Our garage sale was a resounding success today. Each of the families who brought items had a handful of cash by the end of the day plus the benefit of a morning and afternoon of genuine camaraderie. We sold most of the items in the sale for fifty cents to a dollar so we sold…
Category: Timed Writing
Flash Essay: Feeling Neigborhood Pride
I have just walked inside after working all day in the 100 degree heat here in North Texas. Granted, I have not been out in the direct sun, but I have been working away in a house with no air conditioning. That house is across the street from our Texas home and is a restoration…
Flash Essay: Sammie, Our New Foster Dog
Our daughter Sarah called us a few days ago and told us that her landlord had informed her in no uncertain terms that no dogs were allowed in her new apartment. This was right after she rescued a little Scottie, who had clearly been severely neglected. Ray got off the phone that night and said,…
Flash Essay: Trash or Treasure
I am tired tonight. For good reason. I have, as my husband just said, “Been moving junk around from a life I haven’t participated in for twenty years,” aka “Moving my husband’s stuff around, yet again.” The first time that I realized my husband had an inordinate relationship with “stuff” was several months after we…
Flash Essay: Sharp Edges
We woke up early this morning – 6:30 or 7 – only to discover that our dog had chewed up my husband’s glasses. We found the lenses in many pieces, the earpieces twisted and chewed and we never located the nosepiece. Ray loves this dog more than most humans he knows, so after the shock…
Flash Essay: A New Eating Plan – Back to Basics
My husband Ray has started a new eating program: no eating between meals. He has been at it for two months and I can definitely see that he is thinner as a result. So, of course, I have jumped onboard to see if this will help me trim down my larger-than-I-would-like waistline. I started last…
Flash Essay: Hiding Places and Dark Spaces
I have always liked small dark places where I could hide: closets mainly, but when I was little I didn’t mind under the bed or in a cardboard box with the lid slightly shut. I even had a secret hiding place behind a long drawer in my bathroom when I was nine or ten where…
Flash Memoir: Words of Wisdom from My Parents
My parents were very different people. My dad was down to earth; my mother was an intellectual. They imparted collective wisdom that influences me every day of my life. Here are the primary messages I learned from them either directly through their words or indirectly through their actions. My father: 1) Care about people and…
Flash Memoir Prompt: Nils and the Farm next to the Fjord
In the spring of 1975 when I was 22, my boyfriend Nick and I decided we would go to Europe after I graduated from college in June. (He was already finished with school and up for an adventure). The goal was to go for a year and the original plan (or at least the one…
Flash Memoir: November 22, 1963
I remember exactly where I was when John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. I was in my 4th grade class at Bailey Inglish Elementary School in Bonham, Texas, which is 70 miles from Dallas. I can’t remember exactly how we received the news, though I think it was over the loud-speaker. That seems insensitive…
20 Minutes a Day 