Getting a CLUE
Sometimes you can make peace with your past in the strangest ways.
Nathan and I love board games, and over the years, we’ve amassed quite a few. Recently—in the interests of downsizing becoming not too much longer than a decade away—I decided to go through them, and keep only those we actually played/enjoyed on a regular basis.
We love Clue, and have two versions: the 1972 release, which I got for one of my birthdays—I’m thinking I was 9 or 10 and yes we played the crap out of it when I was growing up; and Disney Parks’ Haunted Mansion Clue in a shiny tin, which we bought on one of our many Disney trips (not sure which one; I’m sure there’s a photo someplace). But then I found another version in the trunk, one that I’d gotten for Christmas of 1985: the Clue VCR Mystery Game.

The CLUE VCR MYSTERY GAME box. It’s in really good shape for being almost forty years old, although I did tape up all the edges with clear packing tape to reinforce it, because I plan on using it a lot in the near future.
I was actually shocked Read the rest of this entry
HARD RESET!
My bags (how cool are THESE that my hubby bought me for my birthday this year?) are packed!
The last three years have been thrilling and blessed—they’ve also been overwhelming and SO workaholic that I’ve been barely able to keep up (and yes, the blog is the first thing that goes to the wayside). Couple that with some personal and health issues, and the fact that I haven’t been on a “real” vacation since 2018 (one that wasn’t a writer’s retreat, which is fun, yes, but also, work)… I’m burned out. It’s time for what I think of as a hard reset. No writing, no editing, no work of any kind, no THINKING about writing, editing, or work of any kind. After polishing and subbing one last short story before I shut everything down, it’s brain erasure time, people!
So, I’m off to visit my friend Michele in Florida, and we have a whole week of NOTHING planned. The pool, lunch at a Tiki bar with a fellow writer (okay, we’re doing some Insta/promo pix, but we’ll be drinking while we do it, so that’s not work except making sure I don’t look like a slob), and other than that, hanging out. Except for maybe an airboat ride to fossil hunt if the weather cooperates (and if we don’t just decide that doing nothing is better on that particular day).
I will have some VERY big announcements I haven’t yet made here on the blog because I’ve been too busy to get to it, so there’s a chockablock of good news coming your way.
Stay tuned, have a great week, and see you on the flip!
A look at MoMA’s CRAFTING DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO exhibit
I’ve been so overwhelmed and deep into projects I’ve barely had time to breathe—but even though there’s light at the end of the tunnel, the burnout is real.
My friend Kristina and I, along with our friend Brigid, had planned a trip into New York City to see the Crafting del Toro’s Pinocchio exhibit this past Saturday, and it turned out to be Read the rest of this entry
Enjoy 34 ORCHARD Issue 4’s cover? Take a gander at the artist’s other work!
If you enjoyed Issue 4 (Autumn 2021)’s cover art—Walter H. Von Egidy’s The Ghosts of the Fair—then you’ll enjoy this post, where you’ll get to see some of his other work.
His 34 Orchard bio:
Walter H. Von Egidy (Cover Art/The Ghost of the Fair) is an American artist, painter and film maker known for his Super 8 photoplays and enamel/oil paintings.
He has had his work exhibited at Gallery 13, The Burnham Library, Housatonic Art League and the White Silo. He has seven finished portrait commissions and private and public collections including a portrait of composer Franz Waxman at Byrd Library, Syracuse University. His work has won first place at various film festivals including the United States Super 8 Film Festival at Rutgers University. He is the owner of New Milford Sign Shop and Von’s Studio. Most recently, his painting “Saturday Night in the Caverns” was chosen as the cover for writer Bob Deakin’s collection, Unruly Mix (Tales of Music, Artists, Posers and Misfits. You can see more of Walter’s work and contact him at www.walterhvonegidy.com.
Every March, Von Egidy holds an exhibit of his works—many of them new—at the Burnham Library in Bridgewater, Connecticut. It’s always a stellar event, with many people we know from town as well as a chance to enjoy Walter’s work up close. One thing about his art—it’s Dali-esque, it’s colorful, and there’s always a good bet you’ll find a piece that speaks to you.