Congratulations to My New Scholarship Recipient I’m thrilled to announce that I have awarded my 28th scholarship via the Eric E. Fiore Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Kansas Cosmosphere to send a student to Space Camp. Congrats to Wyatt Wells of Wichita, Kansas who is the 2025 award winner. Interested in learning more about the amazing life of USAF NATO F-15 pilot/experimental test pilot Eric E. Fiore? Read “Flight through Fire.”
Dear liberal, progressive friends, I’ve canvassed with you. I’ve gone to hundreds of rallies, protests, and marches. I’ve phone banked and knocked on so many doors I can’t count them all. I’ve been right with you for the past 8 years—attending weekly meetings, commenting on state bills, going to town halls, and getting petitions signed. Shall I continue? The point is that YOU NEED ME. If we are going to wrestle our country back from…
Ditch X (formerly Twitter) and come over to a better social media site called Blue Sky. The sun is warm, the skies are blue, and the toxic atmosphere of X–run by that vile selfish man–is absent. What is Blue Sky? Check out some info here. Need the app? I’ve got you covered. When you get there, give me a follow and a shout out: @writer-pilot.bsky.social See you soon!
“I went to East Africa. It was nice.” Nice? Did this friend really just describe a trip to East Africa as “nice”? That word is barely a step above OK and implies that there was nothing particularly impressive about it. She went on to tell me about the cruise she was going on next year. In her defense, all trips depend on HOW you take them. A “cheap” safari trip to Africa, staying in a…
Musings on the State of American Democracy Is it failing? Is it in danger of failing? A Brief Introductory Note I try to use my platform to entertain, post book reviews, promote my five published books, speak about the power of words, and make you laugh with memes about my sweet little terrier, Finnegan. But We live in uncertain times. We live in scary times. We live in divisive times. Politics…
For a liberal, my election priority is not exactly typical. Perhaps it is due to my upbringing as a military “brat” or my devotion to my late husband—a NATO fighter pilot. Yes, there are important election issues like protecting women’s rights and the environment. Folks are concerned about affording groceries and gas. Healthcare, homelessness, immigration, education, gun control, and a host of other things affect us all. But protecting democracy should be our primary focus…
You’ve decided to learn Dutch. Congrats and good luck! If I can do it, anyone can. But… Unless you are gifted in languages (definitely not me!), you’ll need a lot of time for studying and a whole bunch of tenacity. After two years of study, I feel I should be further along on my language journey, so I’m going to the Netherlands for a month of intensive immersion in Bart de Pau’s Dutch Summer…
Stop by the Tucson Festival of Books and say hello! The March 4-5, 2023 Tucson Festival of Books in Tucson, Arizona is a GO!! I will be in the Young Adult Indie Pavilion on Sunday March 5 from 1:30 p.m. – 4:30p.m (subject to change). If you are one of the first 8 people to buy the entire “Skye Van Bloem Trilogy” at the special festival price of $30, you will receive a FREE beautiful,…
How Bad Was the London Heat Wave? As my daughter and I were ending our hike in the beautifully cool Scottish Highlands, several people cautioned us about the heat wave soon to hit London. We laughed. I live in southeast Arizona, in the Sonoran Desert, and my daughter lives in central Florida. Not only have we lived with hot weather, but we actually prefer it. It was supposed to be 100 deg F soon after…
She said it would be a relaxing stroll around Loch Ness Lake. “Easy-peasy,” she said. “No poles necessary.” There would be an impressive 24-mile-long lake with spectacular views, cute B&B’s, hearty Scottish food, quaint villages, fields of highland cows, and cool weather. She was right about everything but one. The journey around Loch Ness Lake is no beginner hike. I’ve done a fourteener in the Colorado Rocky…