March 13, 2024

My Favorite Things — The Total Solar Eclipse

Totality lasted less than 3 minutes — such a tiny fraction of time compared to the years I’d spent waiting, hoping, planning, and preparing. It overwhelmed the mind yet further rooted a desire for more at the same time.
March 4, 2024

Pinkies Up for Some “Red Velvet” Pleasure, a Tea Review

By the name of the tea, I would have expected Pinky Up Red Velvet Cake Tea to contain cocoa or cocoa-like flavorings. Instead, as I opened the tin and smelled, I realized the product may well be misnamed. I double-checked the website and nope. It’s the correct label for the tea.
January 14, 2024

Traveling Back in Time with Outlander

The email from British Airways popped up just as my sister and I arrived at Glasgow International Friday night before our flights home: “We're really sorry that your upcoming flights have been canceled.” A bonus day in Edinburgh? I knew just what I’d do.
January 9, 2024

Things I Wish I Had Said: Closing Chapter on Friendship

We had been friends for over twenty-five years. More than a quarter of a century. I don’t know why I feel the need to emphasise the length of time we’d known each other, as if the more time invested the deeper the friendship. There is perhaps a strong correlation but no causation between length of knowing and love.
December 25, 2023

A Matter of Tradition

Holiday traditions are a big part of every family, regardless of religion. It’s a time to gather, hold close the ones you love, and create new memories. Our family had changed. There were some traditions we needed to let go of and others to which we held tight.
December 19, 2023

Ribena Dreams Without the Calories: an Ahmad Blackcurrant Burst Tea Review

Apart from import-friendly grocery stores in the United States, Ribena comes at a hard-fought effort. It also bears the calorie toll of sugar, both added and natural, and unnatural ingredients infused into the “black currant fruit drink” mix. A surprisingly delightful, and calorie-free alternative, comes in the form of Ahmad Teas Blackcurrant Burst.
December 1, 2023

Christmas with Rita: Sip and Be Merry Tea Review

The instant the tea arrived, I headed to the kitchen, turned on the kettle, and waited for the bubbles. Lifting the lid of the tea tin, I knew instantly that delicate Christmas-y delight lay in store for my soul. Sip and Be Merry from the Republic of Tea could only offer all I had hoped for…
November 1, 2023

Cherry Lovers Rejoice! – “Cherry Blossom” Tea from Apothecary Teas is Here

I had never had the tea before, but I’ve been looking for a good cherry black tea for years. I pulled the cork from the scent jar on the table and knew I’d found what I’ve been looking for all this time. And now you can find it, too, my fellow cherry lovers!
October 26, 2023

Worldbuilding 101: Maps, the Story Blueprint

Your map represents the world your characters live in. It might be as small as a doll’s house or as large as a multi-galaxy supercluster, and that’s fine…provided you can keep it all straight.
October 14, 2023

Montego Tea, A Sensual Journey for the Soul – a Tea Review

While I sat sipping this gorgeous cuppa, I felt myself drift all over the world in ecstasy. Memories of South Africa drifted in, sunflower fields of Georgia spilled over, daydreams in Australian gardens flooded my nose, my heart, my mind. The word that came was “sensual.” Not in the romantic sense, but in the spiritual sense. Every one of my senses was engaged.
July 27, 2023

My Favorite Things: Black Cats

I’ve had and loved cats of many colors and patterns, but my heart will always be most captive to the black ones: To their elegance, to their uniqueness within the seeming uniformity, and to the memories they evoke of those now gone. In history and in the now, black cats reign supreme.
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