Germinating Words from Scratch.

It’s Week 16 in loco lockdown and oftentimes I question whether I’ve managed to remain sane.  Perhaps I’ve already crossed the bridge of no return but I’ve nary any visual markers to gage my sojourn and there aren’t any manuals out there to guide my way.  All that I can do is sequester and play, since I’ve inadvertently stumbled into the Land of Cuckoo, that wondrous space of a place of solace and refuge.  Might as well test the waters and linger a while.  After all, I’m stuck at home with nowhere else to go.

Dipping my quill into the aqua potion was the first start.  The restorative ink has extraordinary capabilities, able to reinvigorate and, most importantly, whisk me away from the drudgery of every day. 

And, voilà, next thing I know, I’m in Shangri-La, one with the earth, plucking weeds and planting seeds.  The gift of sunshine and H20 is a rejuvenating force, birthing life anew. 

A splash of inspiration, a sprinkling of devotion and an over-active imagination is all one needs to grow words.  Tiny sprouts of seedlings that blossom into ideas that keep me up at night as I toss and turn over the strategic placement of nouns and consonants.  Verbs are another story altogether.  Always on the go, they’re non-stop movement, a flurry of restless activity one sprint ahead of the tale; a collaborative team of 26 that work in tandem to spell out the narrative of what is on their mind.

A watering can, a chant, a prayer and a smidgen of hocus-pocus are the secret ingredients that flower my garden.  And, Abracadabra, as if by magic, alongside the marigolds and sunflowers, a batch of Word-lings have germinated overnight.

I know what you’re thinking.  About The Word-lings.

Being a wordsmith and linguist, I am fully aware that Word-ling is not an actual word.  It’s made up, not real, but then again, so is fiction.  I’m beyond besotted with words and the crucial role they play in weaving the fable.  And, I declare that there are NOT enough of them in The Dictionary to facilitate the process of fabrication.  I therefore propose that I lobby Webster’s for an immediate amendment to include my newly hatched batch of terminologies.  After all, I’ve a boatload of expertise in dreaming up new lexicons and phrases, which seem to spring to life only when I’m on the road exploring foreign locales. 

But alas, I’m trapped in the quagmire of Day 123 of quarantine and I’m itching to hop on a plane to Spain.  The world will just have to wait for the next crop of Nora-isms (aka Word-lings) to make their debut in the revised addendum to Le New and Improved Dictionary (To be re-defined as The Nik-tion-ary, if truth be told).

Must dash.  The landline’s a ringing.  It’s Webster’s on the line…

Next post:  In two weeks or thereabouts.  The w/o August 3rd, sometime on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday!  Stay tuned!

Next blogs – Continuing the conversations with my vintage turquoise writing machine; Watch out Webster’s!  New Word-lings are on their way!


Stay home, stay safe and catch up with your reading!


















Awaiting a delivery from yesterday.

It’s Week 15 in loco lockdown and I’m stuck at home anticipating the delivery of a parcel from yesterday.  It’s been quite the wait.  I’ve marked the hours and it’s been more than 60 plus years, but who’s counting.  After all, I’m in quarantine with nothing else to do and nowhere to go.  What’s a decade or six when you’re on the brink of conversing with history and swapping stories with pen pals of generations long past.

The thrill of unwrapping and mapping the narratives of my fellow scribes from so long ago is an added bonus accompanying my long awaited FedEx package.  My shipment has been in transit for the better part of half a century.  I’m giddy with glee to finally be privy to prying open the box that encapsulates the musings of wordsmiths from a bygone era.

And voilà, as if on a magic carpet ride, on Day 112, my vintage Hermes Baby finally landed on my doorstep.

Let the click clacking begin!

The ding of the ping is music to my scrivener soul.  A blank piece of parchment rolled into the carriage heralds the start to curating a legacy of art.  Aligning the smorgasbord of ABC’s into a cohesive order that threads the plot from beginning to end are the tasks delegated to the symphony of keys that co-exist to create and please.

