A Novel Creation www.WatersWords.com

  Finish the Course   I am not a runner. I walk quite a bit. I even have a step counter to prove it. I recently completed the annual  Hunger Walk and 5K Run  event in my neck of the woods. The goal was to raise money for a local food bank in Cincinnati.    I was in. I like to walk and I LOVE to know the money raised will feed hungry people in my community.    Yep, I can walk.  But run? No.  If I were in that well-known race captured in children’s literature, I would be the tortoise, not the hare. That’s not all that bad. If you remember the story, the tortoise wins. Not because he’s fast but because he stays the course.   Many people offer advice on winning a race. They train to win. They hire coaches and spend hours timing their runs.    Since you already know I’m not a runner, you know not to expect a post coaching you on how to win. This is a post coaching you to stay the course. It’s about crossing the finish line....

  Death by Honeysuckle   Sounds like a book title, doesn’t it?  Death by Honeysuckle  by Wynott Garden?   I live in a community known as Cinnamon Woods in Ohio. I’ve been wondering since I  moved here in 2017 if a more accurate name would be Honeysuckle Hollow. The vegetation gets its name from the fragrant white flower it produces. Bees love it. It serves a purpose. I think.   The massive bushes are everywhere. I’m not sure there is one homestead in my neighborhood completely free of the invasive brush.    I’ve cut, pulled, sprayed, and dug as much as I can. The brush and I seem to have reached an impasse.    Don’t misunderstand. Honeysuckle is actually pretty and could make a nice hedge. That is,  IF  it stayed where it was planted and didn’t have a mind of its own.  The Honeysuckle Flower has a sweet fragrance bees love. However, the new growth twists and turns. It has wound itself around sections of my fence,...

  Welcome to the Jungle   “Welcome to the jungle.” I know that is a line from the Cincinnati Bengals as fans walk into the stadium. It is also the phrase I use when I visit a local specialty food market called Jungle Jim’s.   There is no other market like Jungle Jim’s around. I remember when my brother-in-law and sister-in-law visited us. They have lived all over the world. They assured us they “had seen it all.” They were prepared to be unimpressed. It didn’t happen.  Hours later , we finally emerged from the store and they agreed they had never seen anything like the Jungle. I love to go to Jungle Jim’s. So much so, I included it in my novella, Courtesy Turn, which was published in an Ohio anthology called  From the Lake to the River .   But here is what I love most. The store isn’t about selling stuff to different people. It’s about sharing food with  all  people. Even the entrance is marked in numerous languages.    If you read last ...

  Adventure: Chasing or Embracing?   I’ve often been told I am an adventurous person. Curious. I don’t think of myself that way. I don’t back away from new experiences. Mostly. But I don’t constantly seek them out, either.    I decided there are two types of people in the adventurous category: Chasers and Embracers. We won’t talk about the third category of people whose idea of adventure is trying mustard instead of ketchup on a hamburger once. Just once.   To my way of thinking, Chasers are those who climb a mountain then seek one that is higher. They go on to find and climb another one more treacherous to challenge them. They need to increase the challenge and up the danger levels to get that euphoric reaction they desire. It’s akin to an emotional “high.”   I am not a “Chaser.”   I enjoy trying new things even though I may not have been looking for them. Meeting new people, traveling, eating new foods, and trying new activities. Those may challenge ...

Getting Down and Dirty   Probably not what you think.    Here in southwestern Ohio we’ve had a most unusual spring season. It will be sunny and warm one day and cloudy and rainy the next. We’ve had several days in a row of what I call “short sleeve” weather followed by a blast of cold complete with a smattering of snow or frost.  The man who mows my lawn has to sandwich the trimmings between continually shifting wet and dry weather patterns.  It’s crazy.   I’m a warm weather kind of girl, so I wake up to sunshine smiling and singing. I set about weeding the flowerbeds and browsing the plants at my local Lowes store. I spray the honeysuckle… a never-ending battle…and trim the bushes.   Then it turns cold or rainy (or both) again and I’m stuck inside staring at the calendar.  I shouldn’t be surprised. Rarely in the past have I planted a garden before the first of May.  I do, however, usually have the ground ready and seedlings growing...