The husband and I own a lot of music. Our combined CD collection exceeds 400 albums, and about 15 years ago he acquired an obscene amount of ‘shared’ music from a C-shift lab computer at work. Our digital catalog now numbers around 5,000 songs; two MP3 players are dedicated mixes for both the 1980s and …
Creative Pursuits
Bringing Back Snail Mail
The postage rate for a first class one ounce stamp increased in late January to 49 cents. Because of the introduction of “Forever” stamps in 2007, people using US Mail no longer need to buy sheets of one cent stamps because that roll of 100 stamps they just bought at the prior rate are now …
Junk Drawer
There are few moments in life equal to the satisfaction of having found a use for some junk that most people would have sent out with the trash years ago. Key rings, broken-off doodads, extra pieces, the lone zip tie, camera film containers, stacks of thin business-card sized refrigerator magnets, a strip of twist ties, …
Christmas Crafts
One Christmas my mother made candy wreaths for our elementary school teachers. She bent a metal coat hanger into a perfect circle then painstakingly tied red and green curling ribbon around the hoop, adding peppermint candies along the way. She was very good at making ringlets with a quick zip of the ribbon between thumb …
Updates to Portfolio Pages!
The whole point of this blog is to exhibit my writing skills and build a portfolio. Well, I’m pleased to report that the portfolio is growing! Today I added new examples of my desktop publishing and a new feature article recently published in Suburban News. More articles are in the pipeline and I am preparing …
Fail. (or not)
Last week, I wrote about goals and which requires more courage: pursuing a goal or achieving a goal. But I forgot about what happens in between, about what takes up a lot of ground between the pursuit and the achievement. Failure. I read a great article this weekend about the role failure plays in success, …
Getting A Christmas Wish
Last week, I previewed my upcoming publication in our local daily newspaper, the Democrat and Chronicle. This is, by far, the best Christmas gift I have ever received! The past year has been one gratifying writing experience after another. I cannot thank enough all the people who have helped me along the way; old and …
Opening
Five years ago this Christmas, I gave The Husband a digital SLR camera. His film rig, which is a fairly professional set-up, had been gathering dust for a few years at that point. As the prolonged death of film photography hastened, so did his interest in taking pictures. He studied photography in college and already …
