New Story Posted: Ribbons and Remembrances

This is about a 12 minute read and is a story about an elderly grandmother and a secret she’s keep for two generations. Once again, I’ve chosen to let my characters tell their own story with almost no narration. Here’s how it begins but things get strange pretty quickly..

“Okay! That’s it!. Stop right there all of you.” Michelle turned to face her three kids and waited until she met each of their eyes and knew she had their attention. “I want to be crystal clear on this.  Nana is old. She might not be high on your agendas for today but she loves you, is ill and  and wants to see you.  Since she can’t get out much, we don’t get to see her unless we visit and I’ll not have any of you, ANY — of — you, insulting her with a crummy attitude.  Becky, as the oldest, I expect you to be your most charming self — period!  If I once hear you say the word ‘whatever‘ without a lot more words and non-insulting feeling around it, you will lose your phone for a week, yes — a full week young lady!.  Do I make myself clear?”

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Read the fill story here: Ribbons and Remembrances

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New Coffee Share for 21-02-20: A List of Unforgettables

Most of you know I’m part of a group of bloggers who meet each weekend to share stuff.

Today, my coffee share is a quick list of my matches to a list of things none of us can forget. It will take you less than 5 minutes to look back and may stir some fun memories of your own.

Here’s the link for the full Coffee Share for this weekend:
We Never Forget Our First . . .

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Why do I use both a blog post and a blog page for my essays? My blogging engine is a service named WordPress.  They have two devices for bloggers to use.

(1) Pages, which I use for non-time-dependent things like items for my permanent story collection and,

(2) Posts, which, like what you are now reading automatically tie themselves into a chronological chain of articles AND every time I post something, my followers are automatically invited to review it.

When I want to do both; add a new story to the collection and notify my followers, I must do both and  add a link I hope you’ll click on to read and react the actual story or essay.

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.

New Story Posted: Pushing Winter Aside

In response to a prompt from, Terri Webster Schrandt’s blog, looking for interesting takes on red things and some of the things she shared to start us off, I produced this very short piece about one of my favorite red surprises along many California hiking trails. With just a few minutes of your day, I can catch you up on one of the more unusual, alien-looking, but beautiful bright red things you’ll find in the late winter mountains.

You’ll have to click on the story link to see photo’s.  One of the characters in this short story is in for a surprise, so I’ll let you join him in enjoying it.

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Read the fill story here: Pushing Winter Aside

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.

New Coffee Share for 21-02-13: Volunteering for Survival

Most of you know I’m part of a group of bloggers who meet each weekend to share stuff.

Today, my coffee share is another snapshot of life in western Sonoma County, near Petaluma, California where I was born and raised. Plants that just appear in your yard are called volunteers and I like the challenge of making use of some of them. If you enjoy such things, you might enjoy this brief visit to our backyard and a certain cherry tree.

Here’s the link for the full Coffee Share for this weekend:
Coffee Share 210213: Volunteering To Survive

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Why do I use both a blog post and a blog page for my essays? My blogging engine is WordPress.  They have two devices we use.

(1) Pages, which I use for non-time-dependent things like items for my permanent story collection and,

(2) Posts, which, like what you are now reading automatically tie themselves into a chronological chain of articles AND every time I post something, my followers are automatically invited to review it.

When I want to both; add a new story to the collection and notify my followers, I have to write a post, which notifies you, and add a link that takes you to the actual story or coffee share essay.

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.

Refreshing and Reprising: October Lights

I don’t normally write scary stories often because I just don’t enjoy them as much as other genres but there is time and place for them.  The element I do like about them is how fear might come to even the most stable of us.  I had tried to write this story as a fear from inside as opposed to a blood and gore piece but I never liked my ending.

For the past month, I’ve wanted to circle back to that story and, since improving an essay is one of the great prerogatives of story blogging, today I offer the new and improved, but still very short story I call . . .

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October Lights.

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.

The Pandemic Wave

Just a quick thought inspired by a blogging friend in Australia. . .

Slowly, ever so slowly, the crust of this pandemic is beginning to crumble beneath the relentless pressure of macroeconomics where people can do whatever they please but their private actions and opinions are quickly lost — but as a group, the world is losing interest in it.

