...]
Death is like an arrow that is already in flight, and your life lasts only until it reaches you. ~ George Hermes Is every grieving the death of a loved one different? Or are we different each time a loss visits us? When my brothers, Jim and Dan, died 4 years ago, I felt like [...]
How does a part of the world leave the world? How does wetness leave water? ~ Rumi I’m reading Joan Didion’s book, “The Year of Magical Thinking,” which is about the sudden death of her husband while their only child was hospitalized and gravely ill. When my brothers, Jim and Dan, died four years [...]
AKA: Things overheard while playing Scrabble… Is topsy a word without turvey? Is hob a word without nob? Can the word oodles be singular? Is pest an alternative plural for pet when you have too many of them? Coyote is coy. His name tells us so. I know listen and silent are the same word [...]
