Author: Avellina Balestri

  • Nutsil: A Lord of the Rings Story

    “I mean, that I know our cousin well enough to guess that he feels responsible in some way and that he’ll probably… Read more

  • Winter Writing Contest!

  • The Magic of the Christmas Spirit

    BY AMANDA PIZZOLATTO All in all, I think the take-away from all of this is that Christmas is the child’s holiday. Read more

  • A Tree For Mary: An Islamic Nativity Reflection

    BY LINDA “ILHAM” BARTO The virgin birth emphasized the value of women. The nativity story is just as much about Mary as it is about Jesus. Read more

  • A Winter’s Tale

    All the trees and shrubs loved this attention, so they competed with each other to produce the juiciest and tastiest fruit for winter.  Read more

  • Pope Francis and the Creed 

    BY JEREMY SILVERNAIL “Oh no son, not a whiff or a puff of smoke, you see the Father has a Son, and they’re of the same yoke.” Read more

  • Being Thankful: A Christmas at Home

    BY ELIZABETH ROPER You see the guitar, thrown down on the arm-chair? We have that guitar because my mum bought it for my son. Read more

  • A Holiday Tale

    BY LINDA “ILHAM” BARTO Later, when Tom was going out, I whispered for him to get the critter for a stocking-stuffer. Read more

  • Advent Reed

    BY AVELLINA BALESTRI Our Blessed Lady is meek, but in a way that inherits the earth; a humility that is exalted, a simplicity that reigns. Read more

  • Disney Haikus

    Haikus of: Frozen, Tangled, 101 Dalmations, Aladdin, Snow White, Lady and the Tramp, Cinderella, and The Fox and the Hound. Read more

  • Last of the Homely House 

    Those who did said that, when the stars came out, pale figures – slender and graceful – walked hallways and bridges that had… Read more

  • Movie Review of the Snow Queen, 2002

    BY MIKE FLYNN I love the way in which this adaptation shows the changes, as our heroine adventures through the different seasons, and how… Read more

  • Hanzi

    Can fly up to the heavens and around the earth. As prayers, whispers, letters, books, and songs, and poetry, the quiet voice of God… Read more

  • It’s Chat Time

    Marinette glanced up and let out a screech. There, crouching on the balcony, was Chat Noir with that signature grin on his face.  Read more

  • In the Year of the Comet

    We spoke of it often in the years before, the end of our world in the first great war. Read more

  • Thorns 

    Finally, as he had done every year on this date, he lifted the blue cloth to display one of the few relics of his greatest friend that remained. Read more

  • The Restorative Power of the Night (Night Bathing) 

    BY BETH FLYNN The night frees our minds to process everything that we have experienced, from the smallest, most mundane task. Read more

  • Dark Waters

    “We must pass through dark waters, before we reach the sweet.” Said Van Helsing as with heavy heart, and aching feet… Read more

  • Crystals and Their Importance

    BY MIKE FLYNN I’ve stumbled across more and more evidence that leads me to believe that at least some of the claims that are made about… Read more

  • A Not Especially Original Poem About October Rain

    This morning I had planned to clear and burn, more of that summer-fallen live-oak tree; that giver of firewood against the winter cold. Read more