athesaurus.com

…breathe deeply and often…

  • The Storm

    Hurricane Ian “Make a wish. Cross your fingers and close your eyes. Blow a kiss onto your fingers and into the fire. Open your fingers as you blow. That’s right. Now your wish will come true,” said the storm . “It’s a Fire wish.” Ian, the mighty Hurricane was at category five and powerful. A…

    Read more

  • Mom’s Lasagna

    The best recipes come from old cookbooks. Those suckers have been tested and perfected. They have the right ingredients, lots of love, and you would have to hold your mouth just right to mess them up. Mom’s Lasagna recipe traveled to England and back with me. It is faithful. I remember when I spilled the…

    Read more

  • Fire

    “From what I’ve tasted of desire, I think the Earth will end in fire,” said Robert Frost.  “I learned a long time ago to hide the things you want most, for those will be taken from you first. Desire all you want, just be careful who you let in your heart,” said Alice Without Malice.…

    Read more

  • Why Write.

    I write in general because I always have. I have always kept journals, written stories, essays, poems, and papers. I write because my thoughts, feelings, ideas, language play has to come out somewhere. Writing is problem solving. It’s fun. It’s frustrating. Writing is my best friend. It’s something I have to do.  Now, I’m writing…

    Read more

  • Rough Puff

    Pasty? It’s pronounced PAST- E, not paste with an E like the strippers wear, but PAST+EEE, pasty. Someone told me there were pumpkin pasties in the feast scene in Harry Potter. I know it’s a sin, but I’m not a Potter Head, so I don’t remember. Yet, I’m sure a pumpkin pasty is a delightful…

    Read more

  • Two

    People transmit emotions,  alternating and direct current, twins’ feelings bloom at the same, for the same reasons, from different sources.  I don’t know what kind of magic is in a twin, but I know there’s more power in it than science can explain. Ask other twin moms.  I’ve watched this “thing” happen throughout their twenty-some…

    Read more

  • The Birds

    The Birds “I want to stay in this tree this year,” she said. “The leaves are falling off and there will be no place to cover the nest. The crook of the tree is going to be really cold. Haven’t you heard of snow?” he asked her. He was frustrated. She wanted to live in…

    Read more

  • Jewels of the Day

    Treasure of the Day Tableware is fun. Individual salt and pepper shakers for everybody at the table, pairs of cut crystal tall martini glasses, and a genuine Disney mug come in handy for the soirees in my mind as well as daily use. That says something about me, I’m sure. I schooled the boys on…

    Read more

  • Ode to the Phone

    My brain flipped on the teacher switch last week. Summer perished. I mourn summer in my heart with chains of paperclips and blocks of staples. Cold fluorescent lights took the place of the sunlight filtered through the windows in the family room. I’m heartbroken. I’m back to monitor halls of chaos, angst, anger, and hormones.…

    Read more

  • Cookies and Omens

    Benji told me every thunderstorm in the middle of winter was an omen. So when the lightning knocked the power out on New Year’s Eve, and he missed the cake stand, the fruitcake cookies went flying from here to kingdom come, my knees went weak just a little. Charlie Mae was exacting revenge at my…

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  • Houdini Gigs

    “I believe the the most important single thing beyond discipline  and creativity is daring to dare.”  Maya Angelou “K, so, if you go up on that stage there’s a real good chance you’re going to sound bad. You don’t sing, you whine,” Ronnie said.  “I’m not going to sing, I’m going to shine,” said Eddie.… Read more

  • The Mighty Oak

    The Mighty Oak Although it is true that it looks easy, swinging off a rope ain’t what it’s cracked up to be. It takes more engineering and logic than some people have to make it work right.    When the dirt road was eye level to the best swinging branch of the giant oak tree,… Read more

  • How To Invoke A Muse

    Alicia Keyes, cool woman and soul singer, said, “You already have everything you need inside of you right now, today.”  Every ceremony begins with an invocation, a throwback to the Greeks or Romans or one of those ancient peoples who were scared of angering the gods. An invocation is an invitation to the muse to… Read more

  • Lotsa Dollar Surprise

    I left the windows on the car open when it got hot in the summer. Mom and Dad always did, so I figured I better too. The car was so hot a dog would have died if I’d have left it in there, a kid would have too, open windows or not. Our parents left… Read more

  • You Get What You Pay For

    He was too cheap to be a companion and not expensive enough to be a decent handyman. Read more

  • Reserve

    “Here, have some firewood,” I told Suze before Caine could get there. “We’ll make a fire so he won’t mess with it. I hate it when men think they have to fix every fire a woman starts. It’s unnecessary and downright insulting. They just don’t get it. Dad was always bad about that, and Caine… Read more

