Zinta Aistars's Blog, page 41

Bringing Home the Bacon, Cooking Up the Love

by Zinta Aistars




This little piggy went to market ... this little piggy was only for a moment tempted to stay home. Another humid and hot Saturday, but I was getting an itchy brain from staying inside all summer, avoiding the intolerable heat. And, my sister had come out for a visit from Chicago. I wanted to show her a good time and share a growing passion (pun intended).

My plan was to make this Saturday a foodie day: early morning at Texas Township Farmers Market, including omelets for break...

Dumpster Diving

by Zinta Aistars






"Wanna go dumpster diving?"

I blink. Now there's a unique invitation for a summery Saturday evening, out on the town. I mean, really. What proud woman can resist such an offer?

Something in me, from youngest days on to these supposedly more sensible ones, I've found it hard to resist a unique offer. Something new, something I've never done before. And this one seemed relatively ... safe?

I pushed aside momentary flashes of imagined images crossing my mind: police flashlights blin...

Kindling a Fire of Reading

by Zinta Aistars





It took me years to get to the point of plunking the money down. I'd been watching the birth and development of Amazon's electronic reading device, the Kindle, since it's appearance online. As all such gadgets, it started with a high price, several hundreds, and gradually came down to a reasonable $139.

Temptation itched at the seams of my wallet. I was most curious to try this slim little gadget. What tempted most was the idea that this six-inch, slim reader can hold within it...

The Fruits of Summer

by Zinta Aistars



Call me mad, but really, I would prefer to wake to a sparkling white morning, the trees lacy with snow, the ground covered with fluffy white, and those fat flakes falling soft, soft, melting in my upturned palm.

But it is mid July, and the days are searing hot. We have just sweated through days of 90s (Fahrenheit) and the upcoming week promises to be the same. Blistering heat, skies blue and with only an occasional wisp of a cloud, nothing between great gold sun and us.

There a...

Who Turned the Lights Out?

by Zinta Aistars




[image error] We did. I'm convinced it was us. While the debate still (amazingly) rages on whether human beings have contributed to climate change, extreme weather is on the increase. The fury of storms is in the news on a daily basis now. Tsunamis, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, heat waves, earthquakes, blizzards, thunderstorms.

Mother Earth is...

The Flow of This Literary River

by Zinta Aistars




Z (left) and Bonnie Jo Campbell (right)There's not much that could get me out of my wonderfully chilled, air-conditioned house on a 90+ degree July day. I was out early in the morning to water my parched petunias, and I watched a young robin fly in desperation through the spray of my garden house, parched too. I arced the cool water high so that the robin could ruffle her feathers in the spray, her little brown head going back in thirst to catch a few drops.

That hot.

But at 2 p...

Firecrackers in the Heart

by Zinta Aistars




[image error] Nothing but nothing is better than a houseful of family and friends and chillun come home for the holiday weekend. My heart has firecrackers in it.

The house has been cleaned top to bottom, the recent bathroom renovation has been completed, just just, the flower beds have been weeded, the back deck swept and the new gr...

The Smoking Poet—Summer 2011 Issue Online Now!

[image error] Art work by Brent Spink
THE SMOKING POET An online literary magazinehttp://www.thesmokingpoet.com/

"Words that turn the page to flame."


And the years zip and zoom by, melting in the swelter of summer before the next season arrives. Just this past April 28, we—the fans, the readers, the writers, the staff of The Smoking Poet—gathered in our h...

Taking Time to Smell the Petunias

by Zinta Aistars


"An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day."
~ Henry David Thoreau




Something stirs, some faint noise somewhere in the night, and I am awake. Awake. Nothing to be done about it. I attempt to sink back into that warm, velvet sleep, but it will not have me.

My mind begins to swirl behind closed eyes, and as the clock ticks toward dawn, I give it up ... I get up. Still deep dusk. Such stillness. Only my old chow pup gathers himself up from his sleep to follow me downstai...

A New Pot to P In

by Zinta Aistars





You know how it is, you cheaters, you who step out looking for another someone better and prettier and younger ... eventually you come to your senses and return home. You know where you've got it best.

That's what I did. I left my old house to go seeking a new house, and for a while I was seduced by all those pretty facades ... to the point of making an offer, a tempting proposition, leading to negotiation, a flirtation of numbers back and forth until we stood toe to toe, thres...