October 2014

Before Orange is the New Black  was published, author Piper Kerman asked me if I would give her permission to use my real name in her memoir. I said yes, it was OK. She wanted to tell the story of my unfortunate experience while working as a tutor in the education program at the Federal […]

Today, I’m going to share with you an exercise that can help ease the frustration of writer’s block. That is something that bothers me on occasion and it is annoying to sit and stare at a blank screen (or a blank sheet of paper, if you are not a computer fan or you’re out in

I have a special fondness for teddy bears. I’ve kept teddy bears since I was a little girl. I had them for comfort and for softness and for friendship when I was lonely. As an adult, I still keep my teddy bears. I still keep them for comfort and softness and friendship. I also keep

Stuff to find on the ground and under the ground! Fungi Some people pronounce fungi as if it were “fun guy” and some people pronounce it as if the “gi” was the same as “gyrate.” OK, so I guess that I did a little “gyrating” when I was in the Zumba class this morning.  I’ll

Another character from Alice in Wonderland, celebrated at a bed and breakfast in Lakeside, Michigan. Today, I discovered that it is Mad Hatter Day. How cool is that? Well, since I am Alice, I find it very cool. I am a big fan of Alice in Wonderland. In fact, one of the few poems that

Well, it’s Sunday. I wouldn’t post ordinarily but I am doing the Ultimate Blog Challenge so I have to post every day for an entire month. Today’s blog post will be brief. I gave a presentation on the On the Road to Ground the Drones walk at Riverside-Salem United Church of Christ/Disciples of Christ environmental

Insects! Dr. Cole Gilbert, who teaches entomology at Cornell University, gave us a lot of information about insects. Insects belong to the animal kingdom. In fact, 75 percent of the animals of this earth belong to Class Insecta.  Unfortunately, the relationship between humans and insects is not always harmonious. As an example, when I was

Documentary film maker and author Jacqueline Albarella visited the Grand Island Historical Society yesterday to do a presentation on the restoration of the Hotel Lafayette. She spent two years photographing the work in progress. She has written a book and has made a documentary film of the project. If you are interested in buying the

I just read on Facebook that today is National Poetry Day. How cool is that? Well, my sister Diane loves to write poetry and she even self-published a book called Poetry from a Creative Mind. You can find it at Amazon or at Barnes & Noble or on ebay. Oddly enough, poetry gets put into the “nonfiction” category. I’m not sure

Salamander tries blending into a human’s fashion statement. During the weekend of September 19th through the 21st, I had the opportunity to participate in the Master Naturalist program at the Arnot Teaching and Research Forest in Van Etten, New York. The master naturalist training was organized by Kristi Sullivan, a certified wildlife biologist, who works as