My Earliest Memory #MFRWAuthor

January 12, 2018January 9, 20185 Comments

Welcome to the second week of the 52 Week Challenge – My Earliest Memory.

My earliest memories are like a series of old movie clips that occasionally play in my mind but without sound or a connection to other moments, they are a little disjointed and hard to say how much is a true memory and how much is my imagination filling in the gaps.

At the time, my parents lived in a trailer park in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. Being 3 or 4 years old, everything felt big to me even though logically now I know space was likely cramped. I remember my bedroom and my bunkbed. I slept on the top bunk and from there, I felt like the ground was miles away.

My dad worked second turn as a truck mechanic so my days I spent with my mom and our little terrier named Flea. But occasionally, my dad would take to the woods behind our trailer where we would sit on a huge hill drinking chocolate pop and watching the trains pass by in the valley below. I was fascinated with trains and of course, I loved special time with my dad. I remember one afternoon, however, I must have sat in an anthill and there were dozens crawling all over the place. I didn’t want to sit down.

Then, another flash of memory. Nighttime. I was standing at the screen door in awe because on the street outside our trailer a car had caught fire. I remember my parents being panicked, rushing. I remember being taken down the road to my aunt and uncle’s trailer for the time being. But to this day, I always wonder how that car caught fire and whether or not the driver was okay. In my memory, I see him in the car but I don’t know if this was the case.

I remember kids who lived in our trailer park. Next door, I think? They seemed so much older than me even though probably the oldest was around 10. I remember one time they kept telling me to calm down and stop crying because they knew if my parents saw me they would get in trouble but I don’t remember why I was crying. I just kept wondering if the older one was a girl or a boy.

I remember my parents bringing home my baby brother, wrapped up in so many layers. And then, not long after, they bought a house and I remember running around the empty living room the day it became ours. I remember being in the car as we pulled up to the trailer for the last time and thinking that it wouldn’t be my home anymore. I felt a little sad but I was eating a McDonalds Happy Meal with a milkshake so – not too sad. 🙂

Thanks for reading my post on the 52 Week Challenge Blog Hop. Click the link to read memories from other authors participating in this challenge.

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End of Winter Survival Plan

March 6, 20156 Comments

This is my plan. What’s yours?

I love living in an area where we get to enjoy the change of seasons. Each season offers something unique that I look forward to experiencing, some more than others. And when we’re stuck in a rut, sometimes that change is exactly what we need to breathe new life into our daily routine.

But by this time of year, I reach a point when winter has lost its charm and I am itching for that change. Bring on spring, those warmer temperatures (hey, I’ll settle for above freezing), hints of green, and daffodil sprouts. It’s so close we can almost reach out and feel … yet, still oh, so far away. Winter doesn’t want to give up her grip.

This is my backyard. The sun shining on the snow is pretty, I admit. But the negative temperatures that delay school for the umpteenth time this year… that has got to go.

I don’t want to rush the days by too quickly but enough is enough. Raise your glass in a toast to the end of winter! Cheers. 🙂

A Foggy Morning October Run

October 1, 2014Leave a comment

Dressed in my orange ‘Happy Halloween’ t-shirt and a pair of black running shorts, I laced up my sneakers and headed to the park for my morning run. October settled over the area in the form of dense fog which certainly added to the pre-Halloween atmosphere.

Although I love summer and the carefree days hanging out with my boys, I have to admit October has always topped my list of favorite months. There is just something so invigorating about the cooler days and the colorful leaves. I love apples and pumpkins and looking at Halloween decoration. I love wrapping myself in a blanket on the couch and getting caught up in a great ghost story. But most of all, this is a great time of year to be an outdoor runner and I’m making the most of it by getting out to enjoy it while it lasts!

Cooler air overnight brought powerful thunderstorms. I’m not usually one to wake up to the crash of thunder but this time, it was hard to miss. Those sunny warm days we were enjoying are suddenly replaced by a fall morning chill. This is the first morning I have felt compelled to grab a light sweatshirt before heading to the park.

The fog is lingering and the ground is wet from last night’s rain, making the leaves that have already fallen a little slick along the trail. It is also quiet. I suppose many people looked out their window this morning and decided today is not a good day to go outside.

Me, I’m still running. As a matter of fact, I am pushing myself a little harder in preparation for my second 5K race coming up on the 11th of October. I was so exhilarated after the first 5K (The Graffiti Run in early August) that I rushed to find another one I could participate in before the cold weather sets in. Now, I’m starting to think maybe I was a little crazy. Am I ready to do that again? I don’t feel ready. Then again, I said the same thing the first time. All I can do is keep running and on race day, hope to be a little less anxious, and definitely ready to run.

