THOUGHTS FROM DIANNE...

                                         “Quidquid praecipies, esto brevis.”                                                     (Whatever advice you give, be brief.)                                                              ~Horace, Arte poética I’m on the second letter of my Year of Blogging the Alphabet, and when I thought about what I wanted to use for the letter “B”, blessing automatically came to mind. Plus benevolence, babies, baggage and a whole lot of others. So when the word BREVITY kept pounding me, I tried ignoring it because, after all, what’s there to say about brevity? It’s brief . George and Noah (that’s Merriam and Webster) describe it as: shortness of duration; shortness or conciseness of expression. It’s from the Latin brevitas , for brief and was first used sometime in the 15th century. So, in sticking to the meaning of this word, this is where I should probably stop. But, I’m a writer, and stopping (or being brief) is against my nature. Still,

               aaaaaaaaaaaaaa         a             A        AA         a        a             aa           AAA          A                 aaa               a       AAa          aa     AAAAAAA   a       A           a      aaa      aaA         a           aAA      I’m going to blog the alphabet this year which, for me, is a pretty hefty investment since that commits me to 26 blogs in 2017. But I’ve been very good on Facebook, not expressing opinion about much of anything, even when I’ve had plenty of words and opinions. I don’t engage in debate or argument, though. That’s just me. Everybody’s entitled to what they want to believe, and I sort of subscribe to the ‘live and let live’ philosophy. But as good as I’ve been on Facebook, I do have some thoughts, and while they might not fit as well with the alphabet, I’m going to give it a try and keep my fingers crossed that I actually have 26 blogs in me. (Admittedly, the X week scares me.) So, let’s get started with t

                                                                                                 GETTING OLDER In a couple of weeks, I’ll be in a total depression because it will be my birthday.  The thing is, birthdays themselves aren’t so bad–presents, cake. I can get into that.  And the symbolism of the birthday–the passage of time, wisdom, experience–none of that’s so bad, either.  I can deal with it all, even embrace it.  But here’s the thing, and it’s the big ugly.  I don’t like the numbers.  People attach significance to them, tease you that you’re old when you’re 30, tell you you’re climbing up that hill when you’re 40, let you know you’re over the hill when you’re 50, remind you how you’re slipping down the backside of that hill when you’re 60. I remember some of these milestones with my parents.  Remember teasing them mercilessly when they were 40, 50, 60, 70.  And what goes around comes around.  My kids, who are as bratty to me as I was to my parents, are merciless,

It’s not always about the writing. Sometimes it’s about all that zucchini and yellow squash growing in your back yard. Remember the optimism you had when you first planted those seedlings? Remember keeping your fingers crossed that you’d have a successful little harvest (the key word here being little )? Then, the squash explosion happens and, all of a sudden, you find yourself standing on the street corner, tossing zucchinis into the open windows of passing cars. Paying your vet bill in yellow squash rather than cash. Sneaking around the neighborhood in the middle of the night leaving zucchini and squash on doorsteps. The Craigslist ad: Willing to trade zucchini for ANYTHING!!!                                                                                                                                 Yep, it’s that time of year so, as I munch on a delicious piece of chocolate zucchini bread, I’m jotting down a few of my favorite recipes that might help you with your summer sq