Cold but beautiful #film #photography #explorewithme #filmsnotdead #35mm youtube.com/shorts/y43Br...

If you like #travel videos where the creator doesn’t have a team behind them and does it all solo, check out my #Patreon. #explorewithme www.patreon.com/mcgeetravelt...

Writing Club: Special Event Gone Wrong The prompt for this piece was to write about a special event gone wrong. It could be fiction, non-fiction, whatever makes the writer happy. Mine is fictional and I had a lot of fun writing it. Do you have a story about an event gone wrong that you could later…

Westward Expansion and #manifestdestiny are a fascinating part of American #history but this movement west came with a cost of native culture, lives, and animal biodiversity. Fort Larned National Historic Site youtu.be/vM1lTgSei9g

Any other #vibe readers here? How many #books are you currently reading and how different are they? #reading

Some of the best days are spent in the saddle. #horses #mules #travelvlog #utah #trailriding youtu.be/2kwJ9Mrzitc?...

Something about listening to a #vinyl record while it storms outside with my dog cuddling hit just right. #vibes

Cowtown Winery Stockyards Ghost Tour | Fort Worth, TX youtu.be/_nvXl_xmM4Y #ghosttour #haunted #fortworth #stockyards #cowtownwinery #texas

Writing Club: Poetry – Euphemism In the continuation of working with figurative language, this prompt was to use euphemisms. Euphemism: Figure of speech that replaces a harsh, direct, or unpleasant term with a milder, more indirect expression (Grammarly.com). We must be free-spirited And…

Cowtown Winery Ghost Tour at the Stockyards It has been a long time since I've done a Close to Home post where I talk about the importance of exploring places near to where you live that are often over looked because they are just in your backyard. We went on a ghost tour of the Fort Worth…

Writing Group: Love for a First Car Love can be for people, places, and for things. This prompt was one of mine to the different forms of love that are locked in our memories. Tell me about your first car in the comments. The Gold Brick My first car was a family hand-me-down. Originally my Nana’s…

Writing Group: Favorite Flower A little something for Valentine's Day. Not an ode to a person but love of a living thing. Thorny vines clinging to an old barbed wire fence. Delicate petals scorching under the Texas sun, edges turning from palest pink to scorched brown. Despite their delicate…

Come explore the history along the #SantaFeTrail #kansas #explorewithme #history #vlog #roadtrip #nationalparks Fort Larned National Historic Site youtu.be/vM1lTgSei9g

I just signed a @theactionnetwork.bsky.social petition: This World Wetlands Day: Defend the Endangered Species Act 🐊. Sign here: actionnetwork.org/petitions/th...

Looking Back: World History I really wanted this week's post to be about the beautiful trails we rode in Utah. But in light of resent events, I thought a look at history was a better use of my time. Here are some sights related to the events of WWII that I think are particularly meaningful now. US…

Some other world #history during #wwii #worldwar2 youtu.be/5XgxWE909Fw?...

Just in case anyone wants a refresher on some not that long ago #AmericanHistory #history #wwii #Colorado #ushistory #nationalhistoricsite #worldwar2 Yes, there are sources linked in the video description. youtu.be/KhK-mg8Tfps?...

Anyone like #trains or #rain Check out the #GrandCanyon Railway with me on a rainy day. The canyon is stunning after a storm. #explorewithme youtu.be/W2CNGs7e2b8?...

Finally getting some long form videos up! #mules #trailriding #texas #explorewithme youtu.be/S1bqQVQZpy4?...

Help save an #indie #bookstore www.gofundme.com/f/support-pa...

Poetry: Apostrophe I am back after the chaos of the holidays. The prompt for this week was to write a poem while using the figurative language, apostrophe. Apostrophe: Apostrophe as a figure of speech is when a character addresses someone or something that isn’t present or cannot respond. The…

Utah: Bryce Valley Horse Park The main portion of this trip was in Utah. My sister planned this trip months ago, booking horse camp spots and getting passes that would allow us to ride in Bryce Canyon National Park. We drove from Williams, Arizona to Flagstaff to pick up our mules and horse that…

Butternut Squash Soup I did not take pictures as I cooked this recipe because, honestly I forgot. There was a lot going on. That being said, this recipe got a lot of love at the party I made it for. This recipe does require an immersion blender. A food processor could be used but it would probably…

Arizona: Grand Canyon and Sedona 2025 has been a busy year! I feel like I am playing catchup with my hobbies. I miss things and yet have little time for them. That being said its because I've gotten the chance to do and see some pretty cool things. This summer we spent a couple of days in Arizona…

Writing Group: Poetry-Hyperbole  The prompt this week was to write a poem with a hyperbole. Some were serious, mine was written to be funny. Hyperbole: exaggerated statements or claims not meant to be taken literally (Grammarly.com). Also, I am sorry for not posting more. In addition to the…

Writing Group: Poetry – Antithesis I try and do poetry once a month and lately I've been highlighting using Figurative Language. This week we looked at antithesis. My hope with this is to make writing club members aware of tools that they can use later in other writing projects. Antithesis: uses…

Writing Club: Found Footage The prompt that produced this story was "Found Footage." The inspiration was The Blair Witch Project. This is probably the best well know found footage movie. This was a great way to end the Halloween season. My short story does not deal with video but film. This is the…

