Letters to the Moon....

I was at a corporate retreat two months ago with several hundred of my work colleagues. One of the ice breaker activities that day was asking questions of one another. The questions ranged from “mild”, “spicy”, and “hot” as if they were flavors of salsa or barbecue sauce. I guess the thought being, the more intense the heat, the more personal the question.   One of the questions asked was about traditions. The question was along the lines of, “Name a family tradition from your childhood that you now carry on in your own family during the holidays.” I thought about that question for a long time. In fact, I’m still pondering that question.   Merriam Webster defines tradition as “an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action or behavior.” The word brings back memories of Topol singing the word at the top of his lungs. (Bonus points to anyone who got that reference from "Fiddler on the Roof.")   * Believe it or not, I don’t remember most of my childhood...

  Hello there friend,   How are you? How are things? I hope you’ve been well.   I’m writing with exciting news to share-I’ve published my latest book! The title is “A Part of History.” It’s live online and available to purchase via Amazon. https://a.co/d/6kTcFpS I even made a book trailer for it: This book proved to be more difficult than other titles in the past. One piece in the book, “A Part of History”, had several photographs when I first shared it online. I picked a few of those photos to put in the book. However, when I received my first proof, an advanced copy of the book, the photos weren’t a good representation of what I had written.   Photographs don’t always work in books. When you’re publishing a book in a fixed format, which for my books is 6 inches wide by 9 inches tall, photographs fit on the page, but are most often too small for the reader to see the item in the photograph. I toiled for weeks on the photographs for that piece, inserting different ...

  Honorifics -Or- "Mrs. Habla" You’ve probably never heard of the term “honorifics.” I hadn’t heard of the term until very recently. I was surprised to know that we use honorifics on a daily basis. Definitions of the word vary with every source. In practical terms, an honorific is a title one uses to refer to another person out of respect.   In Great Britain, titles of royalty are the most used honorifics. For example, “His royal highness”, and “His majesty.” The titles of Prince and Princess, Duke and Duchess, Lord and Lady, Sir and Dame, are all honorifics.   In America, we use honorifics daily as well. We use the titles of “Coach” for sports leaders, “Reverend” for members of clergy, “Professor” for teachers in college, “Your Honor” for judges, etc. We also use honorifics when addressing people we don’t know, using “sir” or “ma’am.”   I believe the most common honorifics in America are “mister” (Mr.) and “Miss”. This is where it gets complicated. For men an...

  Hello friend, How are you? How are things? How are things in your corner of the world? Things are fine in for me. I have been working a great deal on my next book, “A Part of History.” I have ordered an advance copy, and am scouring through it now. I hope to have it in the coming weeks. Also of note, I created a book trailer for the book! I’m so pleased with how it turned out. The other project I’m working on is archiving all my work. A few years ago, I began putting my writings in documents on my computer. To my surprise, the writings in my next book were the farthest I had done! I began saving my work. I needed to get busy! “A Part of History” contains all my writings from the year 2016. From here on out, each book will contain a calendar year of writing. I have now created documents for my 2017 and 2018 poetry and prose. It suddenly occurred to me, while working on this new project, what a massive undertaking this is. I’ve been a writer for 12 years! My upcoming book will ...

September Moonlight (A Letter to the Moon) Dear Luna,             Hello my friend? How are you? How are things? How is Sally? In case she didn’t get my message, please let her know that I received her shoes. They are a perfect fit, and will be just what I need for the journey ahead. :)             I wanted to write you after seeing you in the night sky the other night. You looked amazing! Were you a super moon this month? I saw you before you went into your full phase. Still, you were gorgeous. You took my breath away. :)             How are things in your corner of the universe? Things are going well for me here. I just had a week of vacation, and came back to work relaxed and well rested. I had a very productive vacation, and got a lot done while I was off. That being said, I had time to rest and relax and do absolutely no...

Hello friend, how are you? How’ve you been? I've been well, thanks for asking. I’m writing today because I have an incredibly profound story to share with you. While you may choose to not believe it, I assure you it is one hundred percent true. I’ve been waiting to tell this story for months. I can’t not share it with you. Last year I wrote about attending the Van Gogh exhibit and mentioned the artists whose work resonates with me. There is one artist in particular whose artwork I collect. He’s a prolific artist that works in a variety of mediums: prints, canvases, metal art, jewelry, figurines, ornaments, and more. I have been a collector of this artist’s work for more than a decade. I have a friend that appreciates the work of this artist as well. I have given her two ornaments from this artist in the past. This past fall, I had the thought of purchasing an art print for my friend as a Christmas gift. I scoured the artist’s website until I found a print that I thought would be...

Hi there, friend. How are you? How are you doing? Things have been stressful of late. While many act like it's over, we’re still in a global pandemic. Many people have gotten a vaccination, and follow up “booster” doses; still, Covid cases are on the rise again. My state has had 7,000 cases per day. It’s concerning to see numbers rise into the thousands. Here in the U.S. it’s Pride month-a time for those of us in the LGBTQIA+ family to celebrate all the things that make us unique and original. It’s also a time to remind our allies to fight our rights as if their own rights were at risk; there are currently 30 states that are creating, or have created, anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation. I’m glad that it’s Pride month. While I’m not tied to my local queer community, I’m connected to the global community. It feels wonderful to celebrate the wonderful and magical beings that we truly are. In truth, it feels wonderful to celebrate something-anything. It’s not a happy time in the U.S. to b...