November 24 2021
In this season of Thanksgiving and all year long, I’m thankful for: Time and space to write Hands to applaud other’s work Adjectives and adverbs New ideas Kindness from critiquers Space to make mistakes Guidance from mentors Inspiration Voice of my own Ink in all its many colors Nagging ideas that call to be written […]
September 04 2021
Happy New Year! For both students and teachers the new year does not begin on January 1, but rather on September 1. And although it’s been a number of years since I’ve been a student and even a number of years since I’ve been a teacher, September will always be the beginning of a new […]
August 02 2021
In my last post, I wrote about how my Rose of Sharon bush and the hummingbirds that hover in it gave me comfort during the Covid summer of 2020. I was anticipating their arrival this summer as well and very disappointed that I wasn’t seeing any. One day last week I caught a flutter out […]
July 13 2021
Now that Covid is in retreat in New York State, it’s time to get out and start stepping around Rochester again and also time to restart this blog. Some writers were very prolific during the Covid isolation, but I was not one of them. However, I do want to share with you a poem that […]
May 09 2019
I had lunch with Nathaniel Rochester today. Or, to be more accurate, I had lunch sitting in front of this mural of Nathaniel Rochester in the Founders Cafe in the Academy Building at 13 Fitzhugh St. S. I was doing research for a new book at St. Luke’s Church next door (more about that in […]
November 27 2018
In the fall of 2017, my grandson Evan, who was turning 6, lost his first tooth. The tooth was slow in falling out, which was a good thing, because it gave me time to make him this tooth fairy pillow. When it was time, Evan put his tooth into the little pocket behind the tooth […]
October 02 2018
Today is Name Your Car Day according to a list of odd October holidays that I came across. Personally, I have never named my cars, but I know people who do. And one of the characters in my kids’ novels names his cars too. Steven wasn’t one of the original characters I had in mind […]
June 13 2018
I don’t remember when I first heard about Martha Matilda Harper. Occasionally I’d see an article about her in a local paper or see an exhibit about her at the Rochester Museum and Science Center. I guess it was her hair that first piqued my interest, and I always wanted to know more about her. […]
June 13 2018
The 2018 Lilac Festival is history, but I’m still reflecting on the time I spent there with my daughter and granddaughter on Mother’s Day. This year’s festival was one of the best – great weather, flowers blooming on time, new features for children. But what I keep coming back to is the kindness of strangers. […]
February 17 2018
What would you do if you found a memoir that had been hidden for 100 years? What if it told the story of an entrepreneur, a man who lived at the turn of the 20th century, but whose vision went far beyond his time and place. Such a man was Frank S. Peer (1851-1922), and […]