Editor's choices 5/14/08
I look forward to taking off the old editor's choices just to see how many new comments the posts have received. Keep posting and keep commenting. Gail

Hall of Fame - May 07
Twenty posts from the 97 posts in April have been added to the Hall of Fame. Check it out your's might be there.

New members in April
For those who love poetry, the new members are right down your alley. We have poets Beckie Twardowski, 16 years old; charllena leanna quinn; Scarlet Starr and Penelope Rose who also writes musings. Then Steven M. Moore writes fiction in the future and Michele l writes about 'things to do.' Wouldn't it be interesting to also know how they found out about OurEchoes?

local writing clubs
Would you like to write about your local writing club. Tell what you do, where you met and when. You could add your member's names if they give you permission. Maybe others would like join you. You can list this under ourechoes community. It will be interesting to find out what else we do about writing when not on ourechoes. Thanks Gail

Hot off the Presses



I am very pleased to report that OurEcho has been selected as one of Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for 2007. I am particularly pleased because I think it expresses what I have always known - OurEcho is just lines of code, it’s the people that contribute to it that make it special. It seems others agree with me. Scott

Tom Foley

Hello, my friend, thank you for stopping by to visit.

Our Daddy, Tim Foley, taught us well. As kids growing up during the Great Depression we may have lacked some material things, but never a shortage of music to be played or songs to be sung. There is, we learned as we grew older, a trait in our Scot/ Irish heritage that empowers us to express deep feelings of love and joy in a tender ballad, or to vent profound grief in a tearful lament.

After he finished the day shift at Engine Company #6 in north Elizabeth, N.J., Daddy would arrive home around 6:30 PM unless a third alarm fire extended his workday. He'd quickly change from his dress blue uniform into a faded blue work shirt and khaki twill trousers, while Mom , competing with the whistling tea kettle would call us kids, tell us to wash our hands and finally get the lot of us seated at the kitchen table. Meals back then were simple but adequate. Beef stew was always a favorite. We ate lots of vegetable, chicken and bean soup back in the 30's. Deserts, when we them, consisted of fruit, homemade pudding or just plain bread and jam served with strong tea,

Select "more" to read Tom's entire piece...

Serial Fiction
I recently posted the 8th installment of The Heart of a Pirate, the Tale of Anne Bonny. I continue to look forward to where Jamie will take us with each chapter and I couldn’t ask for more than that.

To set the mood for Anne Bonny, I have developed its own homepage. I hope you’ll find the page enhances the work and allows you to lose yourself in the story - The Heart of a Pirate.

• ALONG THE COAST OF DONEGAL BAY
• Box Full of Memories
• The Girl in the White Dress
• Ocean of dreams
• Snacking in the Summertime
• Chris-T-Fur
• Stand firm
• America, My America
• The Old Family Farm ~ poem
• The Beauty Within

• His Way Is Divine
  What an inspiring poem this is ! Could have been the lyrics of a song, Janet. The photograph of the Loon is so amazing... I can almost feel it's feathers ! How wonderful it is to witness such beauty around you !. We in the city rarely see such beautiful birds. But everyday we hear the insolent chirping of joyous sparrows that remind us that we are worth more to Him than many sparrows ! Thanks for that reminder. God bless You - Sabina
  
  
• Against All Odds
  What a heartwarming story. Perfect for this Mother's Day week-end. Nancy Kopp
  
  
• My Grandmother's Lasting Gift
  Sometimes it take a second or more reading to catch everything. I just now wondered about your gandmother's "cooked rabbit stew, or a lovely jam roly-poly in iron pots." We have raised rabbits but always fried or roasted them. We also make jams and cook in iron skilles and dutch ovens. Do you remeber what your grandmother put in her sted and what are jam roly-polys? Gail
  
  
• The Starchild--Chapter 46
  Shucks I wasn't ready to stop there. hope this month passes fast. Gail
  
  
• Shannon's Poems (posted by her sister)
  Every word so carefully placed, so perfectly laced to form....so beautifully ! Thanks for sharing.
  
  
• Primary School
  I have read that if teachers treat students as though they CAN do something, they will often rise to those aspirations. Reach the bright ones, but don't forget those that seem to lag behind. It's possible that there are reasons--poor nutrition, lack of parental support, environmental chaos, etc. that has caused them to have those blank stares. Love, compassion, empathy, enthusiam, and encouragement are keys to a child's success.
  
  
• THE WIND UNDER HIS WINGS
  You know every moment is a opportunity for change in our lives for the betterment,we should always cherrish our talents and combine our experiences with them such as you have shared your life experience with others through your writing, our experiences offer such gain, if we only see the truth in them at the time , so much of the time we take things at face value and there is so much more to be found there, like a diamond in the rough sometimes I think about my own experiences and read and think about yours and others and I feel we all should know that we are on a diamond road headed for victory a god given experience can only offer strength , wisdom,guidence and great gain in our lives, we have so much to share so much to teach so much to learn and so much to give through our experiences, talents and god given wisdom. keep it up. take care B.K.
  
  
• ALONG THE COAST OF DONEGAL BAY
  Beautiful tribute for Mother's Day. BJ