1. Give me a break or a smash hit? 2. I’m the kind of person who wishes they put crossword puzzle books in hotel rooms instead of bibles. 3. “Inside the word ’emergency’ is ’emerge’; from an emergency new things come forth. The old certainties are crumbling fast, but danger and possibility are sisters.” ―Rebecca […]
1. The picture above is my camera’s version of a butt dial. 2. Joe and I broke a record this weekend by going to Dogtown Roadhouse to dance two nights in row. First, we saw the Chris Timbers Band and then the Seedpickers. In describing Chris Timbers to Joe after listening to some videos on […]
1. It’s that time of year where we live on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway, which means tourists enjoying the fall foliage and apple picking, a yearly tradition for Joe and I. 2. Apple picking sacrament /is the irony of Eden / The body and blood / of holy communion / Fruit of her womb […]
1. The weekend was full with two special birthdays and a beautiful memorial celebration for a friend. 2. “It’s a white ball of fire! became a catchphrase. 3. It was actually a carrot cake. 4. I just now lost the exclamation point on my keyboard. I couldn’t find it by looking, so had to trust […]
1. At last week’s opening reception for my potter son Josh’s and photographer Rob Aberg’s exhibition in Madison County, I met a man named Snake Hawk and woman who hiked the AT twice. 2. The hiker’s name is Sarah Jones Decker and she wrote two books about hiking, one called The Appalachian Trail: Backcountry Shelters, […]
1. Yes, it’s true. Floydfest is moving to a new location. Joe and I have been to every Floydfest in its 20-year history of being on the mountain off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Joe has worked for the festival in different roles over the years, and I’ve been blogging and covering the festival for the […]
1. I’m working on my third poetry memoir collection in a series, Poems from the Dark Room, with the theme: It takes time in the dark room to bring lived-experience into focus and to develop the meaning we’ve made of our lives. 2. I just read this line from one of the poems in the […]
1. Colleen to Joe while watching Peaky Blinders, a 1920s-family crime drama show: “This ain’t no Downton Abby.” 2. “The writing is on the wall.” That’s how I responded to a Facebook friend who posted about the Roanoke Times, which has provided local news since 1886, cutting paper content and going primarily “digital first,” just […]
1. A spider web catch always catches my eye. 2. The name of the Country band “Florida Georgia Line” was the foreshadowing of the fact that the duo broke up because one of the two performers was a Trump supporter and the other was NOT. 3. And the lead of the Dropkick Murphys, a Celtic […]
1. Double take would make a good name for a second-hand clothing shop. 2. That’s my friend Mark making his second 7 letter Scrabble Bingo in the first few plays of the game. The second one is below the first and makes six new small words. 3. Does ZAG exist without ZIG? I played UNITE […]
1. I’m always up for live music at Dogtown, and by “up” I mean dancing. 2. Mona is to Bob Dylan what jellyroll is to Van Morrison. 3. During my meditation this morning, my two-syllable meaningless TM mantra turned into four-syllable INTJ (my Meyers Briggs type) when my mind wandered and I wondered if Dylan […]
1. When the Buffalo Mountain Brewery opened up in Floyd, I tried living a pub life, but, although I love craft beer, I just don’t drink that much. Then, when my part time job writing for the local paper got cut back, I tried living the life of a bookworm, but I enjoy reading articles […]
