Standing on the deck, breathing the fresh air, and admiring my purple petunias, my eyes caught some movement on the driveway. Is that…? I gasped. A snake! A long, slithery, black snake was sunning itself on my driveway like he owned the place...
Read moreNone Too Pleased
It was a making-memories kind of day. My sister and I took our girls to Callaway Gardens to the Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center...
Read moreOh, Wow!
She stood next to me in the dining room, wearing a red top, black striped pants, and white leather shoes smaller than my hand. "Here," she said, resting a colorful set of nesting plastic cups on my knee...
Read moreShowered with Flowers
“Ready?” I asked, carefully holding a steaming travel mug of coffee in one hand and pressing the garage door button with the other. “Yep,” my daughter said, her backpack slung over her shoulders, keys jingling in her hand. It was an ordinary Tuesday morning until we walked out of the garage...
Read moreThrough the Mist
The quiet called to him.
He was up early, just before the sun and definitely before his co-workers. Dressing quickly, he grabbed his room key and headed out for a walk...
Read moreThe Jar of Clay
Looking out the restaurant’s large window, I gazed at Main Street below. The street in this mountain town, Highlands, NC, which would be teeming with tourists in a few months during peak season, was now deserted on this chilly day. Inside was warm but almost empty...
Read moreOpening the Present of a Painting
When my daughter and nieces were small, my sister and I piled all of us in the car for an "arts adventure." I’d asked my friend, Beverly Key, a visual artist who does abstract landscapes, oil paintings, and collages, if we could come and watch her paint. She graciously agreed...
Read moreThat Time I Almost Said No
The text came in one morning over the holidays: “Want to go to the Mill?”
My daughter, a high schooler, was at her favorite coffee shop reading, and I was at home working. We were texting about our plans together that afternoon. So far, we’d decided to grab a bite to eat and go shopping for a new comforter for her room (50% off After Christmas Sale!).
And now she was asking if we could also go to a nearby park called the Mill...
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