Category Archives: Afternoons of an Author

From F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story, “Afternoon of an Author.” Stories and essays, fiction or nonfiction, I created during my long, broad afternoons.

The Butterfly

Emma passed away on April 11 one year ago. With thoughts of her and wishing her a continued safe journey, I repost “The Butterfly” here. Monday, April 23, 2012 — Today the dogwood tree outside my window blossoms, a mantle of … Read more »

What If Mr. Darcy Came to Dinner…?

An 18th Century Christmas in Odessa What if Mary Randolph, her cousin Thomas Jefferson, Jane Austen and Mr. Darcy all gathered round your holiday table for a hearth cooked meal. Now there’s a romantic notion. I daresay the conversation would … Read more »

I’m New in Town

NAPLES, Fla., Winter 1995––I’m new in town and I haven’t adjusted to being here, yet. It’s hard to adjust to living anywhere else when you’ve lived in Los Angeles for any length of time, I think. I lived in L.A. … Read more »

Ragged Days

Only a specter, I stumbled into An abandoned amusement park, Over haunted relics, And the dizzying merry-go-round ride Of those ragged days: Through cobwebs of disenchantment I groped, to uncover Half buried in dust The scattered fragments Of a long-ago … Read more »

At the Shore

At the Shore By Samantha Mozart Small airplanes, awnings and a beach house Lounging on the upper wood deck Walking barefoot on the edge of the surf in the sun Rain A bridge lamp, a novel, and an Oriental rug … Read more »

Dewdrop Refractions: In the Wink of a Moment

Tuesday, July 31, 2007 Indeed it is appreciation—to appreciate and to think critically about what we are doing before we lose what we have: I stood outside this morning with our blue teacup poodle, Jetta—blue, the poodle people say, because … Read more »

EVERGLADES CITY … or, The Idiot Who Wore Shorts

NAPLES, FLA., June 11, 1998 – Ten miles southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and the heart of Naples, Florida, I passed the last strip mall and golf course and crossed through the last busy intersection where the highway narrowed … Read more »

Flight Over the Badlands

  FLIGHT OVER THE BADLANDS By Samantha Mozart We fly over windswept buttes Carved in antler patterns, visions of ghostly dancing winds; Semiarid, broadly roamed by herds of trees Rushing toward precipices of yellow, buckskin bluffs. Flat, brown land. Puffy … Read more »

The Great Gadabout

Dressed in his tuxedo, Boots, my next-door neighbor Cheryl’s big black and white cat, quite tall on hind legs, leans over the rim of the birdbath for a drink. He looks like a little man attending a jazz age party … Read more »