Our handlers are beginning to see its usefulness start to fray. We all have our masks and our coping methods. We are mourning our losses, getting our vaccine shots and even those who need to gripe about this injustice or that are seeing their willing audiences lose interest and take note that the Starbucks down the street is open and have an approved protocol for acquiring a latte.

We all know the numbers in the newspapers may or may not be true, but the testimony of our eyes, our friends and families strongly suggest that this thing is receding — losing energy and momentum. Small pieces of our routines are returning and our attentions are returning to whatever our prime ministers, our presidents or our dictators are doing, or saying, or hiding.

The large slow wave of this pandemic may have spent its power, or is about to, but with assurance, it will be replaced by the constant tide of things we were arguing about last April, or trying to buy, or trying to worship.

I just hope I have enough grace left to get to this April gracefully where I hope to see you already there smiling and enjoying life again.

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.

 

New Story Posted: The Fading Fern Frond Brooch

One of the most fun things to write are conversations.  Something about them really draws in both the writer and the reader.  In this story I have an older husband and a younger woman wrestling in a conversation you might enjoy.  It’s short (maybe 7 minutes to read) and should surprise you unless you read very closely,  Here’s a quick excerpt.

Jeanette laughed, “Yea, that was fun. and now you know that I always wear a fern frond of some kind. Many of the girls were wearing unicorns or rock stars.  I chose ferns.”

Drake leaned back against the work bench and picked up a rag to wipe his hands off. “Yep, somehow you hooked yourself into my brain and I wanted to be your friend. Not long after my accident, you showed up as an intern when I worked for IBM.  You became one of the happiest things I recall during my recovery.  I was still using  and hating that wheel chair, but focusing on work was hard and your visits were wonderfully helpful. And yes, you always wore one of  fern brooches.”

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Read the fill story here: The Fading Fern Frond Brooch

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.

New Story Posted: The Gravity of Medical Chaos

My leg was screaming as I clung to a nearby stair rail but dad had sided with Doc. Stimey. I had to try to walk on this leg, so I guts up, let go of the stair rail and put my weight on that leg — and promptly face planted as my leg folded, right there in the hospital lobby.

Just a quick fun story that began in Petaluma General Hospital  circa 1963, and stayed with me through a overnight stay at San Jose’s Good Samaritan Hospital in the mid 1970s.  It’s short but good for a laugh.

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Read the fill story here: The Gravity of Medical Chaos

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.

Reprising: An Encouraging Story for 2021

A reader reminded me of this story, first shared back in June of 2018, that was so encouraging when it first happened to me and has done the same for several others over the years.  Given what the world has been through since March of 2020, I thought it might be a welcome reminder of how wonderful people can be even to someone they don’t know well but finds herself in trouble.  If you are a ‘tears of joy’ kind of person, have a few tissues handy and give yourself a 10 minute emotional treat by reading Jacquie’s Story. It will leave you happier than you are right now about sharing the world with such great people.

Feel free to share the link if you know someone who needs it.

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Read the fill story here: Jacquie’s Story.

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.

New Coffee Share for 21-02-07: Life in the Food Chain

Most of you know I’m part of a group of bloggers who meet each weekend to share stuff.

Today, my coffee share is a snapshot of life in western Sonoma County, near Petaluma, California where I was born and raised. If you’ve lived nearby, I think you’ll recognize these neighbors. If you are not a native, you will enjoy the miniature drama that Sonoma County put on my front porch this week.

Here’s the link for the full Coffee Share for this weekend:
Coffee Share 2100207: Life in the Food Chain

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Why do I use both a blog post and a blog page for my essays? My blogging engine is a service named WordPress.  They have two devices for bloggers to use.

(1) Pages, which I use for non-time-dependent things like items for my permanent story collection and,

(2) Posts, which, like what you are now reading automatically tie themselves into a chronological chain of articles AND every time I post something, my followers are automatically invited to review it.

When I want to do both; add a new story to the collection and notify my followers, I must do both and  add a link I hope you’ll click on to read and react the actual story or essay.

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To select another story, please visit the full index by clicking here.