One of the singular joys of this time of year are the homegrown strawberries in my patch of sweetness right outside the screened-in porch. Over the past seven years, I have planted and re-planted, coaxed and protected, and waited every spring for the shoots to wake, flower, and grow the red fruit. This year, we hired a lawn care service to weed for us. The conscientious young man did a vigorous pruning and much of the extended patch was gone after he left. At first, I was dis

bring a book along! And since I’ve read a few interesting, thrilling, beautifully-written, or thought-provoking books lately, I thought I’d use May’s blog to recommend a few of those. Thus, a possible reading list… Romantasy: The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson is a new member of the ‘academic fantasy’ genre. Clever, so well-constructed, filled with intrigue, twists, heroes and villains and the magnificent Raven (who speaks in first-person plural). If this is your fave genre

Even a single word, well-chosen, can evoke myriad sensations; taste, touch, sight, sound, memory. I love language, the cadence of consonants and vowels, the way each separate language has various ways to express and explain. I love studying language, especially the interaction between a specific sound and emotion, how one well-placed noun, adjective, or verb can transform the tone of the written and the spoken word. When I write poetry, I spend more time than one would think

In this most roiling political climate, the question arises about what actions we can take individually and as a group, to effect positive change and protect our democracy. After all, I am only one person without a million dollar bank account and no real power. I am not unaware of the climate in which we are living. I acknowledge that bullying instills fear, that threats of violence to ourselves and our families can be used to dissuade us from speaking out. Then I remember t

... is based on Star Lake, a sister community to the hamlet of Wanakena, where the novels in the Love and Murder in the Adirondacks series are set. It was published in a nifty online journal currently on hiatus – Tough. Enjoy! Gene Polson had a keen mind, a woodworker’s hands, and an appetite for sweet treats and women, not necessarily in that order. Everyone in Star Lake knew the man. Most liked him. However, they shook their heads and sighed whenever they saw him escorting

As we enter the shortest month of our calendar year, I take stock of the many books I read in 2024 and look ahead to reading, writing, and bookish things in 2025. So many good books (and a fair amount of weak ones – but that’s a subject for another column), so little time to get them all on my shelf. I’ve not completely abandoned purchasing, after all, there are some I simply have to hold and cherish. However, no room remains on my the shelves, so I visit the library frequen

“Another year over and a new one just begun”…every time I hear these lines from John Lennon’s song “And So This Is Christmas,” I’m carried into the melody and the haunting question which is also part of the song, “and what have you done?” The inevitable Q and A the lines require has me pondering the reason for such introspection. Then there are the admonitions of all resolution pundits: Take stock. Plan ahead. Make a stand. Fight the good fight. All the platitudes and mott

It has been a challenging year in every way: politically, economically, creatively, and personally. No matter the challenges, time does slip by. Here we are at the tail end of 2024, contemplating what was and what is yet to be. If Lady Justice were truly blind, the scales would not have tipped so far toward the unacceptable. But my view is not shared by so many others. How then do I square what is right and true with has happened? I cannot. All I can do is persist in the beli