Forty years ago, I was in a car accident and, then, a coma. When I came back to consciousness, talking was embarrassing and difficult because I could not find words in my jumbled-up brain. But I could write because writing was a private activity. I could leave a space for the word I couldn’t find and … Continue reading Writing for My Life
COLLATERAL BLESSINGS XII
FO0D: I have discovered the joy of PBJ sandwiches for breakfast, apple and cheese slice for lunch and the somewhere inside me still ability to make a good pot-roast!
COLLATERAL BLESSINGS XII
I retreat to my studio, turn on my boom-box and fiddle with the radio tuner. FM 103.9 tunes in. Out comes a "rap" song. Then an old-time country song followed by something different. Then the DJ says, "Hello. This is Bait-Shop radio, and I am broadcasting from Worthington Ohio on the banks of the Olentangy … Continue reading COLLATERAL BLESSINGS XII
HOT DIGGITY-DOG
“It’s okay,” I say to Bashi. He is on the grass in the backyard. “Get busy.” He cocks his head and heads for the brick patio. As a show-dog he has been trained to only “get busy” on the concrete square reserved for him at shows. It would be disastrous if he got busy on … Continue reading HOT DIGGITY-DOG
COLLATERAL BLESINGS XI
The sun is shining on my new lounge chairs delivered by Amazon and I can see them out my study window. In my imagination, I am sitting in one reading TIES and Ernest is sitting in the other reading FOG OF DOUBT. Bashi , Lily and Asia-the-Cat are playing "seek" in the bushes. My imagination … Continue reading COLLATERAL BLESINGS XI
COLLATERAL BLESSINGS X
I found in my downstairs bookshelf two old paperback mysteries that I read decades ago and kept so I could read them again in my dotage. So, today, I have started reading (again) The fog of doubt and I love it and I can't remember how it ends.... Now, isn't that a blessing?
COLLATERAL BLESSINGS IX
My dear friend, Carla Corroto, staying-in-place while teaching three classes at Otterbein University tells me her cat is her T.A. Carla regularly sends pictures of that cat grading papers. Count your extra blessings, kiddos. Moreover, Carla has talked me through the purchasing of an ipad so that I can zoom with others! If she weren't … Continue reading COLLATERAL BLESSINGS IX
Hope is the Thing with Feathers
I have two creative outlets: writing and fibre art quilts. I belong to the Art Quilt Alliance. In November, our president gave us this challenge: Choose a poem and make an art quilt that reflects that poem. The “reveal” would be this May. I chose Emily Dickinson’s poem, Hope is the thing with feathers. I … Continue reading Hope is the Thing with Feathers
COLLATERAL BLESSING VIII
Because our dogs' groomer is closed and because our dogs are beginning to look like dirty dogs, Ernest and I took out their puppy shampoo, conditioner, no-tangles spray and snippers, and set the temp on the faucet spray and settled, first, Bashi, into the kitchen sink, scrubbed him up, toweled and combed and blew him … Continue reading COLLATERAL BLESSING VIII
Dogs Rule
I wave good-bye to Trudy, our Papillons’ breeder, and feel panicked. Wait! I want to yell at her. I am not able to take good care of Bashi and Lily. I am not qualified or competent. I can’t follow all your rules! I can’t even remember them all! Wait! “Ernest,” I say, “maybe we made … Continue reading Dogs Rule
MEMOIR WRITING GROUP
We found each other years ago. Who could imagine that such deep friendships could evolve in our lives---eight women in their sixties, or near sixties? Who could imagine that we would see each other as friends we could count on regardless the need? But that is what happened . We wrote from our vulnerability and … Continue reading MEMOIR WRITING GROUP
Laurel Richardson 