Dracula’s tomb, A hookah bar, The Spring and Summer Palaces of Nicolae Ceausescu, a visit to the Black Sea, birds over Bucharest, and a country celebration of the New Year — When I was a kid, I was utterly in awe of Nadia Comăneci, the first Olympic gymnast to score a perfect “10.” I was a young gymnast myself, and was quite flexible at that age, and could lie on my stomach and bring my toes over my head and touch…

March Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Movement” — We’re Cruising in the Frothing Waves We were watching for the birds, because when they start circling, it’s a sure sign that there are dolphins nearby. Dolphins tend to herd the fish into a frenzied circle and then the Pelicans, Gannets, Kittiwakes and gulls begin dive-bombing the fish from above. But we’d been out with our…

“Big Red”, our dominant male Allen’s Hummingbird, has a new rival — I’ve nicknamed him “Agave,” because he spends most of the day perched on the tip of the giant agave in the center of my backyard, perfectly positioned in the midpoint between the water fountain and the feeder, which he has claimed as his own.

Musings about Buddha and Li Po and the source of light — Last night, I stepped into a courtyard of a thousand pots of moons. The Buddha once said, “Be a lamp unto yourself — your ideas of truth must be put to the test.” And long ago, Li Po drank his clear wine of enlightenment under a brocade of blossoms and…

I knew that someone was digging up my spring bulbs — Well, they must be tasty snacks because my spring bulbs have been pulled up and munched on at an alarming rate lately! And the left-overs have been casually tossed aside here and there — evidence of the thief’s activities. But we had no idea who was doing the digging. “Racoons?”…

March Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Movement” — Don’t you dare touch my feeder! Little jewel, like liquid light, darting here, then out of sight — You terrify the others with your might. Is the nectar not enough to share? Dividing it would be most fair. And yet you hover in the air with a ferocity that says “don’t you dare” come near my feeder…

March Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Movement” — A halo of motion around stillness What does it feel like to linger in the air, knees dusted with pollen, amongst a forest of borage, a stillness of wing within motion? The eye cannot see all the details. The sun warm on his back, spring’s breath in his hair, anticipation patters within his tiny breast. A…

Scribe Writing Prompt — On the Road to Spring — Like ink, they gather on the branches. Smudges of spring. The Crow Moon rises tonight. Cacophany. A softening of earth. A yielding to worms and things rising through the dark loam of mycelium. Like old men, they rasp and chatter and carry on with their complaints. But they know, those crows…

A couple of weeks in photos — Does the new “boosting” that medium has introduced make a difference? I had my first “boosted” article a few days ago and I would say “yes, it does make a difference.” It’s still a little early to write about all the details, but I had three articles published in Globetrotters…