Tag: Winter

Winter Song #SundaySunshine #Gratitude #Poetry

This week, I’m thankful that one of my poems was recently published in The Weekly Avocet. You can click here to download the magazine and enjoy all the wonderful nature poems in this issue.

I wrote this years ago during a local Range Writers meting, where a guest facilitator showed us how to write a type of French sonnet with a specific rhyming structure. Back then, we were having a brutal winter, and that inspired this poem. Enjoy!

***

WINTER SONG

By Abbie Johnson Taylor

I’m frightened of slipping on ice,

falling and breaking my ribs.

The days are as quiet as mice.

“More nice days,” the weatherman fibs.

Conditions are ever so cold.

The forecast is ever so nasty.

Still, I must be so bold

when I’d rather enjoy a hot pasty.

I’m wishing the weather were fine.

It’s too frigid now for ice cream.

If only I’d see the sunshine.

Is it really a crime to dream?

I wish we could have warmer days,

get rid of this wintery haze.

***

 


Abbie wears a blue and white V-neck top with different shades of blue from sky to navy that swirl together with the white. She has short, brown hair and rosy cheeks and smiles at the camera against a black background.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description

by Two Pentacles Publishing

New! Living Vicariously in Wyoming: Stories

Copyright 2025 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Published independently with the help of DLD Books.

The scene shows an isolated barn off to the right in a snowy field, probably shortly after sunset. The foreground is a mixture of white, blue, and brown shades. Behind the barn is a line of dense, dark trees, many of them evergreens. The sky is the pink one sometimes sees at sunset, and a full moon hangs above the treetops to the left. The title is in plain black letters against the sky with a white glow behind them. The author’s name is in white letters near the bottom of the cover.

Image Description written by Leonore Dvorkin of DLD Books.

 

As defined in the first story, living vicariously means living your life through someone else’s. You’re invited to live vicariously through the lives of the people in these stories. There’s the lawyer who catches his wife in the act with a nun. A college student identifies with a character in a play. A young woman loses her mother and finds her father. And a high school student’s prudish English teacher strenuously objects to a single word in her paper.

In Wyoming, as in any other state, people fall in love, and sometimes relationships are shattered. Accidents, domestic violence, prejudice, and crimes all occur. Lives are torn apart, and people are reunited. Ordinary people deal with everyday and not–so–everyday situations.

The 25 stories in this collection, most of which are set in Wyoming, are about how the various characters resolve their conflicts—or not.

 

Click here for more information and ordering links.

 

About My Monthly Newsletter

 

If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to News from My Corner by sending a blank email to:  newsfrommycorner+subscribe@groups.io .  You’ll receive a confirmation email. Reply to that with another blank message, and you should be good to go. Happy reading!

Winter Returns to Wyoming #SundaySunshine #Gratitude #Jottings

Each Sunday, I share something that made me thankful recently. This week’s gratitude is for a welcome change in the weather.

***

After weeks of unseasonably warm temperatures and little moisture, I finally awoke Thursday morning to a world of white. It was in the single digits and predicted to only reach 15.

The volunteer who delivered my lunch from the senior center that day estimated we got about three inches. There’s probably more in the mountains. I’m thankful for the bountiful moisture that I hope is bringing much-needed relief.

***

What were you thankful for this past week? Please tell us in the comments or on your blog with a link to this post. Thank you for reading and always be grateful.

 


Abbie wears a blue and white V-neck top with different shades of blue from sky to navy that swirl together with the white. She has short, brown hair and rosy cheeks and smiles at the camera against a black background.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description

by Two Pentacles Publishing

New! Living Vicariously in Wyoming: Stories

Copyright 2025 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Published independently with the help of DLD Books.

The scene shows an isolated barn off to the right in a snowy field, probably shortly after sunset. The foreground is a mixture of white, blue, and brown shades. Behind the barn is a line of dense, dark trees, many of them evergreens. The sky is the pink one sometimes sees at sunset, and a full moon hangs above the treetops to the left. The title is in plain black letters against the sky with a white glow behind them. The author’s name is in white letters near the bottom of the cover.

Image Description written by Leonore Dvorkin of DLD Books.

 

As defined in the first story, living vicariously means living your life through someone else’s. You’re invited to live vicariously through the lives of the people in these stories. There’s the lawyer who catches his wife in the act with a nun. A college student identifies with a character in a play. A young woman loses her mother and finds her father. And a high school student’s prudish English teacher strenuously objects to a single word in her paper.

