First things first: My flash creative nonfiction piece A Fancy Department Store in Cleveland, 1970 is up at the The Disappointed Housewife. Here’s the beginning: A Fancy Department Store in Cleveland, 1970 We knew we didn’t belong, my sisters and me. We knew by the way the saleslady tightened her mouth, the edges of her lipstick… Read More Essay up at The Disappointed Housewife, and a busy week
The damnest thing happened last month. Seriously (our dog) and I were running trails with a friend and her husky, when we saw a lone black bear. And Seriously walked over and kissed it. WTF, eh? Here’s how it happened. We were on the Campbell Tract trails and stopped to water the dogs by the… Read More My dog kissed a bear (Seriously) and, yes, yes, it’s summer in Alaska
I keep singing that song by Simon & Garfunkel (and later, redone by the Bangles, the version I prefer), A Hazy Shade of Winter. Most likely this is because we got a couple of more inches of snow this morning. And yes, it is beautiful, everything coated and soft. When evening comes (and it comes at… Read More Hazy shades of winter
I’ve made it a goal to write 1,500 words a day on my new novel. It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Back in my journalism days I often wrote more than that in a day so really, what’s the big deal? Except, I don’t have a notepad full of facts before me or hours of… Read More 1,500 words, two moose, an eagle and lots of autumn color
When my son was young one of his favorite books was “If You Give a Moose a Muffin,” probably because moose often wandered into our yard. It’s a common occurrence here in Anchorage and sometimes I forget that most people don’t experience such things, that what we perceive as ordinary, people in other parts of… Read More If you give a moose crab apples
I have a new poem up on Rattle. It’s a bit personal, about a time when I went crazy, when I lived in Portland for a summer in my 20s. The poem isn’t totally autobiographical but does capture how I felt, and the confusion and also the comfort of leaving your “real” mind behind and… Read More New poem up at Rattle
When my partner woke me up yesterday, at a ridiculously late hour (because I had stayed up all night writing again, you see), I ran downstairs, grabbed my camera and excitedly began shooting. Because, really, is there anything cuter than baby moose? There was another calf around too but it was behind the woodpile and… Read More Wordless Wednesday: Baby moose in the yard
I’ll admit it–it’s been a bit hard to get back into the Alaska groove after spending so much time in sunny Arizona, followed by a month with family back in Philly (where temps reached 85 degrees). As much as I love Alaska, Anchorage doesn’t get much sunshine. In fact, we average 126 sunny days a… Read More “Forgotten Women,” another poetry pub, and so many moose
It’s almost fall up here in Alaska. Which means that the moose are moving around more, eager to snatch up the last of the green leaves/shoots/brush before the oh-so-cold and oh-so-dark winter slams down upon us. There are a few moose that frequent our neighborhood. We see them when we walk the dog and run… Read More Moose on the loose
Well, damn it, the Rio Olympics are really cutting into my blogging time. I stayed up most of the night Saturday obsessing about writing and then, right as I was ready to stagger off to bed, realized that the women’s marathon was on in just two hours. So naturally I stayed up for it. How… Read More It’s Monday, I think
Cinthia Ritchie 