Would you believe, Dear Reader, that I sat down in January and began composing this piece only to be distracted by life events and then failed to return to the project? Today, on this dreary February afternoon, while I hunker down during a tornado watch and try not to jump as the thunder shakes the house and lightning flashes, I’m attempting to finish writing this. When, at long last, you get to read this, we’ll likely be in the early…
November rolled in with a gust of warm air, a charge of excitement, and a frenzy of typing. There were late nights and early mornings, never a great combination. We reveled in virtual word sprints, where many of us learned how fast we could type when the screws were put to our thumbs. We partied at write-ins, both virtual and in person, and laughed until our sides hurt. We wrote in unusual places, some of which shall never be mentioned,…
It all started simple enough, if you excuse the fact that I was in a grocery store on New Year’s Eve. It wouldn’t have happened if we could mandate that holidays like New Year’s Eve could always fall on a weekend, but no, they creep up on us on Mondays or Tuesdays even Wednesdays from time to time and catch you completely unawares. That was me. I was caught unawares. It’s embarrassing to admit, really it is. I generally feel…
October, the glorious month of magnificent color changes amongst the foliage, falling leaves, and the slow transformation from a long hot summer to the chill of autumn. Brightly coloured pumpkins, crunchy apples, yeasty donuts, sweet cider, dark nights, morning fogs, and a crisp wind in the air. Being my first year in well over a decade back in the Mountains I’m ready for all of this. Fire pit evenings, star gazing, pumpkin patches, corn mazes, hoodies, hiking, and watching the…