exploring life and love with pictures and words
We gather around the dining room table, our small, intimate writers group. Sipping tea and coffee, and snacking on popcorn, each of us takes a turn to share our current work. We listen first to a fellow writer read an excerpt from her manuscript, a memoir. Slowly, carefully, she paints a picture with her words.... Continue Reading →
I slide the window shade up a few inches, careful not to let too much light into the airplane. We are pretending it’s nighttime as we chase the sunset on this flight. The cabin is quiet. I cannot sleep and I cannot resist the view, thirty-eight thousand miles above an enormous snowy mass somewhere over... Continue Reading →
Tap, tap, tapping away on my keyboard, reading and rereading chapters, my eyes burn. I understand now why other writers have said that editing a story is sometimes harder than the initial writing. This has been the case with my memoir. Having never written a book I had zero expectations about the process other than... Continue Reading →
I stand at the back gate of the school, the designated spot for picking up first graders. My grandson knows I’m his ride today and I can’t wait to see him, just the two of us for a few hours. The bell rings and class after class make their way across the playground. I spot... Continue Reading →
I blink in the darkness, it takes me a second to remember where I am. My fourth bed in as many weeks as I search for a more permanent place to live. A persistent gnawing in my gut keeps me from dozing off again. I wonder its origin and suddenly remember the blow to my... Continue Reading →
I chose not to write about him, us, our relationship, during my time in Italy. A bit of my life I kept to myself, private, pure and sweet. We had an understanding, or so I thought. For me, a year of writing and adventure,. For him, life would continue in Los Angeles with a huge... Continue Reading →
Lying on my back, my book held arm’s length above my face, it shades my eyes from the bright sun. I read and sunbathe along the shore of the lake, soaking up these last days in Italy. Children splash and play in the water, while the grownups swim past them to the quieter, deeper water,... Continue Reading →
Wearing flip-flops, I walk slowly, slightly stooped, along the pebbled shore. I am careful to maintain my balance on the rocky water’s edge as I search for sea glass. Most are emerald green, some milky white, or clear. Wedged between the dark colored stones in crystal clear blue water, they are easy to spot. I... Continue Reading →
The weather has been beautiful in recent weeks, warm enough for shorts and summer dresses. I dig through a makeup bag searching for a second elastic band for my hair. Too lazy to search before today, I’ve been donning the single side pony tail, very 80’s. But I’m ready for pigtails. They look better. At... Continue Reading →
An early morning message had me misty eyed. One of my former bosses, colleague and friend, was perusing Instagram and stumbled upon one of my photos highlighting my Italian adventure, “Bittersweet” she wrote, after having just seen my name on the Resignation Report at the school board meeting. “We miss you Christine.” I felt the... Continue Reading →
Bare Naked in Public 