Frugal Poet's Guide to Life

I'm continuing the series on developing the five senses, based on "The How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci Workbook" by Michae...

To continue this mini-series on the five senses, which is both inspired and adapted from the book "The How to Think Like Leonardo da Vi...

Wabi-sabi , the quintessential Japanese aesthetic, can be applied to journaling and is, in fact, an integral part of true journaling, whethe...

Naikan (pronounced nye-kahn) is a Japanese practice that blends meditation and gratitude. The word means "inner observation," mad...

The British blog, Shedworking , which is devoted to stories on garden offices and other small dwellings, recently featured a story on my two...

The guitar, the drums, the flamenco dance, the romance of Alhambra Palace on Fridays! Soul and Duende Flamenco Dance Company performs for ...

Where else can you enjoy nine Irish plays in six days? This is the first year Chicago's Irish American Heritage Center and Shapeshifters...

Come to a new spoken word venue in Chicago, Dragonlady Lounge , on Sunday, May 30 at 7 p.m. You're invited to a book release party for a...

Even though we enjoyed dinner at Chalkboard Restaurant in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Chicago last night at 5:00 p.m., my husband a...

Chicago poet and arts critic Effie Mihopoulos, who published and promoted her fellow poets for decades, and took an active role in the Chica...

I must be still ringing in the New Year, because I finally got around to my semi-annual treat of a body scrub at Paradise Sauna in Chicago ...

Every once in a blue moon, such as the one we're having this New Year's, I'll post a complete poem that I wrote. Here's one ...

Poet and fiction writer Sandra Cisneros turns 55 on Dec. 20, but she happened to sneak into her hometown a little early to celebrate her bir...

I occasionally try different writers' groups in Chicago. One balmy Saturday in November, I attended the Illinois Woman's Press Assoc...

When we think of Thanksgivings of the past, our memories can often blur into visual "bytes" of rising before sun-up, basting turke...

One of the best times to start a journal is during a special trip or vacation. And when teamed with photos and drawings, the same journal e...

A friend, Kim, who's a wine merchant, laid a windfall of bottles on me before leaving for Italy on a business trip. She's destined t...

Behind the front-row-center Main Street scene in Galena, Illinois, lie some hidden treasures worth unveiling. Linmar Gardens high on the hil...

Before Park Ridge, Illinois, was famous as Hillary Clinton's home town, it was famous for the Deep End Club, one of the few venues that ...

This poem, inspired by Wallace Stevens' "13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" traces 12 moon months according to the names given...