Dejections

The other day I finally did our taxes. As I went to download my 1099-MISC for royalties from 2025, I got notified I didn’t even receive a 1099-MISC for last year because I didn’t even hit the threshold for it. It was kind of a mental blow. But in a way, it is my fault. […]

Yo-yos

It’s been a weird couple of weeks here in my little swath of the Midwest. We’ve gone from highs in the 60s, 70s, and quite possibly even 80s here this weekend to having a blizzard last weekend and then sub-zero wind chills. It’s been a roller-coaster of a few weeks and hopefully, we will get […]

Oh to grace

The other day I was supposed to go on a hike with a few friends on a little used trail through the woods in one of the local parks. My intention was to replace a geocache that had been hidden and then lost. But alas, life had other plans. Mother Nature dumped nearly half a […]

Take Heart. Be Courageous

COURAGE – from the Latin word cor (heart), via French to Middle English – originally meant “what is in one’s mind and heart” but also came to mean bravery, pride, confidence, free will amongst other like ideas. Words for “heart” in the Middle Ages were often metaphors for inner strength. Sorry, the word nut in […]

Life and Loss and Love and these

Every so often, life throws a curveball that just leaves me stunned. Tuesday evening was one of those moments…. I had just clocked out from the full time job at my place of work in this little swath of the Midwest when my smartwatch notified me that I had an incoming phone call. The number […]

Glad Tidings once more

There is a giant mess in my front room currently. Several boxes are on the floor, their contents in disarray. My writing desk sits askew on one of the boxes, waiting for me to pull it once more onto my lap. Discarded papers from stamps and sticker sheets probably line the floor in between the […]

Christmas time is here again

It’s the 4th of December. My little swath of the Midwest is dealing with some wintry wonderland weather. We had a snowstorm that dumped more than a half foot of snow on us this past weekend and today the wind chill is below zero degrees Fahrenheit. It looks like Christmas outside. Inside, the tree is […]

Apologies

Dear magical readers, If you logged in yesterday to read the next chapter of The Year of the Winding Road and discovered it wasn’t there, I do apologize. Because I am being pulled in several different directions with work, finding time to pursuit my other hobby of hiking and geocaching, and even other stories in […]