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 Today, I am starting the month-long Cornerstone Content Blogging Challenge by talking about a few of the books that have inspired me to stretch as both a writer and as a visual artist. These books offer information that helps me build my skills, as well as encouragement to step out of my comfort zone. When

  Today, I express my gratitude to the letter G. Yes, literally the letter G. It’s the first letter of my last name. Oh, and all of the pictures have something green in them because green begins with G. So I was thinking that it’s time to do a creative writing exercise. I was hoping

As I was walking down the Riverwalk to my watercolor painting class at Partners in Art on Webster Street in North Tonawanda, I noticed the busy birds about me, in the grass and on the trail. So I stopped to photograph them, these fine feathered friends, many of whom aren’t especially popular with us humans

  The sun is now setting just before 5 p.m. here in Western New York. Every day, you have to look just a little bit earlier for magic in the sky. Sometimes, you see the sky looking radiant and colorful and, other times, it flickers away before you even notice it. Because it seems as

  Every Saturday afternoon, I go with my friend Amy and my sister Diane to the Niagara Dance Centre in Niagara Falls. We bring our fun shoes and our energy and, at the door, we are greeted by our teacher, Miss Cathy, who points this little gunlike thermometer at our heads and pronounces us still

Ever since I was a little kid, I have been enamored with cats. They are graceful, funny, curious, and athletic. They can run, jump, and climb in a way that makes human envious. They sometimes love humans, but other times, they seemed enamored of just parts of humans, like feet. I’ve known cats who truly

  Tomorrow is election day, and that feels kind of stressful. I chose to do this gratitude challenge as both a way to distract myself and as an opportunity for me to look at my world and see its beauty and the kindness that exists, as opposed to the tension, divisions, and anger. My goal

In a few weeks, it will be Thanksgiving. This has been a challenging year for sure with a toxic election that featured name calling and accusations, instead of calm debates about the issues; a global pandemic that, in the United States, went out of control quickly because the government dropped the ball; destructive wildfires in

 From ghoulies and ghosties and long leggedy beasties And things that go bump in the night, good lord, deliver us. It is All Hallow’s Eve. The legend is that this is the night that the ghouls and ghosts roam the earth, causing things to go bump in the night. Halloween folklore had its start in

 The buildings at Allegany State Park are gorgeous. They include numerous cabins that can be rented year round, an administration building (Tudor style), and a variety of stone structures. Some are partial structures, such as the structures that once held animals, while others are nearly complete. The stone structures that I saw are no longer