Write with TLC

Not many people send cards these days, or at least not many people I know do. I used to make my own cards. I wrote the poems and used photos taken by either my husband or me. It was fun to create cards for family, friends, and colleagues. I sent many cards that expressed a special connection to a friend, family member, or colleague. Some were more universal. Over time I slacked off on sending cards, especially after the printer I used to print cards broke down. Eventually I started sending store bought cards again for a variety of reasons but mainly because I like sending cards to people I care about. It wasn't quite the same as creating my own, but the sentiment was the same. Over the years, several people expressed an interest in buying my cards to send to people in their lives. After giving it some thought, I did some research. I decided to make some of the cards I created available for purchase on Zazzle . I have started uploading my portfolio of cards. I hope my cards will ins...

Far too many people seem to think there should be no consequences for their actions no matter what while also thinking other people should face consequences for theirs. I don't understand this thinking. I was raised to always be prepared for the consequences, good or bad, for my actions, good or bad. I don't always like those consequences, and there have been times I desperately wanted to avoid them.  Every time I start thinking like that I hear my parents' voices in my head saying "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime." and my science teachers teaching me Newton's Third Law  "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." These message instilled in me that there are consequences for which I need to be prepared. My words, my actions, even my thoughts have consequences, even when I'm the only one aware of those consequences. That doesn't mean there isn't context to apply to situations that can possibly mitigate...

I recently read A Collection of Poems by Robert Frost . It's a beautiful book and one I'd been salivating over for a while, ever since I saw it in Costco several months ago. It is filled with poems that speak to my heart, my imagination, my core. I was thumbing through one day while reading - yeah, I was looking ahead - and came across Nothing Gold Can Stay , and the first thought that popped in my head was "Stay gold, Ponyboy." I stopped in my tracks as a shiver went up my spine and a smile slid across my face. I remembered in that moment the first time I read The Outsiders   by S. E. Hinton . The first time I read Nothing Gold Can Stay in the book, The Outsiders , the first time I heard the poem aloud in the movie , the first time I read the letter at the end of the book, the first time I heard the letter at the end of the movie... Robert Frost and The Outsiders are forever linked in my memory because of this poem. S. E. Hinton used Nothing Gold Can Stay to...

Sometimes people are surprised to learn that I fit the description of a hillbilly, a person from a backwoods area (Mirriam-Webster Dictionary) because I'm not what people  often   expect a hillbilly to be. But I am. I grew up on a farm in a "holler" in a small town in Eastern Kentucky.  Both my parents grew up in the same general area where I grew up. They also both grew up on farms. My mom's parents lived on "the ridge" above our house on the other side of the woods. My dad's mom lived "over town" but back  yet  another holler, strictly speaking.  You don't get much more hillbilly than that. Hillbillies are individuals just like people within every group that exists. Hillbilly families are not all alike.  Hillbillies who move away take parts of the culture with them, but we also tend to adapt to new environments and create a whole new culture - a mishmash of our hillbilly upbringing, our other life experiences, and where we're living a...