Spring’s always been my favorite season. It brings warmer weather with occasional cool days and winter storm surprises in most of the US areas I have lived. We can’t fully exchange our winter clothes for spring attire, because we are being teased about the real changes until the summer comes along! I actually enjoy this erratic season. Spring wakes us up, keeps us on our toes, and whisks away boredom. Spring brings renewal. April showers revive dormant trees and flowers, while softening the soil for new planting. Fragrant buds are blooming. Birds are singing up a storm. Woodpeckers are tap-tap-tapping, Our local Blue Jays are readying their nests. It doesn’t matter that our Woodpeckers want to peck holes in our beautiful freshly stained cedar siding, or that our Blue Jays want to nest directly in our mailbox. I can even overlook pollen provoking spring allergies. There’s just something amazingly refreshing about...

Earlier this year, I invited my daughter to a vision boarding workshop. We each took our time to envision what we wanted our respective worlds to look like for 2023. My daughter is much more artistically discerning than I, and I tried not to compare my efforts with hers. I looked around the room of other women, also trying not to feel intimidated with the process of "creating" visual art.  I did feel a little out of my comfort zone.  I think of myself as artistic (actually have a minor in art from college), but music and writing are my creative fortes (over drawing, painting, collaging, and other visual arts).   When creating art, I prefer "function" over look, with a purpose (aside from just showcasing it to view).  I love to repurpose objects and create things (like a unique chess set out of automotive parts) with everyday function.For our vision board...

Spring cleaning!   Out with the old, in with the new!   Feels good to declutter our surroundings, right? Wondering what to do with all the stuff you find during your "Spring Cleaning"?  This article, initially written as a guest blog for Activate Good, will help you take your efforts to new (and creative) levels!    Activate Good, a Raleigh NC nonprofit, connects volunteers with opportunities to serve, educates folks on community issues, assists companies to fulfill their corporate social responsibility, empowers youth to lead and serve, and so much more.  If you aren't in the Raleigh NC area, there are likely organizations in your community that would be ecstatic to receive your recycled and upcycled donations. National Volunteer Week is in April annually.  This year, it's April 21-27, 2024!  Visit ActivateGood.org for local volunteer opportunities (Greater Raleigh NC) or Google National Volunteer Week 2024 to find suggestions near you. Click here to read the...

I Did It!   My friend, (amazing author, publisher, film producer, creative guru, and more) Ann Jagger (see references & links below), started an annual series of short story collections a few years ago.  Every month each year from February through October, she would post a "prompt" to get us started.   Folks (18 years or older) can give it a try and submit their stories.   Ann selects the best stories to include in that year's volume at the end of each year.   There are currently 5 volumes in print.  If you want to rise to the challenge, the next story prompts begin February 2024! I participated in Ann's "I Did It" challenge each of the last two years.   In 2022's "I Did It" (Volume 4), Ann published my story "Hey Gertrude" (The Real Truth).  The story prompt was "Rewrite the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer from the point of view of...

A Singing Telegram?  Isn't that when someone dresses up in a silly costume, runs up to a designated person, sings "Happy Birthday" (or something else), and does something embarrassing for the fun of it? Do they still do that? Singing telegrams have been around since 1933. Per Wikipedia, they were first delivered by Western Union, as an attempt to make telegrams more popular and fun than the standard topics of urgent news: (like "Your uncle died. Stop. Funeral in 2 weeks. Stop...." - you get the idea). Telegrams were delivered in person. When telephones became a standard household service in the 1960s, in person telegrams fell off because people could call to talk to each other directly. Western Union suspended its singing telegram services about 1974, but independent companies continued to provide them.  The practice is still very much alive today.   So, what is a singing telegram?  People often imagine sending someone dressed up in costume...

AI (artificial intelligence) is all the rage. In my networking meetings and social media posts, folks are asking “How do you use AI to streamline your business?”. Surveys are being conducted through web platforms. Market research studies ask about our uses of AI. Companies who sell subscriptions to such services, and product developers want to know. How can AI make life easier? AI has been incorporated with technology for many everyday uses.  For instance, telephone solicitation, voice menus to access any customer service entity by phone, social media, financial and accounting services. We’re so used to it. We may not notice it at all (except how annoying it is when AI doesn’t understand our question or is programmed to keep looping a specific set of answers and nothing else). I don’t know about you, but I have mixed feelings about AI. When people ask me how I use it, or what...

PROCRASTINATION! If you are like me, your long “to do” list keeps getting moved from one day to the next without a single dent in it! Sure, I rise on time to head out for some exercise. I certainly don’t forget to eat, (and eat, and eat), sit down in front of the TV, watch the news (and the talk show, and whatever comes on next), check my e-mail, social media, “like” a few posts, pop out a few birthday greetings, look at articles (many of which aren’t 100% truth based), maybe turn on my desk top computer, then walk away to check on something I forgot in the kitchen. I started this blog more than a few weeks ago. Though I keep coming back to it, with all that procrastination, it’s a wonder I complete any task! On the other hand, nobody has complained that I didn’t respond to them,...

We are now in the “Season of Giving”. For some that means getting Christmas or Hannukah and other celebratory gifts purchased, wrapped, and sent. We plan gatherings for exchanging gifts and find many excuses to party!For others it’s giving back in lots of ways, like showing appreciation, donating time, volunteering, or monitarily supporting our favorite nonprofit(s), which are all meaningful and often lasting gifts for those who benefit. “Giving Tuesday” is annually the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. It’s a global movement to be generous in giving back to our communities. Founded in 2012 by United Nations Foundation, there is an organization and website for Giving Tuesday: https://www.givingtuesday.org. As Giving Tuesday approaches, we are reminded and encouraged to participate by multiple entities.  Anybody can give in a small or big way, though it’s not only, or all, about giving money.  (Note, “Giving Tuesday” is a NEW movement as it relates to my own personal years!)...