In Wyoming, as in any other state, people fall in love, and sometimes relationships are shattered. Accidents, domestic violence, prejudice, and crimes all occur. Lives are torn apart, and people are reunited. Ordinary people deal with everyday and not–so–everyday situations.

The 25 stories in this collection, most of which are set in Wyoming, are about how the various characters resolve their conflicts—or not.

 

Click here for more information and ordering links.

 

About My Monthly Newsletter

 

If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to News from My Corner by sending a blank email to:  newsfrommycorner+subscribe@groups.io .  You’ll receive a confirmation email. Reply to that with another blank message, and you should be good to go. Happy reading!

 

Not quite Winter #TuesdayTidbit #Poetry #Inspiration

January day

cold gnaws fingers through warm gloves

few flakes dot the ground

 

silent winter park

a gray January day

hardly any snow

 

Wyoming winter
abnormally warm weather
what will summer bring

***

This winter, here in Wyoming, we’ve been getting a lot of unseasonably warm and dry weather. On one such day, I walked to the YMCA for water exercise, then downtown to do one or two errands. The things I observed while walking inspired the above haiku, which were published recently in The Weekly Avocet. I hope you’ll take time to download here and read the other wonderful work in this issue. Thank you for stopping by.

 


Abbie wears a blue and white V-neck top with different shades of blue from sky to navy that swirl together with the white. She has short, brown hair and rosy cheeks and smiles at the camera against a black background.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description

by Two Pentacles Publishing

New! Living Vicariously in Wyoming: Stories

Copyright 2025 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Published independently with the help of DLD Books.

The scene shows an isolated barn off to the right in a snowy field, probably shortly after sunset. The foreground is a mixture of white, blue, and brown shades. Behind the barn is a line of dense, dark trees, many of them evergreens. The sky is the pink one sometimes sees at sunset, and a full moon hangs above the treetops to the left. The title is in plain black letters against the sky with a white glow behind them. The author’s name is in white letters near the bottom of the cover.

Image Description written by Leonore Dvorkin of DLD Books.

 

As defined in the first story, living vicariously means living your life through someone else’s. You’re invited to live vicariously through the lives of the people in these stories. There’s the lawyer who catches his wife in the act with a nun. A college student identifies with a character in a play. A young woman loses her mother and finds her father. And a high school student’s prudish English teacher strenuously objects to a single word in her paper.

In Wyoming, as in any other state, people fall in love, and sometimes relationships are shattered. Accidents, domestic violence, prejudice, and crimes all occur. Lives are torn apart, and people are reunited. Ordinary people deal with everyday and not–so–everyday situations.

The 25 stories in this collection, most of which are set in Wyoming, are about how the various characters resolve their conflicts—or not.

 

Click here for more information and ordering links.

 

About My Monthly Newsletter

 

If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to News from My Corner by sending a blank email to:  newsfrommycorner+subscribe@groups.io .  You’ll receive a confirmation email. Reply to that with another blank message, and you should be good to go. Happy reading!

Welcoming Winter #MondayMusings #OpenBookBlogHop #WritingPrompts

Welcome to another Open Book Blog Hop. This week’s prompt is:

 

Winter is coming to the northern part of the world. (It’s here!). Do you have any plans, or do you prefer to hide from the cold?

 

Living Life Despite Winter

 

I don’t have plans for the holidays except for facilitating an ACB (American Council of the Blind) Community call Christmas Eve and maybe attending a church service that night if it doesn’t conflict with my event and I can get a ride. Christmas Day, I’ll probably just stay in and enjoy a delicious hot meal delivered from the senior center and maybe more ACB Community calls, depending on what’s available.

My brother will no doubt send me a care package, and I’ll open that Christmas morning. We may get together on Zoom or Facetime. Will see.

As for the rest of the winter, I’ll just keep doing what I always do: write, perform, exercise, and otherwise enjoy life. I don’t make it a point to hibernate. But if the weather’s bad enough, and I don’t have to go out, I don’t. Life goes on.

 

What About You?

 

Do you plan to stay active this winter or hibernate? You can answer in the comment field or click here to join the conversation and read about other bloggers’ winter plans. Thank you for stopping by.

