Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

ODE TO ME BONNIE BLUE PLAID WELLIES

Posted on October 30, 2019 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

Oh, y’ve done me well,
me bonnie blue plaid wellies,

always keepin’ me from sinkin’ deep
in bogs squishy, black, an’ smelly.

I’ve enjoyed our strolls across lush fairy glens,

twistin’ up trails o’ sweet smellin’ heather, Continue reading →

Posted in ADVENTURES, EVENTS, HUMOR, POEMS, ROAD TRIP | Tagged adventure in Scotland, D. G. Lambo-Weidner, D.G.Lambo, Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner, Loch Sunart Scotland, ode, ode to my boots, Scottish Highlands, seaweed, selkie, wellies | 12 Comments

THE CASE OF THE PURLOINED PICKLE

Posted on September 5, 2019 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

Cucumber-Homemade-Pickles Alice Wetherby-Pimms had a peculiar penchant for pickles. Be they sweet, sour, or dill, the child was mad about brined cucumbers. Chips, chunks, cubes, finely chopped relishes, halves, slices, spears, sticks and whole, no matter their shape, Alice craved them all.

So given the mysterious disappearance of the Pimms’s famed horticulturist Horace Hornby, one would expect her new governess to have jumped at the chance to avoid a similar end with regard to the child’s transports of delight, instead of ignoring what Alice deemed the grand theft of a not so grand cuke. Indeed, the ruckus which ensued over a petit cornichon – an ordinary gherkin, at that – was hardly worth giving it the time of day. Or so it seemed. Continue reading →

Posted in ADVENTURES, HUMOR, SHORT STORIES, VIGNETTE, WRITING CHALLENGES | Tagged adventure, Adventures of Alice Wetherby Pimms, cornichons, D. G. Lambo-Weidner, D.G.Lambo, Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner, humorous vignette, pickles | 19 Comments

MINDING MY Ps AND Qs – A Punctilious Quest

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

Once upon a dreary Sunday many Mays ago, it was unclear whether Alice Wetherby-Pimms had quaffed the dregs of a liter of PLYMOUTH and nodded off under the Steinway or if the ten-year-old had passed out cold in the wake of sampling the near empty snifters, flutes, and tumblers strewn about the lounge after the guests had been summoned to the dinner table for her Grandpapa’s 100th birthday celebration.

As to what might have provoked the child to imbibe in the first place, well, many proposed it was the tyke’s passion for tall sailing ships that took her curiosity prisoner, hence Continue reading →

Posted in ADVENTURES, Essay, HUMOR, SHORT STORIES, VIGNETTE | Tagged adventure, adventures in writing, Adventures of Alice Wetherby Pimms, D.G.Lambo, Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner, paranormal disappearances, Ps and Qs | 6 Comments

MINING 4 MEMORIES IN THE LEAST LIKELY PLACE

Posted on July 18, 2019 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

webs of spun silk billow
in morning’s mild breeze
sparkling orbs
handiwork of moonlight’s toil
twinkle
plucked from
the cosmos of recollection
a cache of memories
cling
to spider’s haphazard roadmap
many muddled
fuzzy
out of reach
others beckon for
a closer look

Step up
peruse
the glimmering galaxy Continue reading →

Posted in ADVENTURES, POEMS, VIEW FROM MY SOAP BOX | Tagged adventures in writing, D. G. Lambo, D. G. Lambo-Weidner, Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner, feeling nostalgic, memories, poem, spider's web, story web | 2 Comments

SECRETS, LIES, and SFOGLIADELL’

Posted on July 4, 2019 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

They say the day Aunt Frankie married Uncle Sally was a day that would live in infamy. I’d learned Franklin D. Roosevelt said that when Pearl Harbor was bombed, but no, most of the family, actually, only the uncles, would whistle, smack their wine stained lips, and speculate over the reasons as to why a raven-haired bombshell like Francine Odessa would be interested in a stunad* like Uncle Sally. As for the women in the house? They’d wink at one another.

