Have you ever heard of a plant that doesn’t need soil to thrive? There are a whole group of such plants! They are called epiphytes! You might know them as air plants. I first became interested in epiphytic plants when I was leading an after-school garden club for elementary students, years ago. Planning a holiday…
poetry
Poetry Friday: The First Caterpillar of the Year!
Late yesterday afternoon, I saw my first monarch caterpillar of the year. Really?! Wow, it is late. Five years ago, I saw my first larva on June 19th. We did move three hours north, but we moved to a cabin that we built in 2005 and have visited multiple times a year since. So, I…
Poetry Friday: Inspiration and Opportunity
Today is Poetry Friday! Our host is Janice Scully at Salt City Verse! Thanks for hosting, Janice! Our move is complete and I’m finding new sources of inspiration for writing. I also want to take my writing in some new directions this year. I have ideas for some things other than poetry. And since my…
Poetry Friday: A New Chapter
A Poem For New Adventures Fastly, the week went by. We packed. We scrubbed. We saw friends. We laughed. I almost cried but held it back. We closed on the sale of our house this morning. The last 24 hours were harder than I thought they’d be. So many memories in this house. Children grown….
Poetry Friday: Poets of Maine
I struggled with what to write about today. I started a few poems but they didn’t seem to be clicking with me creatively. I’ll save those to keep working on them. Both are nature-inspired. I looked into poems about moving. We are just two weeks away from our move. Much progress was made over last…
Poetry Friday: Quick Writes
Somedays when I am short on time, I write quick verses on my iPhone. I jot them down on my notes app on the home screen. On days like today when busyness invades my life, I revert to them for both inspirations and to use as posts. We are hosting a garage/moving sale this weekend….
Poetry Friday: Is it Wrong?
As I sit here writing, I wonder, is it wrong to want to shrink into my written word, to pretend the world is okay when it is not? The thing is, I don’t live on fantasies. I am a realist. I don’t know how long I can pretend the world is safe when it is…
Book Marketing as an Indie Author and Press
I self-published a book this month on May 6th. It is a small chapbook of my poetry entitled: Life’s Inspiration and Reflection in a Few Words. Last night, at a gallery where I am known as a jewelry artist, I read poetry from my own book. It was both a surreal and vulnerable experience. But,…
Poetry Friday: Student Newspapers & Poetry Pages
As part of our writers’ circle, we produced a third-grade newspaper for four years, from 2014-to 2017. The papers were all published from late April to late May, towards the end of the school year. All third-grade classrooms got copies that were two-sided and contained four-page spreads. And the classroom teachers allowed them to read…
Poetry Friday: Crazy Weather and Water Wars
In the upper mid-west, we’ve gone from late winter to summer in one jump! I don’t know what happened to the spring season. Since we are moving, I only bought a small number of plants from my “personal greenhouse grower.” The plants looked great as usual and I put them in pots last Saturday. Then,…






