Which Lou Loses?

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

WHICH LOU LOSES?

One night, while watching CHEERS, the following limerick “appeared” in my head, and I jotted it down before I could forget it. Perhaps it was my muse inspiring me!

~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

My parents did name me Lou,

I was named for

Myths Writers Believe

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

MYTHS WRITERS BELIEVE

     Writers apply many “myths” to their field of work. Below are my personal responses to a few of them.

• THE RULES DON’T APPLY TO ME*

      I’ve have writers who emphatically state that they don’t have to follow the rules: their writing is “so good” that the editors will bypass these rules and publish the piece. They don’t write in the publication’s style. They don’t submit their work according to guidelines. And they don’t understand that these behaviors lead their submission right into a circular file.

• I SHOULD SPEND A LOT OF TIME FANTASIZING OVER WHERE I WILL BE PUBLISHED NOW THAT I’VE WRITTEN TWO CHAPTERS OF MY NOVEL*

     People frequently ask me where and how I’m going to publish my novel.

     I don’t know. I don’t even know when the novel will be finished—it’s not being written as quickly as I hoped it would be.

     I could spend my time perusing publishers, agents, and self-publishing sites. However, to me this is a

Emergency Responders Act to Save Animals

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

EMERGENCY RESPONDERS ACT TO SAVE ANIMALS

      On December 16, 2009, a black cat, rescued from the flames of a fire in Herminie (PA), was administered oxygen at the scene. During a January 8, 2010, barn fire in Bullskin Township (PA), a trapped pig that was rescued from the fire, received oxygen.

Could this cat need to be saved from...

     After Herminie firefighter Joseph Marincic rescued the cat, he delivered it to Jonathan Jobe, Sewickley Township Ambulance assistant chief EMS personnel. It was “frothing at the mouth, lying there lifeless, but still breathing,” according to Jobe.

     Emergency medical worker Barry Walters worked on the cat for about thirty minutes.

     “I cleaned it off and gave it oxygen. I just kept it wrapped it in a blanket and kept rinsing its mouth out. It responded to the oxygen,” he said, noting that the cat’s owners were “very appreciative….We told them if it has trouble breathing to take it to the vet.”

     Walters said that “Saving any life gives you a good feeling, I like helping people, animals, whatever.”

      Volunteer firefighter, John Stillwagon, who administered oxygen to the pig, would likely concur.

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     It was truly a dark and stormy night, filled with rain and lightning. When I heard a loud crash, I raced to

Flag Man (Bob Cornell) Shivers

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

FLAG MAN (BOB CORNELL) SHIVERS

Sonny Schwartz*

FLAG DAY IS ALWAYS JUNE 14. This year I’m posting a newspaper column Sonny Schwartz wrote about my father, Robert William Cornell.

      Yesterday was Bob Cornell’s day.

     Nah, not his birthday. That was May 28.

    Nor the anniversary of his retirement from the Navy after 30 years of active and inactive service. That was June 4, 1971.

Flag flying on (or near) the original Cornell homestead, Portsmouth (Middletown), R. I.

     Yesterday was Flag Day.

     And on Flag Day, the former U. S. Navy chief aviation photographer stands tall.

     Tall-ship tall…

     Cornell, you see, is a flag fanatic, though he winces at the categorization.

     And it’s the American Flag, good Old Glory, that turns Cornell on and sends star-spangled bannered shivers down his spine.

     Now don’t think for a moment that Bob Cornell is your ordinary inveterate flag buff.

     He’s much more than that. Much more.

     He eats, drinks, talks, walks, breathes and sleeps the American Flag.

     Cornell’s a veritable human book of knowledge when it comes to the U. S. Flag, a subject he’s studied with intensity since

Rabbit’s Foot Fern

 

RABBIT'S FOOT FERN

CAROLYN’S COMPOSITIONS

 

 

RABBIT’S FOOT FERN

     The plant sits on my filing cabinet during the winter and on my patio railing during the summer. My finger gently strokes the furry length of one of the tarantula-like legs that extend over the edge of the flower pot. I caress the soft “hairs” that are a delightful blend of tans and browns, a characteristic that makes the leg resemble a rabbit’s foot.

     My finger must gently bypass the delicate, lacey, ferns that grow out of the plant known as the “rabbit’s foot fern.”

     I received the unique plant from a good friend, Virginia DePew, around 1978. We were living in rural Slippery Rock then. Virginia and her husband, Elmer, were our neighbors. I am reminded of them at the times I care for and/or enjoy the plant.

     Last spring, I realized that the plant was root-bound. It wasn’t until this spring that I decided to repot it, separating it into multiple plants which I could pass on to friends and relatives.

     Once separated, I figured that I needed to supply information on the plant with those who were receiving its starts, including friends and members of the Beanery Writers Group.

     I also gave starts to the Conservatory, a plant and gift shop for gardeners on Rt. 30 in Laughlintown, PA. Persons visiting the shop, open betweenMay 1 and September 30, can ask the owner, Terry Coyne, about the plant. Her shop is open Friday through Monday, 11:00 to 6:00.

     To research the plant, I did my usual: surf the Internet. There I learned that the plant is a