Uncle Sally might not have been the brightest bulb in the Murano Glass chandelier my Nana had sent specially from Italy as a wedding gift for her caro Salvatore and his gabbagool bride (Nana’s words, not mine), but to Aunt Frankie, Continue reading →

Posted in ADVENTURES, FAMILY, HOLIDAYS, HUMOR, SHORT STORIES, VIGNETTE | Tagged adventure, Coney Island fireworks, D.G.Lambo, Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner, fireworks, fourth of July celebration, life on Staten Island in the 1960's, summer camp stories, The Family, Writer's Digest prompt | 16 Comments

IN HOT PURSUIT OF THE UNTETHERED MIND

Posted on June 20, 2019 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

Because our minds are not confined to the constraints of our craniums, a ride down the rabbit hole can be endless with its twists and turns, zigs and zags, steep climbs, and plummeting tumbles into a time-sucking abyss. You’re familiar with it, I’m sure.

All you want to do is Continue reading →

Posted in ADVENTURES, Essay, HUMOR, WRITING RESOURCES | Tagged adventure, adventures in writing, chicken oddities, cure for plague, D.G.Lambo, Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner, inspiration, Mike the Headless Chicken, recipe in the treatment for plague, The Black Death, The Plague | 18 Comments

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON – A Teacher Appreciation Dissertation

Posted on May 23, 2019 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

With a stinky stogie clamped between my teeth, I threw a crumpled trench coat over my shoulder, slapped my grandfather’s worn fedora on my head, stood on tip-toes and peeked through the window of the classroom door. Waiting for my cue, my heart raced, overtaking the steady beat of the hallway clock as it ticked the minutes to my entrance. Before I was able to swipe a sweaty palm across my rumpled shirt, it came…

“Oscar. Oscar. Oscar,” my friend Barbara lamented, nodding in my direction.

With one deep breath, I grabbed the door handle, pushed it down, and burst into the room. No longer the quiet, shy, mild-mannered Donna Lambo, Continue reading →

Posted in ADVENTURES, AWESOME PEOPLE, Essay | Tagged adventure, D. G. Lambo, Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner, favorite teacher, Felicia DeBetta, inspirational teacher, keep clam and carry on, Susan E. Wagner High School, teacher's appreciation week | 15 Comments

POETIC PONDERING ON: What rhymes with Wisteria?

Posted on May 2, 2019 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

An abundance of wisteria
if found flourishing
in Bulgaria
might migrate to Bavaria
causing Continue reading →

Posted in ADVENTURES, HUMOR, POEMS | Tagged adventure, appendicularia, D.G.Lambo, Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner, silly poem, stropharia, what rhymes with hysteria, wisteria | 11 Comments

THE POWER OF LOVE

Posted on April 12, 2019 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

She stands facing the pale, windswept bay, tall and erect as the ancient redwoods poking through the shroud of fog folding over the mountain range behind her. They loom in the distance like a pack of protective brothers, chanting in the blustering gale, You’re not alone. We’ve got your back.

Their mantra strokes the tips of the young woman’s button ears red while strands of raven locks swirl about her head, whipped free from the tight braid trailing down her slender back. The beauty swipes at the rebellious tendrils with the back of one hand, while clutching a tattered knit shawl to her heart with the other.

The weary maiden pulls the wrap tight, but the comfort and warmth it once afforded is now akin to her lover’s embrace. Non-existent. Cold. At least, Continue reading →

Posted in ADVENTURES, Essay, VIEW FROM MY SOAP BOX, VIGNETTE | Tagged adventure, Benjamin Lyford, D. G. Lambo, Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner, Hilarita Reed, Marin County History, Richardson Bay Audubon Center and Sanctuary, The Lyford House, the power of love | 18 Comments

KALAALLIT NUNAAT – Can’t Get You Outta’ My Head

Posted on March 27, 2019 by Donna Gwinnell Lambo-Weidner

Extreme weather boots.
Hat.
Insulated gloves.
Balaclava (baklava, optional)
Back, neck, hand and foot heat packs
Thermal socks…and…and…and.
The list was long.