Painfully Hopeful

Fiction Tuesday – Leaving Shelter

Jeremy didn’t sleep well that night. His dreams were punctuated by the image of a window, illuminated in the darkness. He stood behind the glass, longing to run away but knowing he had to break it open and fall through. Over his shoulder he felt a malevolence bearing down upon him, but he dared not…

Rustic and Homey

Back in Spring my family spent a quiet few days out with my wife’s parents. They live near Hershey, and the shift in culture from Philly/South Jersey to Philly/Central PA 1 is a wonderful change of pace. Folks out in the Hershey area enjoy a more “rustic” feel to their homes and landscaping than is…

Mental Health Day

Friday my brain wasn’t working right. I was having difficulty concentrating, typing was excruciatingly error prone, loud noises made me jump, and when people spoke to me my entire body tensed up. This happens from time to time, typically as allergy season ebbs and flows through the year. It’s never fun, but the cure is…

Imagine Contrast

The other evening we were outside talking to our neighbors when one turned around and suddenly walked away. I called out to him, “Hey, what’s up?” In response he pointed to the sky and said, “I’m getting my camera.” He had a point, the clouds were impressive. There were a number of storms roaming through…

Inside Out, a work of art

My wife and I had a rare day to ourselves on Monday, so we decided to have a “date day.” We went clothes shopping 1, had a nice lunch, and then took in an afternoon showing of Pixar’s Inside Out. When it was over I turned to my wife and said, “When it’s out, we…

Mapping thoughts with Scapple

When I was in college, I was finally able to break free from the “make sure you use proper outlining form for your notes if you want full credit” mind-set and find my own way to process class information. The result was a note-taking method which was unique to me, but looked the way my…