Summer 2020 It takes time to assimilate the feeling of betrayal. The shock of trust being annihilated requires a patient approach. When a person realizes he has been lied to, and not merely lied to, but deceived cunningly for the goal of taking what would not have otherwise been granted — freely — there is, initially, some denial as to the sickening awfulness of the treachery. Denial is a healthy response in the early going. It gives you time to prepare for time, the time nee

Mid-Summer 2020 Where has all the thinking gone? Maybe it wasn’t there to begin with. The engine of thought takes some time to rev up, at least it does for me. This past week, I took a few days off, an operational pause, from my translation work of THE DAWN into L’AUBE. Inevitably, perhaps out of boredom, I ventured online to try to find some informed information regarding current events in America. It was a dismal state of affairs — not the current events as much as the opin

Mid-July 2020 I used to look back at the 1990s and, almost immediately, rush, in my mind, to a future time. It is only within the past few weeks and days that I have arrived at a warmly serene understanding of that past, a decade of tumult, for sure; but a decade which led to this moment. The work of a writer, at least of this writer, takes into account the past, the present, and the future. There are, undoubtedly, some moments more treasured than others, some days viewed thr

4 July and 14 juillet 2020 I’ve been experiencing a difficult time trying to stay focused on my translation work. The final chapters of Book 5, which begins Volume II of THE DAWN, consist of the travels of Artur Boucher through Provence, and the acceleration of increasingly inter-related events that begin to coalesce and collide, as the plot and subplots of this novel advance inexorably toward The End. I am also concurrently awaiting completion of the construction of my Dream

Summer Solstice 2020 When chaos is all that the cowards of life have left, expect it to reign — in buckets. Mostly because the craven and the corrupt cannot rein in their own cowardice, they let others do the dirty deeds for them. And those Others can test the patience of even a saint. Some people have more experience with cowards than others. I personally, and professionally, have had a lot, perhaps more than my share, although I try not to measure that allotment here on ea

6 June 2020 Being half-Dutch, I was always taught during my childhood that cleanliness is next to godliness, and, I always said, Out of two ain’t bad. Keeping the files straight, and in order, has therefore been a life-long endeavour for me. My mind naturally finds a way to classify just about anything, and so I proved to be a superb file clerk an any office. As a supply clerk, however, I was absolutely lousy, especially during my years of working for the U.S. Army Corps of E

Commencement Day 2020 As a mom, and as a woman, I gave this advice to my son whenever he, and I, were faced with an insufferable situation: “Bear with it.” His inevitable reply was: “I don’t want to bear with it.” “Then,” I concluded, “You are only going to make it harder on yourself.” Patience and tolerance, forbearance, pulling your punch, holding your tongue, and choosing your fights — those acts of discipline are not automatic, and they assuredly are not learned all a

1 June 2020 Happy Retail USA I do not often mention by name, and mention in-depth, retail companies on this website. My purchases are my own, even if they are not always private; and they are “reasonable” which, is, I know, a loaded term for a woman. This morning, however, I went looking online for fabric shower curtains Made in the USA. An oldie-but-goodie for me, since 1999, Vermont Country Store appeared on my Duck-Duck-Go browser. I scanned the pickings of the curtain sel

December 2019 He did not believe in me, but he did not believe in many things. Perhaps he’d once believed in hard work, but only because he also believed that hard work would bring rewards to him. In that sense he was corruptible, for work is a virtue, a reward in itself. Work is not a bait or a lure that brings the reward — of riches, glory, status, pleasure, material possessions. I’d once upon a time thought the world of him, and that world might even have been a domain he