My slightly battered and well-loved writing machine is eager to make my acquaintance and who am I to displease. 

Let the introductions begin…

We’ve a lot in common.  We both are originators, scribblers, linguists and poets, besotted with the arrangement of words.  Enamoured, to be exact. 

Whether penning free verse, sonnets, Japanese Haiku or ballad quatrains, our connectivity lies in our appreciation of the craft of re-inventing and re-imagining experiences, not to mention, emotions.  We’re soul mates, kindred spirits, long lost sisters…

Oh, Brother!   OK, now you’ve gone off the edge and “lost the plot”, so enough of the Blah, Blah, Blah!  You get the visual, dear Reader.  Masterpiece Theatre drama queen is on a roll yet once again…

So, where was I?

I was so caught up in the excitement that I momentarily lapsed into reminiscing with yesterday, submerged in the delirium of catching up with an ancient soul.

And so I ponder and wonder whose home did my beloved writing machine grace?  Did she belong to a be-speckled granny who lived in a shoe and pecked rhymes all of the time?  Or, was her owner a dapper young fellow who pounded the pavement pedalling his freshly polished screenplay?  Or, a starry eyed 12 year old, eager to shoot to Hollywood glory, envisioning his name on a star of fame in the land of make believe? 


I’m not certain whether I’ll ever know the answer to that question, yet it’s the magic of the mystery that keeps me peeking through the window of not so long ago.

It’s my turn now to share the privilege and type out the story…

Next post:  The conversation with my 1957 turquoise/green typewriter continues….

Next post will be published either w/o July 13th or w/o July 20th, Tuesday or Wednesday or thereabouts.  Stay tuned!


Stay home, stay safe and catch up with your reading!





Scribbling the dream.



Scrabble squabble wars in Week 14 of Quarantine

It’s Week 14 and I have absolutely nothing to say.  Nada.  Zero.  Zilch.  I’m at a loss for words.  They’ve evaporated.  Vanished.  I’ve searched far and wide.  The ideas no longer flow.

Adverbs abandoned.  Nouns deserted.  Vowels and adjectives are no longer stars of the show, having embarked on a lark somewhere less stark.

It hasn’t always been like this.

A was playful and jostled with C, teasing her readers with suspenseful tales.  The relentless flirting with both D and E, kept them guessing at what was meant to be.
K and L had integral roles to play, padding the middle with informative facts, hinting at clues that led the other astray.  Q and U took turns stirring the stew, whilst last, but not least, the letter Zed threaded the plot and tied up loose ends.

My alpha and beta’s have quit the cabaret, no longer a show of spell, not tell.

Their exit sealed my fate, as I’m staring at a blank slate.

The drama ensued the morning of Day 105 in loco lockdown.  There was a scuffle.  A squabble.  Accusations.  Shouting.  Stomping.  Doors slamming.  Dead silence.

I was caught in the middle with nowhere to go.

It all started with a game of scrabble.  It was meant to be an entertaining diversion from the monotony of being stuck in the quagmire of the quarantine clock, yet had I known of the hysterics to follow, I would have suggested a game of solitaire instead.

The disagreement was trivial.  Beyond ludicrous.  After all, how many versions of a word are there to dispute?  Apparently more than I cared to know.  The epic battle of the War of the Words had just begun.  The cauldron of long pent-up rivalries had boiled over into a scathing knock-down-drag-out spat, scalding the ever so fragile egos of the duelling duo.

Oy vey. Here we go again.

Ms. Thesaurus and Le Dictionary were in it for the long haul in the altercation of the century.  And, where am I?  Sequestered at home with the lot of them; a bunch of raving lunatics.

It hasn’t always been like this, but three long months of lockdown were enough to make anyone go insane.  I concur with the both of them.  After all, they’re “family”, albeit a tad dysfunctional, but nonetheless, I sympathize with their differing points of view.

