A Short Walk on a Long Road

She was headed north, alone, on the gravelly edge of a two-lane highway. Her feet were beginning to hurt but they kept their usual steady pace. For over an hour, no car passed from either direction and no houses appeared. In fact, the nearest town, such as it was, lay ten miles back, just beyond …

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woman embracing thornbush

The Story of a Mother

A fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen "Young woman embracing a thorn bush"Kay Rasmus Nielsen (March 12, 1886 – June 21, 1957)Denmark A mother sat by her little child; she was very sad, for she feared it would die. It was quite pale, and its little eyes were closed, and sometimes it drew a heavy deep …

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bald eagle

From a Secret Place

I am very pleased and thankful that a revised version of my blog post "Four" (originally published October 3, 2016) has been included in the June 2021 “Gardens” issue of ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal. It is our first summer without him, an astonishingly beautiful day, and a Sunday, which makes it worse. I step …

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Anton Chekhov | Misery

I was deep into a collection of short stories written by Anton Chekhov when I turned the page and was confronted with a story entitled Grief. I briefly considered skipping it, but I am so glad I didn't. Mr. Chekhov understands a bereaved parent's compelling need to talk about their loss. Every public domain site I …

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