Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

HEIGH HO – It’s Off To Class I go!

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

A return to my alma mater, State University of New York Stony Brook, for any reason was the last thing I ever expected to do until an acquaintance, picture book author Julie Gribble, told me about a Children’s Book Writers Conference to be held at the university’s Southampton campus in July. I attended S.U.S.B. when a bridge went nowhere and the university hospital consisted of two bricks in someone’s imagination.

Fond memories are few, but how could there be many when all my energy was spent on figuring out how to stow away aboard a United States battleship to be with my boyfriend rather than concentrating on my studies.

Continue reading →

Posted in ADVENTURES, FAMILY, HUMOR, ROAD TRIP | Tagged adventure, author, Berlin, Dan Yaccarino, Donna Weidner, Germany, Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency, Lufthansa German Airlines, Munich, Southampton Children’s Literature Conference at Stony Brook Southampton, statement of purpose, Stephen Fraser, SUNY Stony Brook, support groups | 13 Comments

SO, WHAT DO YOU DO? A Mother’s Day Tribute

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

Whether I’m chatting on a plane, in line at the grocery store, or sipping cocktails at the hippest place in town, ~~yeah right,~~ ninety-nine point nine percent of the time I am asked,
“So – what do you do?”
It used to be a loaded question, especially when it ended with “all day.”

That’s when I was a Stay-At-Home-Mom.
If guilt over not having an ‘outside’ job didn’t have me stuttering and hemming and hawing over not having time because I was chasing after my precious offspring,

The Frantic Four

I’d shoot back, Continue reading →

Posted in ADVENTURES, FAMILY, HOLIDAYS, HUMOR | Tagged adventure, author, blog, D.G.Lambo, Donna Weidner, Mother's day, Mother's Day 2014, professionals, writer | 17 Comments

Please Help – We Have To Take A Stand

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

My blog posts are typically on the humorous side. The times I mount my soapbox and voice an outraged opinion are few. Today is one of those days where I cannot remain silent. Thankfully, Jenny at UNLOAD & REWIND has made it easy for me – so now let’s Bring Back Our Girls! Mankind’s inhumanity has no place in this world. Please take a stand and add your name to the the petitions Jenni has put together. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Unload and Unwind

As a rule I try to keep the weekend posts here at Unload and Unwind to more humorous topics as a way of taking a step back from the more serious pieces that I write about politics and the environment. However I have decided that this issue far out ways the need to step back. In fact I am calling for all of us to step forward, to raise our voice and add our names to the petitions being created around the world decrying the horrendous taking of a number of young girls in Nigeria.

As most may be aware on April 16 of this year 200 girls were kidnapped by an extremist group called ‘Boko Haram‘. This was done so that they would be unable to take their examinations and to call a halt to the education of women in that country. Around the world the outrage…

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Posted in VIEW FROM MY SOAP BOX | Tagged Boko Haram, child slavery, human attrosity, injustice, petitions, Unload & Unwind | Leave a comment

A NEW YORK STATE OF MIND

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

I’ve been on the road for a week, traveling with Mr. Man on a fund-raising tour for his new venture. The kick-off however, was first celebrating his aunt’s 80th Birthday with family and friends at a german restaurant in Queens. Thereafter, it was off to the big city. So, here are my REFLECTIONS in a pictorial adventure… Continue reading →

Posted in ADVENTURES, ROAD TRIP, TRAVEL/PHOTO Themes | Tagged adventure, author, blog, Donna Weidner, lego, New York City, photography, road trip, Rockefeller Center | 18 Comments

WHERE THE LOST SOCKS ARE

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

A blast from the past today – freshly dug up from the archives – I hope you enjoy it AND please send me your own photos for May’s Single Sock Sunday! Have a wonderful week…

Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

This adventure has been rated OSFA, One-size-fits-all, by the International Knee-Sport-and-Leisure-Sock Association of Planetearth. Otherwise known as IKSLAP.

Have you seen this sock today?

MISSING-Last Seen Entering Dryer 12/12/12

After half a century of sitting on their hands, many members of CADS, the Center for the Abnormal Dematerialization of Socks, still refuse to accept that the daily disappearance of an inordinate number of the world’s socks is a problem of epic proportion.

