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and make a brand new start,
anyone can start from now
and make a brand new ending.”
— Carl Bard
Welcome to January 2026!
We nearly made it through December without freezing temperatures
until the final week in our sandy, desert area of Texas. Even so, beyond
a small amount of rain, driving conditions remained comparatively safe.
That's good because driving through or past our town on I-20 is what
most people do which congests our highways which can be dangerous. Our
town has changed a lot over the last decade but retains a small town
atmosphere of friendliness and of caring. Altogether, a lovely place to
call home.
Our authors, however, since this is an International eZine,
dwell in many different parts of our world. This gives many different
backgrounds, different occupations, and cultural aspects, among them,
meaning we have an interesting set of viewpoints in every issue.
Bruce Clifford's poem for this new year is "The Promise."
Yours truly offers one of her poems in encore, "Fall Garden." It seemed
most appropriate as our year was ending paving the way for new
beginnings.
Bud Lemire's poems for January are "In The New Year,"
"Precious Is The Time," "The Best in A Happy New Year," and "A Victory
in Life's Game." Walt Perryman's poems for January are reminisces of
Christmas time: "What I Want for Christmas," "Our Day After Christmas,"
"What Christmas Was, Is, or Isn't?" and "Rambling Thought about New
Years."
John I. Blair remains our most prolific author, having been a
columnist for us as well as having submitted the greatest number of
poems through the years. He is currently recuperating from heart surgery
done in December but previously agreed that this editor could encore
various poems. So, here are four of his poems: "This Is January,"
"Looking For Spring," "Listening, and "Deja Vu." We appreciate his vast
talent for writing.
The article is by one of our former columnists, Ara Parisien.
On request she prepared it as looking ahead to the new opportunities we
all face in new times. Excellent advice, "Make 2026 the Year You
Finally Decide" is not to be skipped.
Judith Kroll's column "On Trek" is perhaps a surprise, if you
haven't the pleasure of knowing her. She accompanied it with a picture
that was quite similar to her experience. Unfortunately, our inclusion
of new pics has a glitch so only those previously in our eZine can be
chosen at this time. Marilyn Carnell's column "Sifoddling Along" is a
lovely message about making messages. Thomas F. O'Neill recalled some
rewarding experiences he had while teaching in China. There are some
pics included in his column "Introspective" from that period.
"Woo Woo" by Pauline Evanosky focuses on Resolutions. She is
such a busy writer, and her own resolve includes being certain she has
time to devote to that preference in activities. Melinda Cohenour,
wearing two hats labeled columnist handles her original column "Armchair
Genealogy" citing family tales that can be included in one's online
Astrology publications, and managing the various recipes and "cooks" in
the column "Cooking with Rod's Family." She does the latter column in
honor of her late husband who was our cooking columnist. The special
recipe this month was our mother's: Lena May's German-Style Potato
Pancakes.
Our Dublin, Ireland columnist Mattie Lennon shares a tale by a
late friend and one of his own compositions recorded as a song by a
friend, for his "Irish Eyes." Our webmaster and dear, longtime friend
Mike Craner includes a brief but sincere thought in his "Mike's Place"
column. We owe him the idea and concept of this eZine cofounded as
Pencil Stubs Online when I had to close my real printed and mailed
magazine in newspaper format, "Hobbie$, Etc."
That magazine, started by the late AG Adair, went to seven countries,
including 42 states in the USA. We wouldn't be here without his
ingenuity and enthusiasm. Thank you, Mike.
See you in February which will be the first issue of the 29th Volumn of Pencil Stubs Online.
Click on the author's byline for bio and list of other works published by Pencil Stubs Online.
This
issue appears in the ezine at www.pencilstubs.com and also in the blog
www.pencilstubs.net with the capability of adding comments at the
latter.
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