talebender

tallandtruetales.blogJava JiveThe weekly prompt from my Florida writers’ group was ‘coffee’, and this is my submission. I hope you’ll enjoy reading and listening to it. Among the disappointments in life …

A cuppa joe? No, no, no! tallandtruetales.blog/2026/09/25/j...

tallandtruetales.blogDiamond JubileeIn 1967, Canada’s 100th birthday, it seemed everyone had a centennial project. I was no exception, but mine was intensely personal. I married the young gal who had captured my heart four years earl…

8 Sept

Closing on sixty….. tallandtruetales.blog/2026/09/07/d...

tallandtruetales.blogMy Vote Goes Elsewhere!If this entire post appears in the body of your email, click the title to read it in its tallandtruetales blog setting. In the sixty-plus years since I attained voting age, I have never run for pub…

4 Sept

Voting, baby! tallandtruetales.blog/2026/09/04/m...

ppens1blog.wordpress.comThe End of SummerThis essay was first published 40 years ago when I was still a school principal. End of summer…the time of year when many newspapers publish articles aimed at parents whose children are getting rea…

4 Sept

Back to school, baby! ppens1blog.wordpress.com/2026/08/29/t...

tallandtruetales.blog/2026/08/14/d...

15 Aug

tallandtruetales.blogDriving a ComputerIf this entire post appears in the body of your email, click the title to read it in its tallandtruetales blog setting. It’s been sixty-eight years since I started driving legally, and in that time…

tallandtruetales.blogThe DandelionsIf this entire post appears in the body of your email, click the title to read it in its natural blog setting. During the grand opening ceremonies of a worldwide sporting event the other day, six m…

13 June

Jet planes, life cycles, cataclysms, attention spans, and dandelions.....what's the connection? tallandtruetales.blog/2026/06/13/t...

tallandtruetales.blogMine!I recently won a writing award from the Gulf Coast Writers Association for this short piece about playing baseball with my brother. In the past four years, I’ve received a first, second, and …

2 May

Brothers and baseball….. tallandtruetales.blog/2026/04/30/m...

30 Apr

At a hockey playoff game the other night, I was reminded why I like so many American friends despite your abysmal government. During the rendition of the Canadian anthem, the singer’s mic gave out, so the crowd belted out the rest of the anthem in perfect tune! Well played, Buffalo! 🇨🇦

10 Apr

“Yeah, some people may suffer, but I like his style!” ⬇️⬇️⬇️ “Hey! This is hurtin’ ME now! He’s gotta be stopped!” Shoulda thought of that sooner, boyo! It’s called empathy!

ppens1blog.wordpress.comTo Move, Or Not?to move, or not move?I’m fully locked and loadedas the prey comes close.I lie very still,even the leaves do not movein the trees above.the stag comes closer,antlers high, nose a-twitching,not knowi…

10 Apr

Wrote a 10 stanza haiku just for fun: To Move, Or Not? ppens1blog.wordpress.com/2026/04/08/t...

tallandtruetales.blogI Wonder Why?If this whole story appears in the body of your email, click the title to read it in its natural blog setting. In all the time I’ve known her, sixty-three years and counting, the woman who has been…

1 Apr

Questions galore..... tallandtruetales.blog/2026/04/01/i...

tallandtruetales.blogNothing Added?If this whole story appears in the body of your email, click the title to read it in its natural blog setting. It occurred to me recently that, nicely embarked upon my ninth decade, I am a man of a…

28 Mar

Nothing added….. tallandtruetales.blog/2026/03/27/n...

tallandtruetales.blogThat One MomentThe weekly prompt from my Florida writers’ group was ‘Thou shalt not…’, and this is my response. If the whole story appears in the body of your email, click the title to rea…

24 Feb

Change what I did? Or do it again? tallandtruetales.blog/2026/02/24/t...

24 Jan

Little-known fact--- People who grew up reading Archie comics spell the word this way: Duh-h! People who watched The Simpsons spell it: Doh-h!

tallandtruetales.blogMaking SenseA few years ago, I wrote about a favourite high school English teacher who challenged us one day to make sense of the following sentence he’d written on the chalkboard: It was and I said not but. I…

23 Jan

Make it make sense…… tallandtruetales.blog/2026/01/23/m...

15 Jan

"It's unAmerican!" now appears to mean "It's unwhatAmericanusedtobe!" Alas!

9 Dec 2025

Sorry, not sorry, eh! 🇨🇦

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4 Dec 2025

I may be wrong about this (sorry, eh?), but I wonder if the problem in the US isn’t GOP vs Dems, but big oligarch money (domestic and foreign) in your politics. Who pays the piper calls the tune.

