autumn Melon Festival Recently, I went to a melon festival. It was in a little town with a population of just over 800 people. I showed up at the start of the parade. The parade contained a variety of emergency vehicles, a high school dance team, and several mayoral candidates driving Polarises decorated
horror Everything Is Bad For You Recently, I went on a work trip in the Southeast. I was staying in a hotel by the airport, at a chain I'd stayed in when I was last in the area. I remembered it being nice for the price point. This time, when I checked in, the
nature Anemoia During COVID, the place I lived was shut down. Before COVID, it was a busy, tourist loved place. It was the kind of place in which you never really found any solace, unless you were in your house, and even then, a tourist might wander into your yard and snap
horror Neighborhood Watch Recently, I went to another location for work. I was assigned a housing unit in a long term contractor RV park. I don't have an RV, so they put me in a little single wide with a view of the highway and a distant mountain range, and I
horror The Wildest of Wildlife The other week my husband and I were driving off a mountain at nightfall. We were on a dirt road in a grazing allotment, meaning, there were cows milling around. And at night, we knew they would clump up on the road and we'd have to drive right
books Book Triggered Memories This morning I was, pre-coffee, looking at the covers of the books I'd read this year. I realized a few of them, while not being my favorite books, had in fact solidified themselves in my mind due to where I was while reading them. This was interesting to
desert Heavy Metal Is Forever Recently, I was with my parents and we drove by Hole N" The Rock on our way out of Moab. It's hard to miss, painted white letters, feet high, bright against the orange sandstone. My mom asked what it was, and I told, I had never been
beach Tourist Traps Recently, I found myself wandering down the Santa Monica Pier. I had never been there before, and while I knew it was a tourist trap, I wanted to see it. It was, classic Southern California beautiful, the green palm trees striking against the white sand and deep blue ocean, the
desert Beauty You Don't Deserve When I was a teenager, I was lucky enough to go to Spain on a language immersion. I went in the late winter/early spring and while I was there, Semana Santa happened. Coming from an area where churches were buildings that I passed, and every now and then was
horror No, Thank You It was day two of writing the first book I've ever been paid to write. And like every new project, it was slow going. I was finding a lot of ways to procrastinate. Walking around the house. Greeting the cats repeatedly. Looking at my stupid phone. So, I
family It's Crazy in Here Recently, I was in the Deep South, and one of the things about the Deep South is that there are Publix grocery stores. And in said Publix stores, you can buy Publix subs. These were made famous in my friend group by a friend from Florida who loves Publix subs
family Check Your Fuel One weekend my brother came to town. We were considering things to do and saw a monster truck rally was happening at a nearby fair ground. And for the low price of $23, we could go see it. We did not hesitate to buy tickets. Neither of us had been
desert PINERS One summer, my friends and I were camping, and we decided to go swim at a little desert pond. To get there, you had to drive a criss cross of dirt roads across the high desert. You knew you were close to it when a group of towering cottonwoods and
desert This Is Art... Years ago, I was living fairly far away from my brother, and he made the trek to come see me. We spent the weekend doing a variety of things, and one of those things was going to a pretty-famous, nearby town to which he had never been. It was early
cats The Future is Feline... Apparently there's a threat going around. That women aren't having kids but instead are just living with cats and reading books. The joke is this is a strange threat as literally my favorite thing in the world is to be at home with my cats reading
summer Opium for Watermelons In college, I knew this girl who was a super cool, punk rocker, hippie. And while I've lost touch with her, I know she's now either a high-powered lawyer, or she's living in an Earthship in the desert. There were only ever two paths
food Food... Today I'm writing about food that changed my life. I'm talking about when you eat something that causes your brain to hard stop and wonder, how did I never know this was a thing? How often do we, as adults, get to taste something that is
desert Sensory Deprivation I was asked to participate in a team relay run. The run was something like one hundred and twenty miles total, through the desert, in March. I was put on a team with some people I knew, some I didn't, and I was given an eight mile leg
cats Maybe? I have two felines who are vocal about the the car. This has been a thing since I got them as kittens. You put them in the car and the calico begins to scream, so the grey cat, participates, and then the grey cat gets bored and stops, so the
beach A Burger Bucket Christmas One year my husband was in an extended training in the south. It happened to extend through the month of December, and I figured we should make the most of it. I flew out there, and we went to St. Augustine, Florida for Christmas. For those of you who don’
autumn The C-Store Round Two On the last day of my annual North Dakota trip, I was riding in the car with my three other travel buddies. We'd spent the week wandering around the prairie, and on our final night my male friend realized, we were out of tonic water. "Did you
autumn Why Are There So Many People Here? Recently, I was in a small town in North Dakota. I'd visited it the previous several years, always at the same time of year, late October, and this year, there were a lot of people in town. I mean, we drove into town just after dark, down the
nature What Does the Full Moon Do? Recently, I went on a trip to a resort that had sprung up around a natural hot springs. When I was a kid, the place had allegedly been a bit podunk, but now, it is built up. It's got a spa with offerings like blueberry body wraps and
horror The Wild West One summer night, my friend invited me up to his town to watch their local rodeo. This was about two and a half hours north of me, just over the state line. It seemed like a good idea to me, so I got in the car, and made the journey,
food Everything Has a Recipe Years ago, while on vacation with my family, I convinced my dad to help me bake a desert. My dad, who at the time didn't have the best working hearing aides, agreed to help but was very dismayed when he found out I needed him to knead some
