Jodi’s Black-Eyed Peas with Ham

            *low-altitude recipe* 1 lb. dried black-eyed peas Salt pork (1- or 2-inch piece) 1 med. diced onion 2 cloves fresh garlic pulp (don’t slice) 1 stalk celery, sliced ¼ to ½ cup carrots cut into small chunks (optional) 1 can...

Bah or Ahh for Christmas? by Jodi Lea Stewart

Series: Keepin’ it real I pondered about writing a Christmas blog with meaning. It’s well known that the holidays are unbearable for some and joyous for others. The same can be said for any day or event of the year, yet it seems to exacerbate during the...

Painting with Needles; the art of Chinese embroidery

Did early Americans invent embroidery to make samplers and decorate hope-chest items for hopeful young ladies waiting to become wives and mothers? Hardly! The art of embroidery started in China thousands of years ago. China began to weave silk from silkworm cocoon...

Don’t Be a Writer-Rebel Without a Cause

These days, it’s popular to think of oneself as a “Rule Breaker” … a “Rebel;” and, to some extent, that’s fun and exciting. Truthfully, where can we as writers hedge and when must the rules be doggedly followed in order to be...

Write in Your Own Backyard . . . or Not!

      Don’t Come Into My Backyard “Write in your own backyard!” seemed to be the cry of the masses when I was shifting from being a non-fiction business writer, journalist, and essayist to a fiction writer eight years ago. Yet, my heart and mind...