  • The Storm

    Hurricane Ian “Make a wish. Cross your fingers and close your eyes. Blow a kiss onto your fingers and into the fire. Open your fingers as you blow. That’s right. Now your wish will come true,” said the storm . “It’s a Fire wish.” Ian, the mighty Hurricane was at category five and powerful. A…

    Read more

  • Mom’s Lasagna

    The best recipes come from old cookbooks. Those suckers have been tested and perfected. They have the right ingredients, lots of love, and you would have to hold your mouth just right to mess them up. Mom’s Lasagna recipe traveled to England and back with me. It is faithful. I remember when I spilled the…

    Read more

  • Fire

    “From what I’ve tasted of desire, I think the Earth will end in fire,” said Robert Frost.  “I learned a long time ago to hide the things you want most, for those will be taken from you first. Desire all you want, just be careful who you let in your heart,” said Alice Without Malice.…

    Read more

  • Why Write.

    I write in general because I always have. I have always kept journals, written stories, essays, poems, and papers. I write because my thoughts, feelings, ideas, language play has to come out somewhere. Writing is problem solving. It’s fun. It’s frustrating. Writing is my best friend. It’s something I have to do.  Now, I’m writing…

    Read more

  • Rough Puff

    Pasty? It’s pronounced PAST- E, not paste with an E like the strippers wear, but PAST+EEE, pasty. Someone told me there were pumpkin pasties in the feast scene in Harry Potter. I know it’s a sin, but I’m not a Potter Head, so I don’t remember. Yet, I’m sure a pumpkin pasty is a delightful…

    Read more

  • Two

    People transmit emotions,  alternating and direct current, twins’ feelings bloom at the same, for the same reasons, from different sources.  I don’t know what kind of magic is in a twin, but I know there’s more power in it than science can explain. Ask other twin moms.  I’ve watched this “thing” happen throughout their twenty-some…

    Read more

  • The Birds

    The Birds “I want to stay in this tree this year,” she said. “The leaves are falling off and there will be no place to cover the nest. The crook of the tree is going to be really cold. Haven’t you heard of snow?” he asked her. He was frustrated. She wanted to live in…

    Read more

  • Jewels of the Day

    Treasure of the Day Tableware is fun. Individual salt and pepper shakers for everybody at the table, pairs of cut crystal tall martini glasses, and a genuine Disney mug come in handy for the soirees in my mind as well as daily use. That says something about me, I’m sure. I schooled the boys on…

    Read more

  • Ode to the Phone

    My brain flipped on the teacher switch last week. Summer perished. I mourn summer in my heart with chains of paperclips and blocks of staples. Cold fluorescent lights took the place of the sunlight filtered through the windows in the family room. I’m heartbroken. I’m back to monitor halls of chaos, angst, anger, and hormones.…

    Read more

  • Cookies and Omens

    Benji told me every thunderstorm in the middle of winter was an omen. So when the lightning knocked the power out on New Year’s Eve, and he missed the cake stand, the fruitcake cookies went flying from here to kingdom come, my knees went weak just a little. Charlie Mae was exacting revenge at my…

    Read more


  • Halloween Slumber Party

           “Hello.”  I heard it plain as day. I knew right then it was coming back to the house from the storage facility. I took a pickup truckload of stuff to my building, in the rain and brought back a Ouija Board.  “Hello,” it said again, louder this time. I knew where it was and…

  • Trick or Treat Ghost

    “Stop, I lost my shoe,” Bonnie said. She was crying. It was pitch dark and we were in the middle of a flower bed in somebody’s front yard. There were four of us. Bonnie was the tiniest five year old I knew. She looked about three and was just as annoying. None of us wanted…

  • The Bad Seed

    The Bad Seed I still can’t watch The Bad Seed without getting the heebie jeebies. The first time I saw it, I was about ten years old, and it was a Saturday after the cartoons had all gone off. Mom was busy doing mom things, the brothers and sisters were gone, maybe everyone was. But…

  • Norris Lives

    I finished it. I finished Norris Lives, a 25K word sequel to Norris Tales, the Adventures of an Awful House Cat. I sent it off to a publisher. Norris draws first blood. He is a jewel thief. He steals the remote as well as little kid’s lunch money. He cheats at cards and loves a…

  • Velvet Heart

    Janet stood in front of the mirror and admired herself. The twenty-pound weight loss looked good in the deep red velvet dress she wore. It hugged her waist, plunged at the neck, and flounced from a complete circle to the floor. It was the dress of her dreams, and she was stunning. She twirled in…