THE SHARWA BAZAAR
I’m back with one of the many Deleted Scenes. This one is something of a hybrid — parts of it show up at a later time in the book. But here’s the original description of this amazing place, the one...
View ArticleNancy’s Midlife Adventures
My guest this week is Nancy Gregory, whom I met on the We Love Memoirs Facebook group I’ve mentioned before. Nancy, who now lives in Ecuador, is a returned Peace Corps volunteer (RPCV in keeping...
View ArticleFood
Another early deleted scene from At Home on the Kazakh Steppe. Food is such a large part of a culture: which types of food, how they are prepared, where they come from, the level of cleanliness, how...
View ArticleThe Unhappy Final Weeks
Once we got our medical clearance, the pace quickened. Here’s another deleted scene from our Pre-departure days. The phone call telling me I had cleared the final medical hurdle came in February...
View ArticleThanksgiving
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It’s Christmas without the need for presents. Good food, good friends, and family. I’ve traveled many miles over the years to be together with my family at...
View ArticleNew Year’s Eve, Kazakhstan Style
In honor of New Year’s Eve, here’s a Deleted Scene of my first New Year’s Eve in Kazakhstan. But this version is from my very first draft, it’s in present tense, and it’s actually from one of the many...
View ArticleFlexibility, Patience, and a Sense of Humor
As I collect the various Deleted Scenes to create a small eBook, I’m finding a few I’d like to recirculate. And rewrite! Here’s one from April, 2013, called Finding Serenity. This time around,...
View ArticleDay of Silence (DOS) April 17, 2015
This week I will celebrate (if that can be the word) the student-led National Day of Silence. These teenagers and young college kids promise not to speak for 24 hours. Who can’t be in support of that?...
View ArticlePointing
As I sort through the survey from two weeks ago, I’m posting this deleted scene. It’s one of my favorites because it shows in a concrete way how naive I was. Being naive can be a not-so-bad thing,...
View ArticleThe Sheep’s Head
Today I offer the last of my Deleted Scenes. But, to go out with a bang, this scene was deleted twice, a few years apart. Can you tell which came first? (ostensibly the weaker of the two) All those...
View ArticleOn the Train to Zhezkazgan
This could be Kansas. It could be any of my familiar Great Plains states except there are no crops. I see nothing growing at all — no wheat, no soybeans, no corn — no life of any sort except the...
View ArticleNovember 22, our day that will live in infamy
Today is the day before Thanksgiving (always the fourth Thursday in November), the most quintessentially American holiday I can name, right up there with July 4th (our Independence Day). This day...
View ArticleFood
Another early deleted scene from At Home on the Kazakh Steppe. Food is such a large part of a culture: which types of food, how they are prepared, where they come from, the level of cleanliness, how...
View ArticleThe Unhappy Final Weeks
Once we got our medical clearance, the pace quickened. Here’s another deleted scene from our Pre-departure days. The phone call telling me I had cleared the final medical hurdle came in February...
View ArticleThanksgiving
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It’s Christmas without the need for presents. Good food, good friends, and family. I’ve traveled many miles over the years to be together with my family at...
View ArticleNew Year’s Eve, Kazakhstan Style
In honor of New Year’s Eve, here’s a Deleted Scene of my first New Year’s Eve in Kazakhstan. But this version is from my very first draft, it’s in present tense, and it’s actually from one of the many...
View ArticleFlexibility, Patience, and a Sense of Humor
As I collect the various Deleted Scenes to create a small eBook, I’m finding a few I’d like to recirculate. And rewrite! Here’s one from April, 2013, called Finding Serenity. This time around,...
View ArticleDay of Silence (DOS) April 17, 2015
This week I will celebrate (if that can be the word) the student-led National Day of Silence. These teenagers and young college kids promise not to speak for 24 hours. Who can’t be in support of that?...
View ArticlePointing
As I sort through the survey from two weeks ago, I’m posting this deleted scene. It’s one of my favorites because it shows in a concrete way how naive I was. Being naive can be a not-so-bad thing,...
View ArticleThe Sheep’s Head
Today I offer the last of my Deleted Scenes. But, to go out with a bang, this scene was deleted twice, a few years apart. Can you tell which came first? (ostensibly the weaker of the two) All those...
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