You drive by an intersection and take notice of a weathered and worn wooden cross poking up from the ground. Around it are faded silk flowers, some tattered stuffed animals, burnt candles, and remnants of hand-written notes that resisted being carried away by the wind. You know someone died in that spot and someone else …
Category: Nonfiction
Feb 18
Coffee Shop Chronicles: Are You the Trusting Sort?
Corner Bakery Café Horsham, PA Billy Joel had it right: it’s always been a matter of trust. 3:43pm A strange little coffee shop that is, or was once, a restaurant. This place serves the typical coffees and latte espresso drinks, but it also offers a choice of real food, not just the token pastries. I …
Feb 16
From One Extreme to Another
“Kalamazoo to Timbuktu.” That song, recorded in the ‘50s by Mitch Miller, linked two locations together because of their individually unique names. Michiganders, like me, recognize the name of one city and wonder about the other. Where in the world is Timbuktu? Does it really exist? Or is it just part of an expression that …
Feb 06
Story Starters, Part 3
“Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.”–Graham Greene Have you ever found yourself with the wrong friends? A fur hunter in the 1800s was severely …
Jan 21
Cruising in Europe
Last September we took a cruise on the Danube and the Rhine Rivers. We started off in Budapest, Hungary and finished in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The trip lasted two weeks and was lovely. Living, eating, drinking and floating along was very relaxing. The boat stopped every day in a different city. Most of us got …