Category: On Writing

Total 29 Posts

Reflections – Post Travel and the Holiday Season

It’s been awhile since my last posting. I’ve been quite busy these past few months. Two wonderful trips abroad and a bout of COVID distracted me. However, I am still writing! I’ve been writing a memoir, revising two young adult books, and have returned to working on my women’s fiction about an Irish immigrant girl.

My trips abroad included a river cruise on the Rhine which included tours of Koblenz, Speyer, Cologne, Rudesheim, Breisach in Germany,  Strasbourg in France, Basel in Switzerland, and Kinderdijik in the Netherlands.  We visited the Cathedral of Speyer, the Cathedral of Cologne, a Medieval Village, Marskburg Castle, and an operational windmill in Kinderdijik. The Rhine Valley of Germany is an enchanting place with its pine clad hills, vineyards, Medieval castles, timber-framed houses, and Gothic styled churches. 

My second major trip abroad included one for the “bucket list”: Egypt with an add-on of Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

 

Egypt with its many ancient and historical monuments, pyramids, temples, and museums provided so much insight into ancient life, and an exotic journey into the past. I learned so much from this trip as well, enjoyed a ride on a hot air balloon over the Valley of the Queens and saw the sunrise over the Nile from hundreds of feet above it, and even rode a camel along the desert. 

The tour of Jerusalem included a visit to the Wailing Wall, walking the Way of the Cross along Via Dolorosa, the famed Old City with its combination of churches, synagogues, and mosques, the Church of St. Anne, birthplace of Our Blessed Mother Mary, as well as the modern center. In Bethlehem, we visited the birthplace of Jesus. This provided a deeply moving and spiritual experience.

 

 

 

Well, now it’s back to the writing business.

With the year almost at its end, I am grateful for much –

family, good friends, ability to travel and do much after retirement from teaching, and better health. 

Happy Holiday!

May there be Peace in the World.

 

 

 

 

 

See You in September

Autumn in New York is colorful and cooler.

 

Every time I hear the song “See You in September”, I am reminded of how grateful I’d been while growing up for summer vacations and a bit sad about leaving friends at the end of the school year. Labor Day marks the unofficial end of the summer, and it too, elicits nostalgia and enthusiasm. There’s a bit of sadness as summer vacation comes to an end, but enthusiasm for the next season as it ushers in opportunities to learn, to grow, and to meet up with or make new friends. Even as an adult and a retired teacher with years spent in classrooms, I still feel the nostalgic pull of this time of year.

Autumn is my favorite season for many reasons. The promise of cooler weather, nature’s colorful palette of orange, gold, maroon, and crimson leaves, roadside farm stands like Marshall’s Farm Market off Rt. 46, East in Delaware, New Jersey offering  hot mulled cider and cider doughnuts along with a variety of jams, honey, fresh vegetables and fruits, a pick-your-own pumpkins and apples, Halloween, Thanksgiving along with my birthday make autumn special.

In addition, with a crisp chill in the air, I feel more inclined to stay active, write more stories, brush up on my skills at watercolor painting or  Zumba, and enjoy walking amid the dappled splendor of the tall oak, spruce, and birch trees in the surrounding parks. There is a lot to see in September and October and November! So, enjoy the season!

 

 

Winter Writing

Wintertime brought chilly weather, sleet, and snow to the Northeast. Huddling under a plaid throw blanket, sipping hot cider or cocoa, and reading made it less bleak. I listen to my favorite classical music station, WQXR, Sirius radio, or my collection of classic rock and pop songs from my CD library.

I’ve returned to my passion of writing and republished my two young adult novels featuring a ghost hunter at the Jersey Shore in A Kiss Out of Time and its sequel A Dance Out of Time, and a case of past lives returning to solve the crime of smuggling in Mexico in my adult paranormal Sacred Fires.

As the saying goes, there’s no time like the present to get things done. Being fully-retired helps too. After many years in education, I’m fortunate that I can now write more or less full-time. In the works are two more novels and a memoir. That should keep me busy into Spring!