Sharon Stephenson

I’ve not written a blog for 2 months. To be honest, I haven’t written much in the past 3 months. Life, or to be more…

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As I write this, snow is continuing to fall at quite a rate at my home on the Eastern Shore. Having spent most of my life living in states (5) bordering Canada, snow is nothing new to me. In fact, I really love it, especially when I don’t have to go anywhere in a hurry. I can write a lot about snow—how light it feels when it settles on your face, how hard it can feel when hit by a well-packed snowball, how quiet it is when it muffles the sounds of a city, how beautiful it looks as the world becomes monochromed with softened edges. I’m enjoying watching the snow outside as I search inside for something not so…

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It’s been a little over a week since our container was delivered to our door and our furniture and roughly 200 boxes were unloaded. We’re all unpacked now and gradually getting our house in order. Writing has temporarily taken a back seat but I will be back at it…

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We're waiting for our ship to come in…literally! We packed up our house and moved to the USA from the UK in late June. Having done this ocean-crossing move 4 times now we expected to see our household goods no later than the end of July. We hadn’t counted on a container, ship, and berthing shortage. Fortunately, we were able to buy a bed, couch, and a TV, and a very kind neighbor has lent us an outdoor table and chairs, so we have managed. The house is a breeze to clean and I have lots of excuses for my lack of enthusiasm when it comes to cooking although I do miss…

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Ahh September. A month for beginnings. We’re beginning to settle into life in Maryland, still living with a couch, a TV, a bed, and an outdoor table and chairs on loan from a dear neighbor. The container with our goods has finally left our UK removal company’s warehouse and is sitting on a dock—in a UK bay—waiting to be loaded onto a container ship…

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Well, we made it. After all the pre-move pitfalls (read June’s BLOG if you’re interested in the details) we made the trip from the UK to the USA. Halfway through our BA flight, the air hostess handed us a slip of paper from the New York Center for Disease Control telling us regardless of having had to take a Zoom Covid test conducted with a doctor and having the signed paperwork to prove it and having proof…

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Note to self: don’t make an international move during a pandemic. Unfortunately I didn’t get the memo until after my husband and I had packed up and sold our UK house, bought a house in Maryland (over the internet) and just a week ago were halfway over the Atlantic with our dog. This was the first chance we’d had to take a breath and it almost came as a huge surprise, as if I was awakening from a dream. We had actually done this—made the…

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I missed April and May—wanted to finish Taking the Sun and then we got busy! As I write this I am sitting between two tables laden…

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It might have escaped your notice, but I didn’t do a February Blog. I was ‘on a roll’ finishing up my latest book, Taking the Sun, and doing a blog seemed like an interruption. This lockdown in the UK (#3) has felt like the longest and the toughest. Maybe because we’re in winter, with long, cold nights and dreary skies. Winter was also a time for planning our travel, something we’re not confident about doing at…

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A new year. I’m hopeful we can keep all the good things about 2020 and never revisit the bad. My list of the good—clear, blue, pollution-free skies; hearing bird song and not traffic noise, helping to support folks in our village; learning to plan meals ahead and become a better cook; making time to sit outside and enjoy the sun, read, and listen to music; reacquainting myself with poetry and appreciating the work of poets new to me;…

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I flipped the calendar over to December and other than eating a chocolate from my Advent Calendar the day was lost on me. I was busy and forgot all the jobs I should have done on the first of a month--writing my blog, giving my dog her monthly flea and tick pill, weighing myself—the day came and went like any other. It wasn’t until the middle of last night I realized it was 24…

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I didn’t do a blog for October. I was feeling quite agitated by the end of September and couldn’t seem to focus my attention. September is usually a ‘traveling month’ and this year it was not going to happen. After much deliberation, my husband and I decided to head to Scotland—a much-needed trip. The empty distances and surreal beauty afforded by the moors and mountains and lakes…

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