LURCHING ALONG...........

 Hello, your girl has been working like a dog today in her studio and it hasn't been fun. Fio is trying to get all her written material--pen, pencil, papers, books, etc., and she would really like some help, but it is not to be. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR......

What the heck! How about Fio feeding you the opening page or two of a romance she has half-written?

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    Six years of her life down the drain --Phillipa had never thought tit would come to this. She sat down on a concrete garden bench and wiped a hand on her jeans. Pulling her divorce degree out of its manila envelope, she read it through again, page by page.

     Until the papers arrived yesterday, she'd had a flicker of hope that Evan would return, throw himself at her feet, and beg her to take him back. Not that she would have. Jonathon had gone by the wayside as soon as she had found out that he'd married her to further his career--but it would have been nice to be the kicker rather that the kickee.

     She stuffed the papers back in the envelope......

     Damn! She may not have loved him, but she had become, well, accustomed to living in this venerable old house on Austin Avenue, even though it was too far too big for the two of them. Just the way she had become accustomed to spending most of her day away from the big house, either teaching at her small-town community college or attending faculty get-togethers at the big-city university where Evan chaired the philosophy department, thanks to her uncle Barney being dean of liberal arts

     And now Evan had dumped her. Their home had a FOR SALE sign out front, and her social life consisted of chatting with the landlady of Kinkaid House, the bed and breakfast that she's moved into when Evan had announced he was filing for divorce.

     She looked up at the canopy of trees  over her head. At least she still had a place to retreat to when she waned to be alone. There was something comforting about sitting under these grand old oaks. They'd survived hard times, and she could too.LURCHING

Reading through this story plot again, Fio doesn't think she'll use it.  Oh well--onward and upward!