Writing Club: Two Sentence Horror In my quest to learn to write concisely in creative endeavors the prompt this week, in the spirit of Halloween was two sentence horror. Write a horror story in just two sentences. This was very difficult but people also really liked this prompt. I do love a…

A Little Texas Football A couple of times a year I get the chance to hangout on the sidelines with Keltin for a Tarleton football game. This last weekend the Texans played the ACU Wildcats and... lost their first game of the season 31 to 28. The score makes it look like they played well, having…

Writing Club: Fairy Tale Retelling If you have read enough original Grimm or Anderson fairy tales you know that Disney had to tone them way down to be G rated. The prompt this week was to retell a fairy tale and in the spirit of spooky season - go dark with it. I don't think my retelling is really…

Banned and Burned: Denton Writing Club Zine

Writing Club: Poetry – Alliteration I'm behind on posting. I feel like this is a consistent problem. Anyway, I am consistent with writing club and one of the things that I've started doing is highlighting figurative language. This week's was alliteration. Definition: Alliteration refers to…

Horses and More I know I haven't posted as much as I intended this summer. I have been busy, in good ways: Working on my novel rewrite (40k words and counting) Running the Denton Writing Club Prepping for a trip where we are taking mules and a horse Honestly, this last part has taken the most time…

Writing Group: Cryptids and Folklore It is officially fall and for the writing group that means it is the start of spooky season. We are starting off with a prompt about meeting a cryptid or creature from folklore. This could be in any context. Yes, I did mix my folklore creatures from different…

Writing Group: Hint If you have been following along for a while you know that at club have been working on writing concisely. This prompt is called a Hint, a story written in just 25 words. I have been working on shortening one particular story over time. Telling a story in 25 words is difficult.…

Writing Group: Epic Poetry This past week's prompt was Epic Poetry. I will preface this by saying: no, we did not have time to write a full Epic. It was more looking at the elements: magic, a hero, a vast setting, etc. I did not start a new piece for this prompt; instead I worked on a poem I had…

Writing Group: Mini-Saga One of the things that we've really been working on at writing club is writing concisely. This week's prompt was a mini-saga, a 50 word short story. My plan was to write flash fiction and then shorten that over time. I have done this but plenty of people have written…

Poetry: Dreams The prompt this last week was dreams - open to any interpretation of that. Even though I decide on the prompts, I had no idea what I was going to write about when I sat down to write this one. It's not my best but at least I got something on the page. What do you write about when…

North Texas Fair and Rodeo on Polaroid The North Texas Fair and Rodeo is currently going on and of course I had to go. I love taking photos as many of you have learned if you follow my site. I need to go get some more 35mm film but in the meantime I decided to take Polaroid photos. This is a…

Poetry: Playing with Form The idea with this prompt was to start with free verse poetry and add an element of form poetry to making writing a bit more of a challenge. Examples: Refrains (Think Villanelle) Meter (various) Rhyme scheme (various) Specific line count Theme (Looking at you Ode) The…

Writing Group: Setting The purpose of this prompt was to make the setting the main focus. I wanted people to write something that if they moved the story out of this particular setting, the story wouldn't work. I could not have written this story at sea level or on the Great Plains. As a writer I…

Writing Group: Drabble A Drabble is a story of 100 words. I selected this as a prompt to work on concise writing. If you remember the Flash Fiction from a few weeks back my plan was to use that as a starting point for this piece. Some group members used it, some didn't and that's okay. We all…

Writing Group: Poetry Element The prompt for this poem was pick a poem, any poem ,and take a single element that you like from that poem and write your own poem using that element. I selected My Last Duchess by Robert Browning. This poem is deceptively dark and messed up. That is not the element I…

Writing Group: Short Story So my prompt for this one was: You’re Earth’s 1st interplanetary ambassador on the way to meet the other planet representatives…  and go. This pieces was 100% influenced by Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Treasure Planet. Is it perfect no, was it fun to write, yes.…

Welcome to Orcas Island So this series has been very delayed. It was never meant to be delayed this long I just didn't get around to it because I got busy and distracted with life. So I'm playing catch-up. Blame the video editing - it takes forever and I'm still working on my book. Yes, I'm…

Writing Group: Flash Fiction The prompt for this week was basic flash fiction - no more than 1000 words. One of the things that I want to work on is writing concisely. This and some other prompts I have planned help with that. Do you like writing flash fiction? Let me know in the comments. I began…

On May 2, 2025, the Trump Administration released its FY2026 federal budget proposal. On page 39 he calls for the complete elimination of the only federal agency dedicated solely to supporting America’s libraries and museums. bit.ly/4cXcPFj via @everylibrary.bsky.social

Amsterdam: Day Six – Goodbye This was our final day in Amsterdam. When we planned this trip we left this day open because we knew that we would find things that we wanted to do that we didn't know about previously and we did. Keltin called this day "Boatday" because of the museums we visited.…

Writing Group: Terza Rima The prompt this week was form poetry, specifically the Terza Rima. Here are the guidelines for writing one: Poem comprised of tercets (or three-line stanzas) Lines are eight to 10 syllables long (usually iambic meter) Lines one and three rhyme in each tercet Line two…