Tag: fulltime writer

Rain Barrel Sprouting A Harvest

After watching tomato plants start in a seemingly positive direction before—as regular plants—producing grape-sized tomatoes, I don’t want to get too excited yet. But after watching my tomatoes, peppers and green beans sprouting a la “Jack in the Beanstalk” fashion less than two months after planting, I am quite optimistic. I credit this impressive development…
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A Family Film for Summer

As I noted in a recent blog, summer is often a season for good books. With families on vacation and out touring the countryside more than normal, it’s also a good time for blockbuster movies, as evidenced by the success of the latest entry in the “Jurassic” franchise. Yet my nomination for great summer viewing…
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Oiling Away the Pain With Essential Oils

It’s been nearly a year since I started using a blend of essential oils to help deal with the lingering effects of back pain sustained through a serious injury in 2013. Not only am I happy that I made the discovery that these oils could have health benefits, today I am even more positive in…
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Gotta Love July

Several more days and it will be July. The peak of summer used to frustrate me. Hard to get much work when everyone is on vacation, or at the beach, or disappearing for a week around the Fourth of July. No longer. I have learned to love the coming month, if for no other reason…
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Modern Giving Methods

I eat lunch regularly with a pair of 20-somethings. Not only do I want to act as an informal mentor, I want to stay in touch with the younger generation and avoid turning into an old fogey—a fate I’ve seen befall too many seniors. Something I’ve noticed about my younger companions is that neither carries…
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The “Bliss” of Airline Travel

Although King Features Syndicate released Ed Gamble’s political cartoon a week before my recent trip to Boston, our local newspaper didn’t run it until after I returned. In my estimation, it’s so on target it should earn him an award. The cartoon shows a man at an airline counter with empty pockets and hands in…
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The Timing of Life

I made a quick trip to Boston last weekend to present a writers workshop for a client. This event marked a personal milestone. Although I had been a speaker or workshop leader at several conferences, this was my first time as the only speaker. I reflected on its significance several days prior to my flight…
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A Hidden Blessing

The times are a-changing, a fact underscored by two recent stories on different news services. However, to those who bemoan the loss of church as a socially-respectable, popular idea, I would say: this situation may be a blessing in disguise. The first concerned a legal battle pitting the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston against a group…
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Public Art Inspires

Public displays of sculpture or art aren’t a new idea, having been done in such places as Chicago with pigs. And, horses in Lexington, Ky., and Newnan, Ga. Yet the display of 42 fiberglass, small train engine models that recently went up in Huntington, W. Va., is every bit as impressive as the online photos…
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Pipe Dreams

My wife and I recently attended two community forums organized by a woman concerned over the calamity in our city wrought by heroin and other drugs. We were shocked to learn that heroin overdose deaths in 2015 in our city are projected to be six times the national average. Nor does it matter where you…
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