Saturday, December 24, 2016

Christmas in Haiti



Happy Holidays. Joyeux Noel.

This is our Christmas tree this year. There is a long boring tedious explanation as to why this is our Christmas tree. I do like this tree and its homemade decorations. The tree is made on the side of the road and is sticks cemented into a coffee can. The sticks or branches might be a better word are painted white with a brush. It cost us 500 gourdes or about $7 dollars. A lot of life happens on the streets of Port Au Prince, Haiti. One can buy fruits and vegetables, paintings, metal art, bread, shoe repair, and at Christmas time these "trees".

Is there the Christmas spirit in Haiti? Is there hope in Haiti? I am unsure. There is art in Haiti.

Since the November 8th election, I 'm not feeling hope nor has the Christmas spirit grabbed me. I do not have the feeling of hope that comes with a new year.  This blog hasn't been touched much in 2016.  The amount of change that happened in my life in 2016 has hindered my creative energy. The terribleminds blog has been a place that has motivated me to write and think and move forward.

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2016/12/13/how-to-create-art-and-make-cool-stuff-in-a-time-of-trouble/

Peace and Make Art

Saturday, September 24, 2016

Cover Reveal - Den of Antiquity


When one thinks of a den, one tends to think of comfort. A cozy room in the house—a quiet, comfortable place, a room for conversation, reading, or writing. One doesn’t tend to think of high adventure, dragons, vampires, airships, or paranormal creatures. And yet, that’s just what you’ll find in these pages. Stories of adventure and mystery! Paranormal, dark, and atmospheric tales! The fantastical and the imaginative, the dystopian and post-apocalyptic, and everything in between!

So settle into the coziest room in your house, plop down into your favorite armchair, and dive into the Den of Antiquity.

Stories:
Brass and Coal, by Jack Tyler
An Evening at the Marlon Club as Told by Dr. Horatio Boyle, by Kate Philbrick
Dragon's Breath, by E.C. Jarvis
The Reluctant Vampire, by Neale Green
The Complications of Avery Vane, by Bryce Raffle
Hark! Hark! by N.O.A. Rawle
The Jackalope Bandit, by David Lee Summers
After The Catastrophe: The Lady Of Castle Rock, by Steve Moore
When The Tomb Breaks, by William J. Jackson
All That Glitters, by Karen J Carlisle
Yggdrasil's Triumphant Return, by Alice E. Keyes
After The Crash, by B.A. Sinclair

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

A New Year, A New Life


In the last month that I haven't posted, my life took a dramatic turn. The flag is Haiti's flag and in approximately 5 months, Port Au Prince will be my new home. My husband has been working to join the foreign service for several years and on January 6th, the call came that he would start his new career the following Monday. I did not leave with him on that Monday but spent four weeks "packing up" our life in Cody, Wyoming. Now, we are all together in the metropolitan area of Washington, D.C.

Friday the twelfth of February, we found out our first post as a foreign service family. The ceremony is Flag Day. A country is called, its flag appears on the large screens, and then the name of the person going to that country. My husband was one of the last one's called and we both were thinking that we would be learning Spanish since most of the posts for his class were in Mexico. We are going to be learning Haitian Creole instead.

I suspect writing will be curtailed here and there, and Miss Winsome's next adventure is on hold. I'm still hopeful to get her next two adventures out this year. Who knows, Miss Winsome might need to have an adventure or two in Haiti. Once life is a little less hectic, there will be more flash fiction and snippets from my novels in progress.