And Winter Came
Winter is a starkly beautiful season. With frosty mornings, bright crisp days, and powdery snow it is easy to see how it has inspired poets throughout history to claim their righteous glow. Please allow me to give it a try. Snowy days, blowy days Frigid and toasty Sleds go coasting down the hill Across the bridge Above the slow-moving water in […]
Con Amore
The literal translation of the word amore is “love.” It is also used as a term of endearment, which in the case of Tammy and her friend Ay, is something to be found on the hilariously “winning” side of ex-marriages. Their friendship of 32 years began when Tammy married Ay’s ex-husband. Aye just so happened to […]
The Power of Love
In a world saturated with fear, doubt, and disbelief, now would be a good time to ask ourselves, how important is love? Is it powerful enough to take away our fears and our tears? Without love, would the existence and magnificence of life be possible to understand, give, or receive at all? Love is much more […]
Three Sisters From Boonville
Sisters Ellen, Minerva (Mina), and Dorothy Crandall, grew up in a disadvantaged family in Boonville New York during the era of the Great Depression. They often went barefoot in the summertime and wore cast-off shoes and clothes at a time when young girls were expected to perform domestic labor, such as washing clothes, fetching water, […]
Romancing The Past
Ah, the good old days. But were they really that good? A year into the pandemic it was easy to understand why we found ourselves reminiscing about the past, while at the same time finding out that we missed things we thought we didn’t even like. We accepted things as they were and “took most things […]
I’d Rather Just Be Me
I have no claim to fame Nor riches untold While everyone’s going a la monde I’m going a la mode I’d much rather just be me To follow the crowd was much too loud So I sighed and relented Checked all of my senses And just tagged along They seemed to be off-key Off to somewheres else […]
Never Give Up
Never give up. Three little words that have the power to bring change and inspiration to each one of us. Words that will always encourage us to keep going despite the weight of our own burdens, or the encumberment of others’ unpredictable behavior. But are they still considered old-age thinking among those deprived of good old common sense? Maybe […]
The Gift
For most of my life, I had no interest in reading books, poetry, or Shakespeare, and absolutely no understanding of the power that words have in fostering change. My youth was atypical of a boy growing up in a small town, but when my parents separated when I was 14, my world was torn apart leaving […]
