The Paper Peddler
by Judy Hurd 2014 I barely heard the timid knocking. Since I did, I folded my laptop closed and rolled back my desk chair, made the trip down the stairs to the door and opened it. Standing on my doorstep was the cutest little fellow holding onto the handle of a bright red wagon partly filled with old newspapers. Maybe four years old, dressed in Osh-Kosh coveralls he’d about outgrown, a blue, stripped tee shirt, tennies, and no socks. A towhead with bright blue eyes in an earnest face. “Do you want to buy a newspaper?” he asked, staring up at me. I stepped out to look up and down the block. Not a soul in sight. Then the light turned on in my head. The new family a couple doors down. They had moved in several weeks earlier. I’d seen them in their yard a few times,...
Musings: James Lee Burke
The other day I came home from the used book store with my husband, who lugs to the store a sack of books and lugs home a sack of books. I found one of my favorite authors on the shelves, James Lee Burke…
Bald Heads and Golden Feathers
Not long ago, driving along at about sixty on a road that begins the climb into the Cascades, where cattle pasturelands meld into oak woodlands, I narrowly missed having a front grill full of raptors. A Golden Eagle was determined to steal a Bald Eagle’s fresh catch.
Writing Group
My writing group has just finished editing and critiquing my precious words. The story has been a long time in the finishing. I will tell you a critique group is one of the most valuable parts of the writing process.
Alaskan Winters
If there is anywhere in Alaska with a moderate winter climate, it is on the Alaska Peninsula with salt water on both sides. But never think winters are easy or short.
National Park life
I’ve lived a life only a very small percentage of the populace has had the privilege to experience. More than forty years my park ranger husband and I lived at the whim of the National Park Service. Not that that was difficult. Stephen, my husband claims he retired from the best profession in the world.
A Beginning and an Ending
In 2011, my story A Beginning and an Ending was published