Ms. Thesaurus had quite the superiority complex, a bona-fide show-off skilled at showcasing her vast repertoire of synonyms.   A literal treasury of ideas and expressions, as well as countless versions of opposing antonyms were more than enough to prove her point.  

Monsieur Dictionary was quite the je ne sais quoi know-it-all, honoured to document all facets of a word.  Definitions, meanings and pronunciations, just to name a few.

They used to work in tandem and were one heck of an unstoppable team, a writer’s dream, but now all that they do is point fingers and scream.  The two used to discourse, debate, bounce ideas around and create in the good old days of far-away yesterday.

The fracas started over the simplest of wordings.

Whether to go fishing, spend a weekend in Long Island, holiday in Spain, take a siesta, frolic in the park or jubilee unapologetically once we’re all set free.

Are you kidding me?  Give me a break!

To be continued…


Next post:  In one or two weeks, the w/o June 29th or w/o July 5th, either on Thursday or Friday or thereabouts.  Stay tuned!  Stay home, stay safe and catch up on your reading!!





A great place to contemplate





Dreaming of my favourite library











Tick tock of the quarantine clock in Week 13 of Cabin Fever

I’ve had enough.  I’m done.  I’m so over this.  I can’t do this anymore.  I want to go back.

Week 13 in Quarantine was not starting out so well.  You would think that by the 3rd month mark, I would have adjusted and settled into my lockdown life, established a new routine and taken it all in stream.  Instead, I’m climbing the walls and wearing out the rug as I pace up and down the hall.

I’m claustrophobic, desperate to get out of this confining space and break free.  

But, there’s nowhere to go.

And speaking about walls, I even befriended that ever so chatty Fly on the wall.  He was forever buzzing around, yet I would pay him scant attention and swat him away.  I was hasty to judge in labelling him a nuisance, let alone a pest.  Bored, he’s been cooped up indoors, giddy with glee to chitchat with me.  Needless to say, we bonded over Chardonnay and gossiped the days away.  We caught up on secrets, theories and all sorts of conspiracies.  The preposterous tales of the liaisons and intrigues of my neighbours were television dramas come to life.  Turns out that the incessant banging and clanging reverberating from upstairs, startling me awake night after night, were not the menacing machinations of Hannibal but the wonky dance moves of a disco obsessed granny belting out the soundtrack to “I Will Survive”.

Oy vey.

The dust bunnies were next in line to make my acquaintance.  They were a happy-go-lucky bunch that drifted from place to place, gathering followers along the way.  Far from shy, they popped up in every which corner and enjoyed playing games.  Their current fav:  Hide & Seek.   Their motto:  Catch me if you can.

Mr. Clean and Mrs. Comet were an inseparable team, full of glimmer and hope.  Always looking on the bright side, their mantra of sparkle and shine was an inspiration of sunnier days ahead.

All of this tidy and toil was taking quite the toll.  Bored with the monotony of spic and span, I was desperate for a change of scene.  I had ants in my pants and I was itching to go fishing.  Anywhere!  Should I jet off to a snow-capped Alpine village or just lounge on a chaise and sip champagne in Capri?  Or perhaps camp out by a lake closer to home and contemplate the wonder and the mystery of the secrets veiled in our galaxy?

Alas, the dream of the wild blue yonder was a taunt of a mirage dangling well beyond my grasp.  It’s also a tad far.  I don’t have a car.  My passport’s expired and the border is closed.  After all, we’re in Day 89 of lockdown.  How dare I forget?   A momentary lapse and a blip of a slip have cast me adrift, trapped in the grip of the quarantine clock.  Sigh…

Nothing like trudging dejectedly back into the house, where lo and behold, I came eyeball to eyeball with an unexpected visitor aka The Mouse.

Eek! 

Next post:  In one week or two!  The w/o June 22nd or June 29th, either on Tuesday, Wednesday or thereabouts.  Stay tuned.

Stay home, stay safe and catch up with your reading!

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Bags packed!  Next stop:  Vacation!

Packed for a year-long vay-cay anywhere!!!!!

How I miss schlepping luggage!!