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                                  NURSE NOELLE DOES HOMECARE           I had grown weary of the hideous hours a hospital registry nurse has to succumb to and thought; why not try homecare.  I could intersperse hospital and home visits until my publishing success was solidified.   How stressful could driving around dressing wounds, checking blood ...

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                                                          THE  CHRONICLES of NURSE NOELLE         Tuesday, September 2008:  Pacific Medical Center-Day Shift     I skidded into the front desk one minute after seven, ransacked my purse for a pen, tossed my coat over a chair, and grabbed the patient report sheets labeled, ...

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                                                                                                          THE RAIN         The old man puffed his cigar spitting out the tip as he stared at the solid veil of rain he had been waiting for.   “California,” he muttered to himself half ...

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 Geez Justin B., you are a big fibberpants, you say "I"m gonna tell you one time" but you tell us one time too many about your one girl.  Does your mother know you are not in school?  That is so sweet of you to profess that one girl is your whole world--how many gals have you dated so far.  Just curious, Justin.  When I was  nine or twelve years old, I had scads of ...

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      As the sizzling sound of summer barbeques fade into memory, attentions turn towards the autumn harvest with the hope of cool weather right around the bend.  Alas, this particular year no one had a chance to tire of the heat, no stifling temperatures slowing productivity, no days playing hooking to sneak off to the beach.  Oh no not this year. As we say good-bye to summer, a ...

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Perspective is a precarious perch shuffling about like a wad of paper blowing in a wind storm.  Depending on the viewer, it can be as varied as day and night--and all the in betweens of dusk and dawns.  A looming example--a palable for instance--my need to locate a reasonably priced space to teach my African Dance class here in Sonoma.  Reasonable is the operating perspective word--what is ...

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    Perhaps it is a wee bit arrogant of me to say my own children stories are my favorite, but I'll risk the judgement and include them here in this blog.  The following are just a few of my manuscripts looking for a publishing house to call home.  Both of these stories delight in and count on the imaginations of five to seven year olds.  I believe that children are too often ...

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Once again it is that time of year when Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues" are performed throughout the world, in an effort to expose the continued voilence against women and girls.  I proudly was part of the monologues production here in Sonoma, California last year--and will be performing again this year on April 8th, 9th, and 10th.  For those of you unfamiliar with this show, Ms. ...

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I am furious!  I was in the middle of organizing an African Dance and Drum benefit for the Haitian Health Foundation, when I began getting phone calls asking if I was okay?  As far as I knew, my head was still attached, my legs were sore still from dancing, and my fingers were still flying over the keyboard; yes I was fine.  Well according to a mass email (it was even sent to my ex-husband ...

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Trying to narrow down a single favorite poem is like trying to decide which of my daughters pictures is my most treasured?  Cherished  memories I can swim back to on a photograph to pluck one out and abandon the others-- impossible.  Rita Dove's poem "Parsley" is a true story about the mandated death of 20,000 slaves in the Domican Republic by dictator Rafael Trujillo, because ...

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 CLINGING TO HOLIDAY CHEER  Last Sunday my husband and I dethroned the Christmas tree, wrapping ornaments in old newspapers placing them back in a box to hibernate for another year.  The walls stand barren, stripped of stockings, greens, lights, and miscellaneous candles. Santa Clauses and snowmen have all been laid to rest as well. Gone the Nativity set with its wise men and camels, gone ...

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In the Christmas compilation "Maybe This Christmas" one song with two  lyrics in particular plucks my heart strings everytime I hear them.   "Maybe this Christmas will mean something more, maybe this year love will appear, deeper than ever before; and maybe forgiveness will ask us to call, someone we loved, someone we lost, for reasons we can't quite recall."  Love ...

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     The word peace conjures images, evokes emotions, and regards a plethora of definitions.  Peace cannot be hoodwinked by homogeneous loyalties claiming exclusive rights to its meaning.  Obtaining peace is as personal as the lines carved on our palms.  There is neither syllabi nor outline to adhere to while attempting to achieve peace.   Peace is not for the fainthearted, the ...

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Recently, I have been fine tuning a class I teach on the power of story and the art of storytelling.  Stories not only influence personal destinies and choices, they literally have steered the course of history and civilizations.  Pondering the tales I cherished as a child, the flying carpet motif was one of my favorites.  I would spend hours fantasizing about the wind whirling through my ...

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There was a slight breeze caressing the dew as the sun promised to dry things up for my outdoor wedding the morning of Octber 3rd.  Family had flown in days before and the bustle of preparing food and flowers was underway.  My mother, mother-in-law to be, sisters, and sister-law to be, as well as friends and miscellaneous acquantainces wobbled out of bed early that Saturday morning to ...

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Well,I have done it again--missed the deadline for the blog entry of the week; not a good thing--missing deadlines and really it's not a habit I typically fall prey to. But--as I mentioned in earlier blogs, I am getting married October 3rd (which is fast approaching) and my mind keeps scouring  over the  mighty "Still Left to Do" list.  This was supposed to be a very informal, ...

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This past Friday,  while giving a lecture on the Diseases of the Sensory System to a group of nursing students ( I was filling in for a fellow teacher who had a situation arise and was in desperate need of a substitute) it dawned on me that is was the anniversary of 9/11.  We had a moment of silence to reflect and remember the lives that were lost and the changes in our country's mindset after ...

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I am currently disgusted with my dramatic lapse in blogging after the sincere promise I made to myself.  I laid my right hand on every holy book vowing to blog daily, in sickness and in health, during duress or elation-- nothing would get in the way of my dedication-nothing.  But alas, I have fallen and so quicly after pledging allegiance to the blog gods.  A full week has trampled on my ...

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So, here I am Friday evening running late but wanting to get a quick word in about manners.  First of all let's face it--the darn things are labile and entirely dependent.  Dependent on Culture, the times, and individual upbringing.  As a child I may have been taught that to belch or pass wind around other people is a monumental faux pas; while it may be perfectly fine to a person raised in ...

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While slaving away at my computer, my concentration is lured by the gurgly sounds of my dog snoring.  Granted, he is thirteen  complete with a white mug and has earned his right to frequent napping.  But this is his fifth snooze within two hours and I am beginning to suspect  he is taking advantage of his senior status.  Either that or  he has developed  narcolepsy, which I have not ...

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Whenever I am perilessly close  to being penniless (which happens far too often to specify publicly)  I find it easier to pleasure in the tiniest of things.  Unconditional freebies that are ignored or overlooked when my wallet is stuffed with cash (which happens far too infrequently to specify publicly)  Like the shwooshing sounds of a breeze wafting through the summer leaves or a traipse ...

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Recently, yet another friend confided that he was in the process of losing his house.  Sean and his wife had endured a grueling era of juggling three jobs and stashing evey penny, dime, and nickel for the down payment.  His daughter and son, five and seven, took their first steps, uttered their first da-da's, and performed their first finger paintings in this house.  Four years ago, when ...

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Last Sunday my fiance and I, on a whim, decided to stop at a Greek restuarant (Papa Traverna's) we inadvertantly stumbled upon. The building itself was sligtly dilapidated, the white and blue paint etched away by time and the sea water it was surrounded by. There were dangling fans adorned with Christmas lights and a live palm tree (dressed in the same Christmas lights as the fans) stood in the ...

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