If you’ve got a middle-grader or teen at home (or if you’re a teacher, librarian, or mentor), this year’s virtual BAY AREA BOOK FESTIVAL has 8 bold FREE events that’ll rock their world and empower them. The adult program rocks too…
Starts TOMORROW!
You may Register HERE
❤ Be well ❤
In a chocolate galaxy, far, far away, the Flavonol3-O-beta-glucoside O-malonyltransferase gather in a non-disclosed location deep within the dark nether regions of the cocoa nebulae.
Their mission: to effect the fabrication of a product so bold, so intense, so indescribably delicious that not a single human will be able to resist a taste, thereby giving rise to a world so overcome by unbridled ecstasy that Continue reading
BonTon Potato Chips. Crisp. Crunchy. Salty. Five cents a bag. No baloney sandwich should ever be without them. It’d be like Fred Flintstone going bowling without Barney Rubble. It’s all I can think of too, as we board the yellow school bus. It’s my first class trip. Ever.
When I reach the top step, I ask the driver if we’ll be back in time for lunch. Mr. Anthony blows a stream of smoke at the ceiling and tosses a lit cigarette out the window. “Yes.”
“Where are we going?”
“Nearby. But the bucket is under your seat, just in case.”
Finally! My prayers have been answered. No chance of getting sick and I found a nickel on the sidewalk this morning. Someone upstairs really is listening. It would be perfect, except Joey won’t be coming back with us for lunch today. Continue reading
Have you ever felt like a unicorn?
The odd-one-out?
The rarity in the herd?
In the children’s book writer’s world, I have.
Unlike many of my contemporaries, I didn’t spend lazy summer days, dark, stormy nights, and every other waking moment of my childhood with a book in my hands, nor did I write my first book at the age of six. I have, however, oftentimes envied them. Especially those
who had hunkered down in bed with the covers pulled over their heads, a flashlight in hand because they couldn’t sleep until they’d uncovered the secret to a garden or learned where Papa was going with that ax. The only place you’d have found a flashlight in our house would have been in the cupboard under the kitchen sink, hidden in a forest of dishwashing liquid, furniture polish, ammonia, Ajax, and bunches of rusty Brillo pads.
Great Kills Public Library (Staten Island NY)
Don’t get me wrong. I did love to read. Just Continue reading
Alas…those were the days. Masking up not only keeps the germs away, but situations like this, too. Be well and stay healthy, dear Reader ❤
We’ve all been there. You go out for a meal with family, friends, a new lover, a blind date, or your co-workers. In the interest of eating something a bit healthier than the deep-fried buffalo wings and sweet potato fries shrieking your name from the menu, you plug your ears, swallow hard, and choose something green –
View original post 409 more words
We all have strong opinions on one thing or another – the issues that get your goat. There are plenty to go around, right? I don’t think I need to list any. You know yours. I know mine. We probably share quite a few, too. Some immediately raise our hackles. Others only ruffle our feathers or may get our undies in a twist. Then there are the issues that simmer on the back burner for ages and suddenly boil over in a burst of outrage, solidarity, and action. The ones that demand change. The ones that have been a long time coming like #BLM, #refusetoride, or #metoo.
What’s got my goat today though, is more of a peeve –
a pet peeve – a recurring little annoyance like Continue reading
‘Twas the day before Christmas
when I realized this poem
’twas ready for the trash bin
(after stifling a whopping groan).
But then I asked myself,
“What’s Christmas, without a fun ’twas?”
So I grappled with this rhymer thinking,
I’ll just add a disclaimer clause.
Okay, there you have it, my apology in advance,
even though there’s a risk of boring you,
I’m willing to take that chance… Continue reading
Despite all of the previous hoaxes, he was sure the latest video of a UFO hovering over the park was the real thing. Waking up to a low-pitched hum and suspended in viscous gel the shade of mouldering bread instead of the camouflaged lean-to he’d been hiding in for the last month confirmed it. They had received his transmission.
Indeed, once the germicide clears, liquifies, and drains from the pod he will be released from the prison of blood, bone, and derma he has donned for nearly fifty years—finally, free to move about and validate the progress his peers have made in his absence.
If all is well, the invasion may begin.
The last resort.
The final test.
They say, love is the key to life, but so far, they didn’t seem to understand what that means.
The hum fades. The cloud clears.
In the deafening silence, he cannot help but wonder…
Will they, once and for all, set aside their differences? Stand side by side? Hand in hand? Join together for the highest good of all concerned?
We shall see.
We shall see.
Thank you to Lyn, author of THE CALL OF THE PEN, for sharing the photo and the Write Now Prompt that prompted this little ditty.
Be well Dear Reader
and
❤ Thank You for stopping by ❤
…and there is still much to do,
like weaving webs,
stringing skulls,
and refining shrieks of,
BOO!
BOO!
BOO!
True…
the pumpkin has been carved,
skeletons are out of the closet, Continue reading
Of Books, Photography, and Tea
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