It’s about damn time.

Your time is not your own.  May I have a moment of your time?

I’ve got some time on my hands.  I’ve set aside some time.  In fact, I’ve got nothing but time.

Time to make the donuts.

I won’t take… Read full post »

Prior to yesterday, I’ve only had one experience dealing with court.  I was the defendant in a lawsuit that was filed against me (and the newspaper I wrote for as a restaurant critic) over a review I wrote.  To say it was not good, would be the understatement of the year. … Read full post »

I have not eaten a bologna sandwich or touched bologna ever again since your mother served only that for lunch every single Wednesday for three consecutive years.

You are cheap. 

If they did an autopsy on you and had to find one, the place where one would normally locate a… Read full post »

I am trying to view myself through my own eyes, except they are darting and unable to stay focused.  There are too many things to distract me.  So many things have happened, all at the same time, all in different places, seemingly, all at once.  My eyes spin like slot machines/… Read full post »

I am often asked what inspires me to paint a particular painting or write a particular post.  Often, many thoughts and concepts lurk and meander simultaneously underneath the surface as I process what I observe or feel without my realizing that they will later become sources of inspiration. I so… Read full post »

"Did you take my deodorant and hair spray?" is the opening salutation of today’s conversation.

No, “Hello,” or anything of the sort.   

I know this is not going to go well.

She immediately proceeds to "the curva" (pronounced like “Coors” without the &ld… Read full post »

He never saw me as I am, only how he thought I should be seen - on his arm, draped adoringly like a nonnegotiable bond whose value significantly increased when those who wanted the illusion of a healthy return fed his inflatable ego.  He was nothing more than a second rate… Read full post »

I remember him chiding her (more than once), “If somebody stuck a $20 bill on you, nobody would pick you up.”  The idea was for everyone else to laugh at your expense.  I watched you get devalued.

I remember sitting in the back seat of the car with my friend… Read full post »

I was on OS early this morning and had trouble posting comments.  Now, 12 hours later, I am having the same problems.  I can rate, but not comment.  I managed to get one on Emily's post.  Coincidence?

I have tried using two different browsers (Safari and Firefox).  I have shu… Read full post »

Heavy, seasoned and strong, the cast iron skillet hung out alone, prepared to withstand being vigorously shaken at high heat.  It absorbed pathos, sizzled with memory and seared her rarely seen food for thought.  Gluttons for punishment both, they had a flair for the traumatic and simmered/… Read full post »

One week before my second birthday, on a cold winter morning in Cleveland, life changed completely from one minute to the next.

For some reason, I decided to climb up the stove.  I’m not sure what it was that I was attracted to or going for, but in the middle/… Read full post »

I just can't shake this feeling of sorrow, anger and frustration.   I can't get the image out of my mind of what it feels like to be suffocating, drowning or covered in oil.  Apparently, the folks at BP (and everyone else who is profiting or will continue to profit from… Read full post »

Get reading.  Get watching.  Get mad.  And start sharing.  This is one of the most important posts about the BP Oil Spill DISASTER.  The video was banned from Youtube.  Becky Boop's post and video link says it all.  Don't let yourself get sidetracked by fireworks an… Read full post »

A split second of momentary recognition followed by puzzlement landed on both our faces.  By virtue of the speed with which we were moving and the path we both had chosen, it was inevitable that our confusion would collide.  We eyed one another with the panicked knowledge that out-of-contex/… Read full post »

I paint.  I write.  I get angry - at the world, people, the human condition.  I feel life, damn it.  Maybe I don't articulate it as well verbally as I should or do elsewhere. Sometimes, I can write about it.  Often I paint about it.  I think about it all the… Read full post »

We met in the Louvre.  Every romance stands a better chance with a backdrop and beginning like that.  Around the world trip ticket in hand and dressed like Maddie Hayes’ character from “Moonlighting”, I sashayed my way through the famous museum in quest of the Mona Lisa.&n… Read full post »

We are on our way to Washington D.C. riding in the Buick Skylark.  You are determined to get our family there in the fastest possible time.  You drive on the service road when the traffic moves too slowly for you.  There are no “rest” or bathroom stops or/… Read full post »

I can’t help that you didn’t have a father of your own.  Maybe this is the reason you never grasped what it took to become a real one yourself.  Like so many other things, you never talked about that, him or his lack of existence.  Having no man in the house… Read full post »

I am not in her shoes, nor do I have any idea what it feels like to be bound by or to walk in them.  For a brief period last summer, fate tried to put them on my feet.  It was the longest three months of my life. … Read full post »

I know I've been off the radar.  Obligations and a burst of creative energy and opportunities.  Also, a MacBook death.   Mine.  RIP.  No, I didn't back up the data.  Yes, I have learned that "backing up" is not limited to something you do in the driveway.  My bad. &… Read full post »

There was the one time it hit me like Caribbean humidity upon exiting a plane.  The door opened, and the blast of hot air instantly turned my two-minutes-ago ice-cold skin into a soaking wet washcloth.  Weeks later, I could wring my own heart out with its tears.… Read full post »

Well, the numbers keep going up even as I post this.  I feel like I'm in that scene from the movie "Airplane" where the gate keeps changing trying to keep up with you all.

More than 100 of you responded to yesterday's open call.  Yep, you read that right.  More than… Read full post »

Last night, I was on the phone with a friend of mine who happens to be a writer and is all about cutting words to the bone the editing process.  We were waxing poetic about the meaning of our existence and I asked him if he could/… Read full post »

There has been some really great writing going on this week on OS.  Over the past couple of days, I’ve read some amazing responses to the “You Don’t Know Jack” Open Call.  Even though the subject matter is assisted suicide, I realized that there is more than a certai/… Read full post »

Our family didn't belong to and only occasionally attended synagogue. This didn't strike me as odd until my Jewish friends pointed this out to me and made me feel that there was something wrong about that, or worse, with us. When I mustered the courage to finally… Read full post »