Elizabeth Howard

Elizabeth writes literary non-fiction, haiku, cultural rants, and Demand Poetry in order to forward the cause of beautiful writing. She calls London, Kansas City, and Iowa home.

Danny Wallace’s Cup of Tea

Dear Danny, I just wanted to send you a note to tell you that I was thinking about you. I’ve got the kettle on and it happens that way. Whenever I go to make my second cup of tea (especially on a cloudy day), I think of your “another cup of tea and biscuits” moments…

The Air Up There

How to Act Like an Elitist Although I do like to rant, I try not to “talk politics” around this space. This has to do with my fear of “alienating” people. Let’s face it, not that many people read this blog! I can’t take any chances! But I am fired up! Read on! Sam Harris,…

The Greatest Circus Showman on Earth

P.T. Barnum creates the “Original Family Entertainment” With the Circus blogtour at MomCentral.com underway, I wanted to make sure I took time to visit the P.T. Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, CT. Ringling Bros. circuses are touring the nation right now, and in just a few weeks, the Ringling show “Bellobration” will be coming home to…

Problogger’s M’log Madness!

This blog is temporarily interrupted to bring you this Problogger m’log rant. A few weeks ago, I ranted about Problogger Darren Rowse’s obsession with content. Guess what? Yesterday, Darren was at it again with a heart-warming pseudo survey/post on his blog, simply asking “What is great content?” Problogger’s Followers speak… does his content ever listen?…

55 Miles Further Along

A Befuddled Poem About the Fact That I Rode 55 Miles on a Bike in One Day by Elizabeth Howard My butt hurts still today, But not as much as my knees do. Which goes to show you… Having all that padding isn’t Such a bad thing after all. I’m brain fried, 24 hours later,…

Shona’s Run

Super news from my fleet-of-foot Phillips relatives, Greg and niece, Shona, in Kingston … “This morning, after exactly three months of training, Shona ran the Thousand Islands Parkway Half Marathon (21.1 km). I ran beside her as coach and moral support while Karen played chauffeur, cheering section, and chief photographer. “The weather was reasonably good:…

Dusting for Exercise

Knitting is very conducive to thought. It is nice to knit a while, put down the needles, write a while, then take up the sock again. — Dorothy Day I feel as if I have disappeared again. This was the transitional week, the time I had “free” to get ready, to get things done. School…

The Simple Life

Straightforwardness and simplicity are in keeping with goodness. — Seneca Colin and I went to Oconomowoc, Wisconsin this weekend for our friend, Andy’s, ordination. Andy is married to Aimee, my best friend. Aimee and I were maid/matrons of honor at each other’s weddings. After years in London and our life now on the hectic East…

Problogger Content Madness!

OK, STOP already. Darren Rowse, the true-to-his-title “ProBlogger,” has tweeted, digged and dumped into my reader the same post, under a dozen different titles, over and over again and I can’t take it anymore! So, to you Bloggers with no audiences, the answer to the repeated and repeated question, “Is Writing Great Content Enough to…

British Columbia Tour, Part two

I forgot to post the rest of our photos from our trip to Canada, so if anyone is interested, here they are. After we left Jasper, we took the Skeena train (two days) through Prince George and stayed overnight there, (Hi uncle Lloyd and Aunt Jackie!) then on to Prince Rupert. There we picked up…

Comments Accepted

Not too long ago, I did something stupid on this blog and changed a setting. That setting made people “login” to comment. The downside of that was that people I WANTED to leave comments got stopped from doing it. The other downside of that was that people I DIDN’T want to leave comments somehow figured…

The Company of Songbirds

Something in the new birdseed has songbirds clamoring at the brass cage around my feeder. Wild songbirds– sparrows, chickadees, blackbirds, nuthatches, purple finches, tufted titmice, cardinals– they have come to visit me at my back window. When my family was here these past weeks, it made me tired. Feet on the floors above, the water…

Summer Ending

After the hail storm, the summer seems to have given in. The days are noticeably shortening, cooler… the humidity still clings, but something within the sunny days isn’t full of the same hope that it bannered in the early part of June. The clouds have come and are bringing the first longings of autumn. Time…

Tree versus the Tide

I got trapped out on my screened porch the other day during a very bad storm. I locked myself out of my house. My neighbors on both sides were home and they had keys but my trees were casting their branches off into the wind. I huddled in the corner of the porch and hoped…