Alice Gerard

The world as I know it is no more, at least for now. It is shifting and changing. Fewer cars on the road but more people out jogging and riding their bicycles. No places to gather, but people on line sharing music, poetry, and stories. Churches holding services on line. People waiting, hoping, wondering. It […]

Today, I had a hairdresser appointment. One that I didn’t keep nor did I call to reschedule. Because no one is there. It’s impossible to practice social distancing when you’re cutting someone’s hair. Unless you’ve got a six foot long pair of scissors. That sounds rather hazardous, in my opinion. I wonder how long my

Where you find hope, grab it. In these days of uncertainty and lockdown, it seems as if hope flits and flees every time you think that you’ve caught it. When you catch it, if you can, put it in a jar and feed it, and it will grow. For me, telling this travel tale is

To imbibe means to drink, to absorb, or to assimilate. Today, I reflect on absorbing and assimilating hope, joy, and life. Today is Easter in the Western church, which follows the Gregorian calendar. In the Eastern Orthodox church, Great and Holy Pascha (Easter) will be celebrated a week from today, on April 19th. This morning,

Today, I pick up my imaginary round-the-world journey that I started yesterday with a visit to Gorakhpur, which is the closest point in India to Bhutan. As usual, there is no connection between the photographs and the story! My experiences on this adventure have already been much different than I expected. When I embarked upon

the pictures were takenin places other thanthe ones describedin this story. It has been three weeks since social distancing went into effect. It feels like forever. A lifetime compressed into a few short weeks. For those of us who are extroverts, this is just really hard, especially if you don’t have companions in your living

It seems as if I’ve been here almost forever, in this kind of hermit’s life. In reality, it hasn’t even been a month. This is a real test of my character, I guess. I used to imagine what life would be like if I were a hermit or the solo operator of a lighthouse, somewhere

Today’s blogging prompt for the Ultimate Blogging Challenge was the offer a piece of advice. What sort of advice do I offer during such a scary time? I’d suggest using your imagination, without letting it run amuck. It is easy to let your imagination run away with you. Sometimes your imagination is your friend. When

It’s time for another creative writing activity! This time, I’m sharing a type of poem that you could try at home. There is no “don’t try this at home” when it comes to poetry writing. The form is called dodoitsu. It is a Japanese poetic form that was developed at the end of the Edo

I went out for a nice four-mile walk today. It was not sunny nor was it especially warm but it was good to get out of the house. I thought about wearing a mask and I had found some disposable masks in the bathroom. But less than a minute after I put the mask on,