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Posted in ADVENTURES | 3 Comments

A PETTY THIEVES’ TALE

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

Sir Francis Bacon once said, “Opportunity makes a thief.” Indeed, it does. For what do you think happens when you leave a box full of donuts untended in a room with two Labrador Retrievers?

Now, when I say a box full, I mean a heap – a complete dozen. I’m talkin’ three Bavarian Kremes, two chocolate glazed, four jelly, an apple crumb and two powdered.

If you’re thinking the obvious answer is a couple of bloated (w)itches with a ‘B’ or puddled boat loads of barf on the living room rug well, no, not this time. Although, having read some of our pooches’ previous antics, I can understand why you’d think that.

No, this time, Jazzie had Madison, our visiting friends’ puppy, as an accomplice to the dastardly deed we’ve come to dub – The Dunkin’ Donut Incident – Continue reading →

Posted in ADVENTURES, FAMILY, HOLIDAYS | Tagged adventure, author, blog, Dog Day Afternoon, Donna Weidner, family, Holidays, Loss of a Pet, Rainbow Bridge, Sir Francis Bacon sayings | 22 Comments

APRIL SHOWERS

Posted on April 6, 2014 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

While world-renowned photographer and friend Sven Nieder captures another friend, Adam Lyberth, throwing a pot full of boiling water up into the air at the top of the world in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland

http://www.sven-nieder.de

I thought I’d share what’s going on in my world… Continue reading →

Posted in ADVENTURES, EVENTS, TRAVEL/PHOTO Themes | Tagged author, blog, Donna Weidner, Earth Day 2014, spring images | 8 Comments

HECK HATH NO FURY LIKE MS. MUFFET SCORNED

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

I invite you to read my submission for Susanna Leonard Hill’s March Madness Writing Contest

The Challenge: Write a children’s story, in poetry or prose, maximum 400 words, that is a fractured fairy tale. Feel free to add a theme of spring, or mix in one of the spring holidays if you like…
Have fun with it! The madder* the better! *as in wild and wacky …

You’ve still got until 11:59 EDT tonight to join in!

The following is my entry of exactly 400 words – you may find it a wee bit grim – but at least no one is eating little pigs, or grandmothers, or children…

HECK HATH NO FURY LIKE MS. MUFFET SCORNED

This is a fable of lies and deceit—
Not for the faint-hearted or stomachs that’re weak.
The tale, its author, the unpopular Father Gander,
Is told from his viewpoint with unflinching candor. Continue reading →

Posted in ADVENTURES, HUMOR, POEMS, WRITING CHALLENGES | Tagged blog, Cyclops, Donna Weidner, fractured fairy tale, humor, Little Miss Muffet, March Madness, poetry, Susanna Leonard Hill Writing Contest, writer | 32 Comments

WHAT IF?

Posted on March 19, 2014 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

I came across a poem the other day and I just can’t get it outta’ my head, so I’ve decided to share it with you today. The words are by ~ Ganga White and the photos by yours truly, unless otherwise noted…

WHAT IF?

“What if our religion was each other

Greenland 2009 by Nick Weidner

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Posted in ADVENTURES, AWESOME PEOPLE, EVENTS, POEMS, TRAVEL/PHOTO Themes | Tagged adventure, blog, Cambodia, Donna Weidner, Ganga White, Greenland, icebergs, Ilulisaat, Kangerlussuaq, Maile Ngema Lama, Mandaza Augustine Kandemwa, poem, Return of the Sacred Fire, Thailand, Univu and Haru Kuntanawa | 17 Comments

TO THE CLOUDS!

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

Dr. Jane, Angaangaq, Atsaarsuaq Hansiina, Mr. Man aka Ron Weidner and Yours Truly

A few years ago I had the great pleasure of meeting Dr. Jane Goodall. Over drinks one night, she told a heartfelt story about how a young boy once asked her, “Where do you think people go when they die?” The child had lost his mother at a young age and missed her terribly. Dr. Jane shared her belief that our dearly departed are always nearby and watching over us. “You mean, like in that chair over there?” he asked, pointing across the hotel lobby at an empty desk. “Or up there, on the balcony?”

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