Please and Thank You

How important are good manners? Pretty important, I’d say.  It all begins with self-image, to my way of thinking. How do you view yourself? If you have a pretty low opinion, it’s likely to come out in your language and actions. And others, watching, develop an opinion too. Manners are putting yourself in another’s place […]

When You Read

When you read a book, what are you expecting to find? If, within a few pages, you find misspellings, poor choice of words to describe a scene or person, one grammatical error after the other, do you keep reading?  If the author of the book lets you in on what other characters are thinking, jumping […]

More Flowers

Saturday, I went flower shopping. And, sure enough, my favorite outdoor shop had a new shipment of chrysanthemums. Hard to resist those bright, beautiful flowers, so I didn’t. I bought two smallish pots to brighten the front flower bed. Then, I noticed honeybees were really buzzing around the cone flowers or echinacea. Since I have […]

Gardyloo!

  Suppose you were walking along the street of a European town in the year 1650. Suddenly, someone yells,  “Gardyloo!” Then, you’d better duck, fast. Gardyloo was a warning that somebody was just about to tip a bucket of something pretty awful and foul-smelling out of an upstairs window onto the street. Words are like […]

As the Morning Begins

As the morning begins and stirs to life, I listen to the distant sound of tires on the interstate and imagine people rushing to jobs. The school bus comes down the hill, carrying a cargo of lively children off to begin their second week of school. Leaves nod and stir as a squirrel jumps from […]

Lost in the Woods

With no warning, thunder crashed over my head. I must have jumped three feet into the air. Rain followed on the heels of the thunder, pelting me with hard, cold drops. I glanced back for the comforting sight of my SUV. All I could see were trees and more trees. Without meaning to, I had […]