23 Nov 2025

Otter & Osprey Press, a Canadian publisher, has just released a second edition of my thirteenth novel—The Lonely, Silvery Rain. It's available in print and e-book formats, including Kindle. This safe link will direct you to your preferred online retailer---https://geni.us/thelonelysilveryrain

tallandtruetales.blogSpeaking ShakespeareFor some readers, this post will appear in its entirety as an email in your inbox. To access the post in its true blog-setting, click on the title to read it. The challenge in this piece was to hav…

10 Sept 2025

All’s well that ends well….. tallandtruetales.blog/2025/09/10/s...

tallandtruetales.blogWhat to Believe?For all readers, this post will first appear as an email in your inbox. For those whose email contains a link, click on it to access the post in its true blog setting. For those whose email simply …

3 Sept 2025

Believe in something, or… tallandtruetales.blog/2025/09/02/w...

27 Aug 2025

across the water, singing; bouncing o’er the waves to our waiting ears #haiku

26 Aug 2025

my father, a man I seem to have become now--- I hope he’d be pleased #haiku #DailyHaikuPrompt

23 Aug 2025

though you’ve grown old and frail, I still see your awesome strength and purity #haiku #DailyHaikuPrompt

22 Aug 2025

the child is father of the man, as wordsworth wrote--- so nurture the child #haiku #DailyHaikuPrompt

21 Aug 2025

we’re never so tall as when we bend down to help a child who needs us #haiku #DailyHaikuPrompt

tallandtruetales.blogMore and More Every DayEarlier this week, I celebrated my wedding anniversary—fifty-eight years, all married to the same woman, the lissome lass I first dated when she was but sixteen. We married four years l…

20 Aug 2025

Another milestone….. tallandtruetales.blog/2025/08/20/m...

20 Aug 2025

it’s said no good deed goes unpunished, but I think that most of them do #haiku #DailyHaikuPrompt

19 Aug 2025

to free your children, hug them close, then let them go--- they’ll e’er be with you #haiku #DailyHaikuPrompt

18 Aug 2025

more yesterdays now than tomorrows, but it’s the tomorrows that count #haiku #DailyHaikuPrompt

17 Aug 2025

it’s essential that we stand for something, lest we fall for anything #haiku #DailyHaikuPrompt

16 Aug 2025

regrets? some, maybe--- but I can’t go back to change the pathways I’ve trod #haiku #DailyHaikuPrompt

15 Aug 2025

he’s lying awake, remembering all the things he’d like to forget #haiku #DailyHaikuPrompt

15 Aug 2025

diamond-clad elves dancing quite dementedly--- sunlight on the lake #haiku #DailyHaikuPrompt

14 Aug 2025

north of forty-nine we speak the King’s English, eh? and it’s zed, not zee #haiku #DailyHaikuPrompt

14 Aug 2025

asleep together, intertwined, we bind our souls with each breath we take #haiku #DailyHaikuPrompt

12 Aug 2025

dancing in the rain, neither of us wet or cold--- warmly wrapped in love #haiku #DailyHaikuPrompt

This ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

Heather Mallick@hmallick.bsky.social

A Trump nation that executes prisoners, lets pregnant women die rather than allow them abortions, refuses medical care for the poor, and values guns more than lives is not well-placed to lecture Canada on offering assisted dying for terminally ill people in agony.

Wildfire-smoke sunrise over Lake Ontario

imagination--- like hot air balloons, slipping bonds that tie me down #haiku #DailyHaikuPrompt

grandchildren, our hope for the future---as we were once upon a time #haiku #DailyHaikuPrompt

10 Aug 2025

when we first began, I was not worthy of you--- yet, you offered love #haiku

9 Aug 2025

most syl-la-bles start with a con-so-nant and have a clear vow-el sound #haiku

4 Aug 2025

dancing in the rain, neither of us wet or cold--- warmly wrapped in love #haiku

4 Aug 2025

a gray day’s drizzle soaking the old willow tree--- both of them weeping #haiku

29 July 2025

unrelentingly under-appreciated--- mediocrity #haiku #writingprompts #blueskypoets

29 July 2025

comes dawn, the new day, rising full of hope unspoiled, banishing the night #haiku #writingcommunity #writingprompts #blueskypoetry

29 July 2025

nightmares waken me, phantom fears that something lurks--- banished by the dawn #haiku

26 July 2025

the sails of my youth, once hoist, are mostly furled now though the winds still blow #Crimson #vss365 #haiku #3lines #senryu #micropoetry #blueskypoets #writingprompts #writingcommunity #blueskypoetry #skypoets