On my personal blog, A Mental Squint, adventures in Italy with Das Boot.
Das Boot waiting to leave the train station in Pisa.
First Vancouver, then Italy….
British chap + Spanish explorer, sprinkle with rain and voila: Vancouver
on the personal blog! More to come soon.
They Used to Be Called Pen Pals…. (on the other blog)
I have been jumping back and forth between two blogs. The original idea was to make my life easier….. Separate the professional writing from the personal writing. But they overlap in so many places, I’ve been unable to disentangle.
While I work on a story about a trip to Vancouver, I am going to direct you to “the other” blog which has a tale about pen pals and an adventure in Chicago. I hope you have time to jump over and read it!
Pirates on the Magnificent Mile!
Breathe, Smile, Go Slowly
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The alarm jangles. I stretch, roll out, and peek through the curtains. I’ll have to wear snow pants and full gear. The dogs will need their jackets, too.
Although we live in the middle of the city, the park is only two blocks away. This isn’t hard to imagine since there are 136 parks in Milwaukee. The largest one is over a thousand acres, but my park is a petite thirteen. We have time to make one round. The snow crunches under my boots and the dogs leap and yip, catching the chunky snowflakes swirling furiously around us. The moon sets to the west just before the sun begins to wash a sliver of light blue across the horizon.
First trip of the day over. Continue reading
Three Simple Rules For Being a Content Travel Writer
The life of a travel writer is tough. There are all those exotic locations to be visited, restaurants that have to be checked out, and wonderful vistas that have to be admired… Of course, that’s what a writer’s job looks like to someone who has never tried it. In reality, writing can be lonely, traveling can be arduous, and sometimes the food and the vistas aren’t all that great. So I’ve come up with three basic rules for myself, that help keep everything in perspective, and help me love my work regardless of the problems I might run into. Continue reading
Art Lives Here – Another Venue
A new day, a new venue, same old weather. A repeat of cloud and misty rain; spring in the Midwest. But in the writing place I was headed for…. the weather wouldn’t matter.
One enters the Milwaukee Art Museum into the magnificent cathedral-like space of Windover Hall, with its exquisite white marble floor, a vaulted a 90-foot-high glass ceiling, and above it the Burke Brise Soleil, a moveable sunscreen with a 217-foot wingspan that unfolds and folds twice daily. I flashed my membership card and walked directly to the magnificent windows to gaze out over Lake Michigan. Continue reading
Shhhhhhhhhhh…. writing venue
It was quiet. A sacred quiet. Tranquil. The spaces were large, with gentle air flow from muffled fans running somewhere behind the marble columns and arched ceilings. I climbed the carpeted steps to the second floor of this sanctorium and made my way to a large open area designated for microfiche, business, and periodicals.
The huge windows on the north wall over-looked MacArthur Square, which is surrounded by the Milwaukee Police Department’s downtown station, and the imposing, Neo-Classic Revival County Court house (which architect Frank Lloyd Wright called “a million dollar rock pile.” Red brick walks surrounded the plots of bright green grass in the square, though it was sleeting/snowing out. Inside it was toasty, however, and I found an empty table with a chair facing the window.
A Nice Place to Visit, But I Wouldn’t Want to Write There
I’ve been thinking a lot about writing lately. Notice, thinking, not writing. One can think anywhere at any time: driving the car, tossing and turning in the dark at night, walking the dogs, or jogging on the treadmill. One does not have the same freedom in writing. I could list a million excuses, which only a few are really valid, for not spending enough time writing.
But quite simply, I have not been spending enough time with pen in hand. I do sit in front of the computer often, but that usually spirals out of control and I get lost in the vortex of the worldwide web universe, and lose two hours of my life in the blink of an eye.
Personal Blog – A Mental Squint
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All text and photographs by author, unless otherwise indicated. Copyright protection in place for all photographs and text. Do not copy or use unless given specific permission. All rights reserved, 2011. Thank you.
Ireland, 2008
Bali, 2009
Balloon Race, 2010
Alma, Wisconsin 2010
