athesaurus.com

…breathe deeply and often…

  • Sewing Lesson

    Santa brought me a baby doll for Christmas one year that had white curly hair like an old lady. She had a rubber head and blue eyes that would open and close when she sat up and lay down. Her arms and legs were rubber too, attached to a stuffed body. She was about half

    Read more

  • Snow Wonderland

    Hazel stepped out on the stoop and stepped right back in the house. Her eyes were huge. “Is this what I think it is?” she screamed. It was still dark outside, but the white of seven inches of snow lay bright and unmistakable over everything outside. She could hear the snowflakes pile higher and deeper,

    Read more

  • Purple stuff

    Since I started teaching I’ve undergone many changes. I still have a real honest to God chalk board in my classroom instead of the standard white board these days.   The way I copy papers has changed significantly over the years. I started with the purple stuff. I would get so frustrated trying to type tests

    Read more

  • Junebug’s Dinner 

    “I feel like my head’s in a jar underwater,” said Junebug to no one at all as she burnt the last of the fried chicken. She couldn’t fry chicken any better than she could make biscuits. Her gravy and mashed potatoes were to die for though. The whole stick of butter and heavy cream she

    Read more

  • Haiku in Winter

    The whittling down of a grandiloquent tale to seventeen syllables. Getting the juice from it to its purist form wrings the neck of a piece of writing so tight that all that’s left is the essence of its meaning, a haiku. Five seven five. The dear sweet poems of eternity. Pictures in pure form Whittled

    Read more

  • The Fishing Village

    Image generated with AI. I’ve never been to a fishing village in Scotland. I don’t care about cities and tourism. The small town misty cold draws me. I want to walk out on a rocky shore to hear the waves crash and redden my cheeks with cold as long as I can stand the grey

    Read more

  • Story Published!

    Thank you, Nolcha Fox and Chewers and Masticadores! Beatrice Entombed Millard watched the undertakers close the drawer that held Beatrice’s casket, and waited until everyone left the cemetery. A dusty brown cloud followed a parade of black limousines crawling their way up the side of a mountain to the main road. The last thing he

    Read more

  • Predictable Rant

    It’s time to get more aggressive about the life that I want. I’ve already decided what life I don’t want. I decided years ago that I wanted out of teaching. Retirement is within my reach. I called the retirement board and found that I was eligible for retirement six years ago, but it was financially

    Read more

  • The dusty journals

    Image generated with AI. Junebug looked at the stack of dusty handwritten journals in the corner. Like hell she wanted them. That’s all she needed, a stack of hundred year old books piled up beside the toolbox in the laundry room. Maybe they’d be better next to the washer, between the shelf where the charger

    Read more

  • Flutter

    Above the trees wings spreadBlack and cawingOn the breeze What’s left of theLeavesAs they race to flyHigherIn swirls and in whirlsBend to the groundAnd I dipThen upBefore I touch and soarAnd dive down againAlmost to the groundFallingWings spreadBlack and cawingOn the breezeBefore fall Becomes Winter again.

    Read more

  • Red Wagon

    Life seems incomplete without a red wagon of some sort in my life. Now that my gardening wagon has been stolen, trash and all, from my back porch, there’s a whole in it. There’s a hole in the fence, too. It made me so mad to have to put the fence back together I thought 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

  • Sewing Lesson

    Santa brought me a baby doll for Christmas one year that had white curly hair like an old lady. She had a rubber head and blue eyes that would open and close when she sat up and lay down. Her arms and legs were rubber too, attached to a stuffed body. She was about half

    Read more

  • Snow Wonderland

    Hazel stepped out on the stoop and stepped right back in the house. Her eyes were huge. “Is this what I think it is?” she screamed. It was still dark outside, but the white of seven inches of snow lay bright and unmistakable over everything outside. She could hear the snowflakes pile higher and deeper,

    Read more

  • Purple stuff

    Since I started teaching I’ve undergone many changes. I still have a real honest to God chalk board in my classroom instead of the standard white board these days.   The way I copy papers has changed significantly over the years. I started with the purple stuff. I would get so frustrated trying to type tests

    Read more

  • Junebug’s Dinner 

    “I feel like my head’s in a jar underwater,” said Junebug to no one at all as she burnt the last of the fried chicken. She couldn’t fry chicken any better than she could make biscuits. Her gravy and mashed potatoes were to die for though. The whole stick of butter and heavy cream she

    Read more

  • Haiku in Winter

    The whittling down of a grandiloquent tale to seventeen syllables. Getting the juice from it to its purist form wrings the neck of a piece of writing so tight that all that’s left is the essence of its meaning, a haiku. Five seven five. The dear sweet poems of eternity. Pictures in pure form Whittled

    Read more

  • The Fishing Village

    Image generated with AI. I’ve never been to a fishing village in Scotland. I don’t care about cities and tourism. The small town misty cold draws me. I want to walk out on a rocky shore to hear the waves crash and redden my cheeks with cold as long as I can stand the grey

    Read more

  • Story Published!

    Thank you, Nolcha Fox and Chewers and Masticadores! Beatrice Entombed Millard watched the undertakers close the drawer that held Beatrice’s casket, and waited until everyone left the cemetery. A dusty brown cloud followed a parade of black limousines crawling their way up the side of a mountain to the main road. The last thing he

    Read more

  • Predictable Rant

    It’s time to get more aggressive about the life that I want. I’ve already decided what life I don’t want. I decided years ago that I wanted out of teaching. Retirement is within my reach. I called the retirement board and found that I was eligible for retirement six years ago, but it was financially

    Read more

  • The dusty journals

    Image generated with AI. Junebug looked at the stack of dusty handwritten journals in the corner. Like hell she wanted them. That’s all she needed, a stack of hundred year old books piled up beside the toolbox in the laundry room. Maybe they’d be better next to the washer, between the shelf where the charger

    Read more

  • Flutter

    Above the trees wings spreadBlack and cawingOn the breeze What’s left of theLeavesAs they race to flyHigherIn swirls and in whirlsBend to the groundAnd I dipThen upBefore I touch and soarAnd dive down againAlmost to the groundFallingWings spreadBlack and cawingOn the breezeBefore fall Becomes Winter again.

    Read more


  • Mona

    Like most things, Mona ignored the timer, and kept reading her book. She was approaching the climax of a scene, she needed to see the outcome of the turning point, wanted to watch the table turn, she couldn’t put the pages down just yet. Nothing was on fire. She read on. Of course the protagonist…

  • Luxuries of Life

    Time, health, a calm mind, slow mornings, the ability to travel, a home I love, and close relationships, is there more to life that I could need?  How much time is granted to me? How much time do I need? Is it enough? I think so. I believe it will be enough to show the…

  • My Greatest Gift

    Are you sure you’re right?You can’t be having twinsGreatest Christmas gift

  • Boon to the living

    Photo by Douglas John Imbrogno “I’ve survived one hundred percent of the days that were just God-awful. I am happy to be alive on good days. I do wonder about what’s next though. Next. What’s coming? I’ve got a lot coming on my plate. I have many choices to make, much to be careful of,…

  • Dirty Snow

    “Mom, where are the boots you got me for Christmas?” asked Charlie. He tore the living room upside down looking for them. Couch cushions went flying, followed by blankets, and newspapers, he made an unholy mess.  “Stop it! Stop throwing stuff around and straighten this room up right now,” Alice was livid. “You know better…