I’ve started getting off the main trail to explore paths through the woods, not just to run farther, but because I like to explore. My current favorite path is barely wide enough to walk but it’s a peaceful meander amongst trees with lots of twists and ups and downs. And okay, the occasional spider web that I’m forced to walk through – but I’m less impressed with those.

During my time in the woods, my mind is free to start thinking about my day ahead, especially what I will write. I like to imagine my characters walking with me. What would they do?

Where will they lead me?

It’s a new month and a new day to explore. I’m ready to sit back with a cup of tea, stretch out tired muscles, and put words to paper to weave new worlds…

Spring and a Fresh Approach

March 31, 2014Leave a comment

At long last, spring is here! I know, technically speaking it happened about ten days ago but with the crazy weather we’ve been having, who noticed? Aside from marking off another day on the calendar, it might as well still have been winter. Each day I get out of bed and look outside to a world of white, well, it makes me want to break out in tears. Don’t worry though, a few deep breaths later and I’m fine and ready to face the day.

But finally, I think Mother Nature is starting to catch up with us and play nice. Today, at least, the sun is shining and although the furnace is running as I type this little blog post, it’s actually not too bad outside. I wouldn’t suggest going for a walk without the winter coat just yet but I do believe that those days are coming soon. Saturday I even took a moment to fill the bird feeder with fresh seed for the multitude of birds that seem to have suddenly made an appearance. And of course, let’s not forget the daffodils. They have sprouted and I do believe that we will see flowers soon.

Hurray! In the meantime, I leave you with this photo which I took last month at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. Without a doubt, I am dangerous being set free amongst all those gorgeous flowers with a camera. After all … you know me and flowers… This is one of so many photos that I took that day. Perhaps I will share a new one with every spring post I write.

Speaking of writing, this blog has been abandoned long enough and it’s about time that I renew my efforts to post. I’ve been writing a lot lately. I just don’t seem to take the time to talk about it. (Well, maybe that’s not such a bad thing.) But I would like to begin making an effort to post regularly no matter what we happen to discuss along the way.

For starters, I want to start a “Friday Feature” blog post where I will highlight some of my fellow authors. If you have a new release, I’m happy to help spread the word. Just want to connect with new readers? Give me a shout. Right now, my calendar is completely open but contact me if you are interested in being featured or interviewed and we’ll work something out. Thanks for helping. 🙂

Fall Family Picnic

October 14, 20131 Comment

Every fall we make it a tradition to have a family picnic at Moraine State Park. This includes not just my husband, my kids, and me, but also my parents and my brother as well. We plan ahead of time who will bring what, nothing fancy, usually just hot dogs on the grill along with some pasta salad, and plenty of goodies to enjoy. That was the menu plan this year, at any rate. After we eat and catch up, we all head to the extensive bike trail for a long walk together. Inevitably, we end up at the play area for the kids to swing, climb, and go down the slides. And okay, sometimes the adults take part in this fun as well.

I’m grateful that we didn’t miss our annual picnic at Moraine this year and that we had such a beautiful day to enjoy it together. Of course, where I go, the camera goes too so I have plenty of photos to share of some of the sights that took my interest along the way. Above is a lovely view of the bike trail as we started on our walk. And to the right is a view of Lake Arthur. There were a lot of sailboats on the water. You can just about make out one in the distance in this particular photo. I love the way the water sparkles in the sun.

My husband shakes his head and says, “You and flowers…”

Yes, flowers and me… I have a strange obsession with taking photos of them and if you could peek into the files on my computer, you would see that I have hundreds of them already and I still can’t help myself to take more every chance that I get. I love to capture them in photos, which is better than cutting them and killing them just for a few days of being pretty on my table. And yes, I feel this way even about the weeds and I always have.

My kids adore their grandparents. We don’t see them as often as they’d like because we live many miles apart but when we do see them, it makes those moments even sweeter. I couldn’t resist stealing a photo of the kids as they walk along the trail with Grandpa. What do you suppose they are talking about? Are they discussing the caterpillars that we see now and then? Are they pointing out the color in the leaves? Or maybe, knowing these are my kids and my kids happen to be superhero obsessed, perhaps they are discussing the details of how Iron Man or Captain America would save the day? This is, after all, serious business.

And then there were more flowers and once again, I could not resist. Even in the fall when everything begins to die, they are still beautiful, maybe even more so than in summer’s full bloom.

The days are getting shorter. The trees are even more vibrant than they were a week ago and many leaves have already fallen. I like to believe that I’m capturing every moment before it disappears and gives way to winter cold and snow.

And last but not least, I leave you with my very favorite photo that I’ve taken so far…

The sun is setting over another fun-filled family day. My kids call these “wish flowers” because I told them that if they close their eyes and blow away the seeds, they could make a wish and it would come true. My oldest wished for more wish flowers because he loves watching the seeds scatter. Now, I think that is one wish that just might come true.