Find a book to read, letter to write, reason to smile

July 26, 2020

You need not be particularly religious, spiritual or faith-filled to have heard of them. You don’t necessarily have to be predominantly good or bad, either, BT dubs. They are likely as identifiable in the secular world as the pious one. So, surely you’ve heard of the seven deadly sins, right? If not, you can easily look ’em up. After you do, be sure to avoid ’em because they no bueno, yo. And in today’s you-know-what laden world, I have grown EXTREMELY weary of certain terms, references and phrases. Listen to me, friends: Your pal Chatty Patty is a words girl, always ...

Regrets, I’ve had a few, but too few to mention

July 19, 2020

There are a lot of things in my life about which I’m pretty sorry. For instance, I’m sorry for still going to my senior high school prom with the boy who dumped me on my 18th birthday three weeks earlier. I mean, I already had the dress and everything. Besides, I thought for sure it’d be a “Sixteen Candles” kind of happy ending at the close of the dance. You know, when he’d realize I was Demi Moore, Ally Sheedy and Molly Ringwald all rolled into one and beg me to take him back? Instead, he ignored me right up to the point when I had to find my own ride home. ...

Patience is a virtue many of us don’t have

July 12, 2020

I can hear him now. Clear as a bell. He always said it twice, con mucho gusto in the second iteration — for emphasis, natch. “I hate to wait. I HATE to wait,” Pop always lamented in a long line or between extended pauses of meal courses at restaurants. He was really just voicing a ...

Let’s get together and celebrate our nation

July 5, 2020

It’s funny really, the wide variety of meanings a single word can convey. For instance, take the word “curfew.” For parents, this is a word that ensures healthy guidelines, necessary structure and some modicum of safety. It’s generally considered positive. To teenagers it’s a ...

Just wear the flippity-flopping mask already

June 28, 2020

It worked for Zorro. It works for all those singers on that oddly popular FOX-TV music show. It’s the highlight of many a themed ball, not to mention being a requirement for Mardi Gras, Carnivale and, of course, my least favorite “holiday” — Halloween. (Don’t get me started on why ...

2020: Super-sighs of disappointment, sadness

June 21, 2020

I don’t know anyone who thinks 2020 is a banner year. Sigh. In fact, it’s one for the books ... the horror genre, that is. And though it might seem paltry compared to current world and national events — lots of humans also are dealing with regular, run-of-the-mill, everyday heartbreak ...