athesaurus.com

…breathe deeply and often…

  • Christmas Eve Morning

    “Hell, Stan, there are too many for a list?” Stan shook his head no, and whistled low. Greg oozed frustration. “Were you ever sure about anything?” “ I swear we’re here.” Stan jumped up and dunked on Greg. Steve dunked on both of them, then got serious.  “We’ll never get a list like this right,”

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  • A Cat at the Museum

    “I know what “Azure” means, why wouldn’t I know what happiness and tranquility mean? Just because you’re my Papa doesn’t mean you’re smart or anything.”

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  • The Race

    This isn’t an excerpt, it’s a warning. A reader told me this was depressing.

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  • “You better have the coffee ready before you get me out of bed.”

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  • My Mincemeat Pie

    The finest pie I’ve ever made screams Christmas.

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  • Bombed Out

    He loved nothing more than a roomful of people drinking and smoking and giving him his undivided devotion and attention.

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  • Snow Before Dawn

    At least there would be no school.

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  • Never start a novel with the weather.

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  • WeeGee Slumber Party

    “Don’t tell your mom I let you see a Ouija Board. They’re not toys,”

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  • Listen

    Listen on purposeLift your spirit with good words, and make your soul smile.

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  • 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

  • Christmas Eve Morning

    “Hell, Stan, there are too many for a list?” Stan shook his head no, and whistled low. Greg oozed frustration. “Were you ever sure about anything?” “ I swear we’re here.” Stan jumped up and dunked on Greg. Steve dunked on both of them, then got serious.  “We’ll never get a list like this right,”

    Read more

  • A Cat at the Museum

    “I know what “Azure” means, why wouldn’t I know what happiness and tranquility mean? Just because you’re my Papa doesn’t mean you’re smart or anything.”

    Read more

  • The Race

    This isn’t an excerpt, it’s a warning. A reader told me this was depressing.

    Read more

  • “You better have the coffee ready before you get me out of bed.”

    Read more

  • My Mincemeat Pie

    The finest pie I’ve ever made screams Christmas.

    Read more

  • Bombed Out

    He loved nothing more than a roomful of people drinking and smoking and giving him his undivided devotion and attention.

    Read more

  • Snow Before Dawn

    At least there would be no school.

    Read more

  • Never start a novel with the weather.

    Read more

  • WeeGee Slumber Party

    “Don’t tell your mom I let you see a Ouija Board. They’re not toys,”

    Read more

  • Listen

    Listen on purposeLift your spirit with good words, and make your soul smile.

    Read more

  • Kinship

    The artists couldn’t have been more different. One used a palette knife to sculpt landscapes of heaven. He caught the flickering glint of stars and swirling clouds of gas and light with oily pigments. He imprisoned the light and wonder of Orion, caught his bow in mid-aim. His kin captured the magnificence of the heavens…

  • Jung Smung

    Jung says, “No matter what the world thinks about religious experience, the one who has it possesses a great treasure, a thing that has for him become a source of life, meaning and beauty, and that has given a new splendor to the world.” I’ve experienced many denominations of religious faith in my life. The…

  • Ceraunophilia (n) loving thunder and lightning and finding them intensely beautiful

    “The lightning webbed and arced across the black sky. Thunder of a thousand sonic booms shook the whole house. It did it again and again and again. “I got it on my camera, look. It’s phenomenal. I bet it goes viral. “What do you think?” asked Sadie. “Look, here it comes again. James Weldon Johnson’s…

  • Mommy’s Angel

    I begged for a guitar for Christmas. I got down on my knees in supplication to Mom one Saturday morn when the snow was knee deep outside, I remember. That’s all she heard that year. I did every chore she gave me with glee, on the outside at least, three quarters my best instead of…

  • Good King Wenceslas

    “I love the way the full moon glistens on the snow when it’s deep and crisp and even like this, not a mark on it,” the good king said. It was St. Stephen’s Day, Boxing Day, the patron saint of stonemasons and bricklayers, the first martyr, stoned to death for blasphemy. He was also the…