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 […]
