I was challenged to write a piece for our writers’ organization, Red Wheelbarrow Writers, to be published in a collective anthology. Here was the assignment: Submit fiction, nonfiction, and poetry that captures the importance of a particular place and its power to surprise, transform and inspire. Keen observation of everyday scenes reveals how simple, seemingly…Read more »
Moroccan Sheep Migration: A Nomadic Tradition
Posted by in Travel (Click on the two video links below) Our OAT Tour (Overseas Adventure Tour) was winding through the mid-Atlas Mountains of Morocco in 2024 when our guide, Mohamed told our driver to stop the bus and said with excitement, “Come and look!” Mohamed is Amazigh or Berber as Westerners call the indigenous people. (Amazigh is their…Read more »
Embracing Aging: My Yoga Journey
(All images in this blog are computer generated.) “I can’t walk that far, I’m too old.” These are my mother’s words as I tried to encourage her out of the car to walk one block to see one of the geysers at Yellowstone. She never got out. “I can see the top of it from…Read more »
Sunrise, Sunset 2024
As this rosy sunrise brought us 2024, much has happened in our lives and around the world. But as the sun sets this December, I want to end with photos taken throughout the year. I have written about some of the images with others in upcoming blogs. Enjoy, and I wish you a healthy and splendid…Read more »
No Gifts Opened at Christmas
Posted by in Pink Flamingos, Travel In recent months Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon bombed each other only a few miles from my Lebanese family. At this moment there is a ceasefire agreement. This is a Christmas Story that happened in December 2022 during a peaceful time in Lebanon with its struggling economy. I found a safe window of travel to…Read more »
2024 Holiday Book Special
Posted by in Pink Flamingos, Uncategorized In Search of Pink Flamingos was published over four years ago and its reception is still going strong. Over 30 book clubs have hosted my book and I attended most of these as the guest author, in person or virtually, with no fee. I offer a slideshow with videos from Liberia followed by a robust…Read more »
Honoring & Reuniting Veterans
Posted by in Heartfelt This U.S. Memorial Day Holiday (a day we honor and remember all of our veterans), I want to include a story written in 2008 about my former husband’s 86-year-old uncle Truman. Truman enjoyed reminiscing about the past. When he spoke of being in the war, I assumed he was speaking of World War II. (Truman…Read more »
Whirling Dervishes of Turkey: “Ritual of Sema”
Posted by in Travel, Uncategorized Some of us have heard of these mesmerizing men who twirl for hours in long white skirts. I wanted to learn more. My OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) to Turkey in 2023 included a demonstration of this dance; a Sufi tradition (Muslim religious figures akin to monks) that involves spinning faster and faster to summon the…Read more »
Camel Caravans in Turkey
Posted by in Travel I traveled to Turkey for the first time in June 2023. So many fascinating experiences caught my fancy. But this one stood out as the cousin to our interstate truck stops or roadside inns in America. Camel caravan rest stops –caravanserais– were created before gasoline, diesel, big-rig trucks, and motor homes. The journeys of merchants and their animal…Read more »
Maternal Mortality Among Black American Women
Posted by in Pink Flamingos I recently read some alarming statistics and want to share them with you. After my Peace Corps assignment as a health education volunteer during the early 70s in Liberia, West Africa the topic of Maternal and Child Health became near and dear to my heart. The maternal mortality in the country at that time was…Read more »
Susan E. Greisen 