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Mundane to Profane: Writing our Own Stories
Posted on May 30, 2022 3 Comments
Every person alive will respond in different ways to National tragedies like the shooting of President Kennedy, the Challenger disaster, 911 or the latest mass shooting. Each of these traumas affects us depending on our temperament, our proximity and our ability to compartmentalize tragedies that are beyond our control.
Fill a Jar: Writing Challenge
Posted on March 28, 2022 2 Comments

This challenge is designed for those who haven’t written before or are convinced they don’t have time to write, or that they must be polished writers in order to write. It has several different variations so feel free to adapt it to suit
Endings: A Soprano’s Aria Chapter 36
Posted on March 27, 2022 2 Comments

The above is the last regular entry in the diary. However the page below was from 1913, and it predates the first entry in the dairy which was September 1st 1913. So in a remarkable way we arrive back at the beginning.
Hands in the Mud: Writing Challenge
Posted on March 27, 2022 2 Comments

I was daydreaming about mud which led to this piece of writing. I will have some writing suggestions at the end. “Learn to humble yourself, you are but earth and clay.” Thomas a Kempis When I was a kid we made mud pies. The best mud was made from dirt with lots of clay in […]
A Year of Silver Linings, Happy Anniversary: Legacy Writing
Posted on March 24, 2022 3 Comments

One year ago on March 24 2021 I published my first general genealogy blog post!
Registered at UC Berkeley: A Soprano’s Aria Chapter 35
Posted on March 21, 2022 Leave a Comment
Feb. 14 – Life was some what of a drag all around. I have all my notes to show that I attended class regularly and made good marks. Finished textiles and took up a short course in Psycology Also a few private lessons in dress drafting from Mrs. Percival. Feb. 23 – Jessie went to […]
Catch & Release, Word Fishing: Writing Challenge
Posted on March 20, 2022 2 Comments
“Every man is a quotation from all his ancestors.” Ralph Waldo Emerson If fishing is a metaphor for writing, the title is the bait. I often start with the title. It’s setting the hook, attracting the reader, but it has another purpose. It sets the scope and determines what it is I am hoping to write […]
The Culmination of a Long Dream: A Soprano’s Aria Chapter 34
Posted on March 19, 2022 Leave a Comment
Editor’s note this chapter is of particular interest to me as it recounts Lulu’s perspective in her meeting of her son Milo’s girlfriend, my grandmother Carrie Henager Nov 12 — Yesterday Jessie and I went down to the auditorium to hear a very fine program in Memoriam to the American Army. When we got home […]
Writing the Tough Stuff: Writing Challenge
Posted on March 16, 2022 5 Comments
After writing several of the last few blog posts I had to ask myself—what’s this with all this writing about loss? And I don’t have an answer, but I suspect the impetus to handle the tough topics has to do with the war in Ukraine. Seeing death and destruction causes me to wonder about all […]
My Sister is Gone, But still I Smile
Posted on March 14, 2022 10 Comments

I don’t know how old I was when I realized I shared her name. I don’t know when I came to know of her existence –though it would have been difficult not to feel her presence. A ghost–never seen–but still ever present. She was the sister I never knew, though we shared the same name.