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Literary Travels In New England — Setting As Muse

Editor's Note: This is the first of four columns in a series.Setting as muse. It's a concept that intrigues me personally. It's a concept that intrigues me about the great writers and artists of the world as well. As an English professor, teacher and lover of literature, I've been attracted throughout my life to places I read about in stories and books. I can recall reading Mrs. Mike at age 16 and imagining a life in the Canadian wilds with my own brave husband or turning the pages of The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy in English class to fall right into rural life on the moors of ...

First Impressions

"You only get one chance to make a good first impression."A short time ago, I had an opportunity to see that adage come to life right before my eyes.Recently, I met a young lady in her late 20s and I got to know her in a short time span of about four days. She is a wonderful young woman with a beautiful smile and personality to match. She is friendly, very well mannered, she has a professional career, and is looking to better herself in it, and she's owned her own home since she was 25 years old. She is pleasant, outgoing and appears to be focused when she needs to be, and a bit laid ...

The Apple Eaters

Bizet had his Pearl Fishers (apologies to those readers who aren't fans of opera) but I definitely have two canine apple eaters.I have never seen trees as full of apples as in 2015. More apples than leaves in the pictures I snapped to share, an unbelievable sight. In fact, that very tree was so laden it split off a huge branch. Perfect apples - small but disease-free fruit lies there just waiting for me to find the time. Pickin's easy but oh! then the work begins. (However enjoyable and how marvelous the end product.) And where's the time?I knew Minor would hit the apples wherever he ...

Inspiration

Everyone needs inspiration. People often ask how I decide what to write about. Often it is by inspiration. I read. I observe. I listen. All of these things lead to what I write about.This time I want to focus on an experience that was an inspiration for me. Picture a 90-year-old woman. She was full of life and full of energy which is not always the case for someone who just turned 90. She did not fit the typical stereotype in any way.Last Sunday evening while at Chautauqua Institution I was inspired by Alice Parker. I knew nothing about her, but apparently many of the people in the ...

Writer Gets Her Kicks On Route 66: Part One

Editor's Note: This is the first column in a series featuring the author's travels along Route 66It is no secret to our friends and family that my husband and I are fond of traveling. He loves to cruise from any port he can get to: New Orleans, Port Canaveral, Fort Lauderdale or Baltimore and Boston. For me, most cruises are the same: too much food and each port resembles the last one. I am convinced that after the ship leaves an exotic port, a group of cruise line workers rearrange the cabanas, lounge chairs and souvenir shops and then replaces the "Welcome to Grand Turk" sign with ...

Editor’s Note

I have never known a year that didn't revolve around a school year.I work like most people not in the education field all year long. Sure, there's some vacation time sprinkled in here and there, but not months. This isn't a debate about the need or warrant for that amount of time off, my wife is a teacher, they need that time to decompress.This is more about a realization that my mental calendar has known nothing outside of a year without school, in one form or another.Like most people, you don't really remember years one to five, you enter grade school, graduate high school around 17 ...