 


Abbie wears a blue and white V-neck top with different shades of blue from sky to navy that swirl together with the white. She has short, brown hair and rosy cheeks and smiles at the camera against a black background.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description

by Two Pentacles Publishing

 

My Books Free from Smashwords This Month

 

I’m pleased to announce that Living Vicariously in Wyoming, Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me, The Red Dress, and My Ideal Partner are available as part of the Smashwords 2025 End of Year Sale! This runs till the end of the month. Click here to visit my Smashwords author page and download these books ABSOLUTELY FREE! Happy reading!

 

New! Living Vicariously in Wyoming: Stories

Copyright 2025 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Published independently with the help of DLD Books.

 

The scene shows an isolated barn off to the right in a snowy field, probably shortly after sunset. The foreground is a mixture of white, blue, and brown shades. Behind the barn is a line of dense, dark trees, many of them evergreens. The sky is the pink one sometimes sees at sunset, and a full moon hangs above the treetops to the left. The title is in plain black letters against the sky with a white glow behind them. The author’s name is in white letters near the bottom of the cover.

Image Description written by Leonore Dvorkin of DLD Books.

 

As defined in the first story, living vicariously means living your life through someone else’s. You’re invited to live vicariously through the lives of the people in these stories. There’s the lawyer who catches his wife in the act with a nun. A college student identifies with a character in a play. A young woman loses her mother and finds her father. And a high school student’s prudish English teacher strenuously objects to a single word in her paper.

In Wyoming, as in any other state, people fall in love, and sometimes relationships are shattered. Accidents, domestic violence, prejudice, and crimes all occur. Lives are torn apart, and people are reunited. Ordinary people deal with everyday and not–so–everyday situations.

The 25 stories in this collection, most of which are set in Wyoming, are about how the various characters resolve their conflicts—or not.

 

Click here for more information and ordering links.

 

About My Monthly Newsletter

 

If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to News from My Corner by sending a blank email to:  newsfrommycorner+subscribe@groups.io .  You’ll receive a confirmation email. Reply to that with another blank message, and you should be good to go. Happy reading!

The Beginning of April #TuesdayTidbit #Poetry #Inspiration

Let me read it to you.

 

The Beginning of April

Copyright 2014 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

 

 

In like a lion,

bringing snow, cold,

her entrance fools us

into thinking winter’s still here.

Despite inclement weather,

birds keep chirping,

bring hope of new beginnings.

 

My Inspiration

 

In 2014, I was participating in Robert Lee Brewer’s poem-a-day challenge on the Writer’s Digest website. On April 1st of that year, we were prompted to write about the beginning of something. Because we’d been having erratic winter weather in April, usual for Wyoming, “The Beginning of April” was born.

It appears in the spring quarterly issue of The Avocet. You can click here to download this nature poetry journal. Thank you for reading.

 

Abbie wears a blue and white V-neck top with different shades of blue from sky to navy that swirl together with the white. She has short, brown hair and rosy cheeks and smiles at the camera against a black background.

Photo Courtesy of Tess Anderson Photography

Photo Resize and Description

by Two Pentacles Publishing

 

New! Living Vicariously in Wyoming: Stories

Copyright 2025 by Abbie Johnson Taylor

Published independently with the help of DLD Books.

 

The scene shows an isolated barn off to the right in a snowy field, probably shortly after sunset. The foreground is a mixture of white, blue, and brown shades. Behind the barn is a line of dense, dark trees, many of them evergreens. The sky is the pink one sometimes sees at sunset, and a full moon hangs above the treetops to the left. The title is in plain black letters against the sky with a white glow behind them. The author’s name is in white letters near the bottom of the cover.

Image Description written by Leonore Dvorkin of DLD Books.

 

As defined in the first story, living vicariously means living your life through someone else’s. You’re invited to live vicariously through the lives of the people in these stories. There’s the lawyer who catches his wife in the act with a nun. A college student identifies with a character in a play. A young woman loses her mother and finds her father. And a high school student’s prudish English teacher strenuously objects to a single word in her paper.

In Wyoming, as in any other state, people fall in love, and sometimes relationships are shattered. Accidents, domestic violence, prejudice, and crimes all occur. Lives are torn apart, and people are reunited. Ordinary people deal with everyday and not–so–everyday situations.

The 25 stories in this collection, most of which are set in Wyoming, are about how the various characters resolve their conflicts—or not.

 

Click here for more information and ordering links.

 

About My Monthly Newsletter

 

If you haven’t already done so, please subscribe to News from My Corner by sending a blank email to:  newsfrommycorner+subscribe@groups.io .  You’ll receive a confirmation email. Reply to that with another blank message, and you should be good to go. Happy reading!