S.L. Pritchard

Oh gawd, I gotta lay off the velveeta right before bed..... Please read this.... I know it's long winded..... you might find it kinda amusing.....Last Nite's Dream.... ...okay.......ummmm.....okay, like I had this really weird dream last nite.......it starts like this....Chris Anderson, who was dressed exactly like jesus, was standing in a field of sheep, smiling that killer sexy smile of his.... ...and on the backs of the sheep were portraits of famous musical artists like BB King, Steve Herriot,  Son House, Howlin Wolf, Zeppelin, Stones, Beatles, et cetera et cetera..... all he had to do was walk over to each sheep, touch them with his shepherds crook, and the music came out of their mouths...no foolin'...... ....so he played me a few tunes, said it looked like a nice day, offered me a glass of wine, then pointed in the direction of the beach.... "She's over there," he said. "I'm going over tonight for supper, for barbeque. You're not

     I lived on an island off the north coast of Wales for many years, the Isle of Anglesey, and it was an amazing experience. During those years, I did many of the things that are considered the most important things a woman can do with her life: I met a man, was courted by him, married him, made a home with him, gave him a son. I was a good friend to many, whether it was the local butcher (who gave us very nice scraps for our dogs) or kind to the local Irish gypsies that trundled by our cottage twice a year offering to sharpen our knives (in exchange for a hot meal for their children). I kept a garden that gave us some terrific things for our own kitchen but also gave me some goodies to trade with others. I also got involved with fundraising for a local charity, an organization that helped disabled Veterans. I knitted and crocheted baby things for the hospital, and so much enjoyed that. I joined the local middle class (which meant I bought a used car for myself) and gave people ride

When I pray, I address a person. Do you do that? I have to believe there is a being somewhere out there that is listening intently, guiding me, protecting me, seeing down the road a ways, ready to warn me when things are about to get rough. I guess that is one way to describe god. When I was little, family members tried to teach me - from their Christian points of view - what god was all about. The thing I disliked the most about that view of god was how pre-packaged and processed it seemed. This is what Jesus looked like. This is what heaven looks like. This is what happens when you go up there and get to meet up with dead relatives and your childhood puppy and you never have to worry about getting fat in heaven. No one is crying, no one is sad. No one is suffering, no one does anything bad. My six year old questions were about baths and food and bedtime and parents not living together. My perspective was from the point of view of a curious kid who really couldn't figure out the

     It's been a strange season of trying to bind up old wounds, clean up forgotten messes, mend some fences, and other such silly sayings. Some of those situations are my doing, some not. And I'm not at all sure why I felt compelled to seek out people from my past or revisit experiences that went unresolved. It just happened that way. I reached out, I found a few things that I could do to put things right, but most everything that was unfinished or unresolved was just gonna hafta stay that way. I'm sure that's normal & natural for everyone. It's not that I feel the "end is coming" or anything like that. It's more like, this chapter is ready to close and I want to have a quick review to see if there's anything I can do to make things smoother, take off some of the rough edges here and there. I dislike leaving a mess behind, whether it's at a friends house after spending a weekend, or a hotel room bed all unmade, or even a camp site. I like

     There’s nothing that will get the tears flowing like a “mental vacation” to Wales. Pair that with a Mother’s Day event like we’re planning for next year, when several mothers will be all at the same place for once in our family's history, and there won’t be enough kleenex to deal with all that maternal precipitation.      Heavens Above, I miss that place. I lived there from September 1985 until November 1988, and again for a year in 1996/97. I’d been studying the history of Wales for many years. I’d studied the language, the cuisine, the music of Wales, specifically harp music (I play the harp). I’d been captivated by the story of Wales. I’ve been in love with that place for as long as I can recall. I found “home” there once, something I’ve been looking for all of my life. Something I’m looking for, still. All the best things that can happen to a woman, happened to me there. I was married, I had my first home, I had a baby, I had my own garden at last. I lived my life accor

Chapter 1.      There was a quietness about being at sea. Although there always seemed to be the sound of wind and waves and the engines throbbing, all the time, all night and all day, those seemed to be natural noises. They had their place on the waves. They were things that belonged, when at at sea. The things that did not belong and that were repugnant to hear were angry voices of the workers, or an angry dog barking, or the ghastly sound of breaking glass. Sometimes that would happen in a gale. A window would just finally give way after a terrible pounding. It was expected in the course of a day or evening of gales and waves that some window glass somewhere would get busted. Often a fish or sea bird would be found very nearby the site of the breakage and that made it easy to figure out how it got broken.    Some critter was caught in the maelstrom and got hurled into a window. If it had hit a human, it would have done damage to him. In fact that did actually happen once. The p

   A few months ago, I found I had some credit left on one of my nearly maxed-out charge cards. I wanted to spend that money before the winter ended, so I went shopping online. I looked at all kinds of things, none of which I really needed and none of which I actually bought. I put many things in my shopping cart, but when it came time to check out, I removed them all - all except this one dress - it was a bandana print maxi dress - all cotton, red white and blue, border print with paisley patterns and fleur-de-lis motifs, short sleeves, patch pockets and a three button placket yoke. It's very much the kind of garment I would have sewed for myself if I had a sewing machine in my own sewing room in my own home. That was my plan for this part of my life. To have my own Home. Lots of hobbies. A sewing room. Making many of my own clothes.  My own garden. Kids & Grandkids, reasonably good health, a circle of friends that I'd known for many years, for decades, many since the thi

     Why don't I have a job? Why, oh, why? I'm a good worker. I have some good experience. I make good cookies and like bringing them to work. I have some excellent qualifications - I have three college degrees! All of them are in education: a Bachelor's in English (1985), a Masters in History (2008) and a Masters in Education (2015). I worked hard for those degrees. I'll be in debt for student loans for the next 30+ years on account of those degrees. And the job I have now - this little tiny under-paid barely part-time hours per week job I have now, doesn't use any of the knowledge I've accumulated over the past 30-something years working in the field of Education. This job I have now uses the typing skills I learned as a sophomore in high school. And I'm quite glad to have this job, even though I complain about it, now & then. If I didn't have it I would be living out of my car and dumpster diving for my meals, and that's a fact. I stumbled i

     This essay is about the commitment I am making to become a better, more informed consumer. In the process of getting to know social media, specifically Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, I’ve become aware of the environmental issues that are most stridently pushed forward by both the industries that benefit from consumer awareness to those topics, and the startling fact of how terribly ignorant I am of those matters.     Here’s a list of things I’ve learned, and that guide me, when making some of my decisions as a consumer: 1)    Planting trees & seeds that will help the problems we’re seeing in the natural world. We’ve got to help the birds & bees & butterflies, not because it’s pretty or hippie-dippie or looks good on a bumper sticker. We’ve got to do it because the natural world is where we get air and food and water. If we don’t try to make an improvement, it will be asthma/emphysema everywhere, less food at affordable prices, and foul water that will make us w

     At the risk of being blasphemous and possibly being struck by lightening in my tiny, ill-lit, ill-ventilated 386 square foot apartment, I will start out my blog with the above title.*       I've written and notarized my will, so I should be good to go. [Insert laugh here]      I've been planning on doing this for about a year now, but a very recent comment on yet another comment of mine in a FaceBook thread about the very recent demise of a purple rock star, spurred me to take the plunge and start this writing behavior. What the commentor about my comments about Prince who has been much commented on since he did his disappearing act in the elevator of Paisley Park Studios, what was said was, " Your words were beautiful and touched my soul. " What I heard in my head was, " You're an incredibly talented wordsmith and you should drop everything and write, write, write about anything, everything, about the breakfast you had this morning, about how y