PaleoQuack Archaeology - Learn what's New about what's Old

11/27/2024

Mark your Calendar ... and, RSVP !! Please Share ...
Lakeville astronomer Mike Renzi to speak at the Middleboro Rotary Club meeting

Send a message to learn more

10/26/2024

Invitation to Explore History at the Robbins Museum

The Middleboro Rotary club invites you to join us at the Robbins Museum – home of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society in Middleboro, for a captivating “Walk thru Time” spanning 12,000 years of our pre-history.
Gregory Lott V.P. and archaeologist will share his knowledge and experience with us.

Date & Time: Wednesday, 30 October @ 6:15 p.m.
7 Jackson St, Middleborough, MA 02346

A $5 donation per family to the museum is requested.
We’ll have Pizza !

RSVP to [email protected]

Come to learn about our collective past, and don't forget to bring an interested student!

Come for the history, stay for the inspiration.

10/24/2024

Mark the date on your Calendar !

Andrea M. Priest -

The Holiday Fair, is scheduled for November 16, from 10:00-2:00 p.m. at the UU Church, 25 South Main Street. We'll be holding a drawing for this beautiful quilt, generously created and donated by Linda Thompson.

The red, white and blue quilt, which measures 72” by 72”, is called “Anthem" and is a “ Quilt of Valor" which usually commemorates a veteran, a person who served or a Gold Star mother.

Tickets are $5.00 each or 5 tickets for $20.00. This quilt would make a beautiful gift or donation to a veteran. The winning ticket will be drawn at the end of the fair which ends at 2:00. Winner does not need to be present.

Please share ...

10/23/2024

Honestly ... who wouldn't want to save some $$ this winter !?!?
If so, plan on heading to the Middleboro Library this week-end for the Sustainable Middleboro workshop. See below.

26 October --- 10:30 to 12:00 p.m.

I'm guessing there are tips that we All could benefit from !
(and, you'll be helping the environment !)

09/30/2024

Okay Ladies & gent ...
it's been Wayyyy too long !
How about we arrange another Lunch ... Soon !

Connie, Ana Neto, Kathy, Marion, Dick, Elaine & Lore' !!!

07/31/2024

Most would certainly agree that Ernest Hemingway was a master of his craft.
As such, when he 'speaks' to it, you'd do well to take notes.
Far be it from me to disagree with his 'Tips on Writing' ...
except,
though I only pen short stories ... UMmmm ... I do. [mine]

Ernest Hemingway’s 7 Tips for Writing:

1: To get started, write one true sentence.
“Sometimes when I was starting a new story and I could not get it going, I would sit in front of the fire and squeeze the peel of the little oranges into the edge of the flame and watch the sputter of blue that they made. I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, ‘Do not worry.
You have always written before and you will write now.’”

[I draw upon the 'image' presented in my dream ... and/or listen to the narrative in my head ... as 'they' share their story.
Having an opening that 'catches the mind / imagination' is every authors Brass ring]

2: Always stop for the day while you still know what will happen next.
“The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day when you are writing a novel you will never be stuck.”

[Excellent advice ... I'm sure ... yet, if 'they're' still sharing ... I'm still writing.]

3: Never think about the story when you’re not working.
“I had learned already never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it.”

[If those 'in the well' are sharing the narrative ... then, I'm listening ... whenever that is.]

4: When it’s time to work again, always start by reading what you’ve written so far.
“When it gets so long that you can’t do this every day read back two or three chapters each day; then each week read it all from the start.”

[Yes ........ and, for me the stories are really never 'done'. A re-read a week, six months, two years, etc. may very well find a word or phrase tweaked]

5: Don’t describe an emotion—make it.
“In writing for a newspaper you told what happened and, with one trick and another, you communicated the emotion aided by the element of timeliness which gives a certain emotion to any account of something that has happened on that day; but the real thing, the sequence of motion and fact which made the emotion and which would be as valid in a year or in ten years or, with luck and if you stated it purely enough, always, was beyond me...”

[Yes ... and, often SO difficult]

6: Use a pencil.
“If you write with a pencil you get three different sights at it to see if the reader is getting what you want him to. First when you read it over; then when it is typed you get another chance to improve it, and again in the proof.”

[Pencil ... Always ... and a dark lead one, at that ... with an eraser LOL]

7: Be Brief.
“It wasn’t by accident that the Gettysburg address was so short. The laws of prose writing are as immutable as those of flight, of mathematics, of physics.”

[Well ... sure. Though that must be relative. I review and pare down wherever it does not impact the 'story' as it needs to be related.
I condense what narrative was shared with me ... when it doesn't alter the message.
Clearly e.g. Stephen King takes some liberties with this 'tip' LOL]

Who on here writes Short stories ?
Do you write within a specific genre or theme ? or it varies ?
Where do your 'idea's' originate from ?
When ... do you write ? Where ?!

05/21/2024

Best three minutes in television ...
"... We sure used to be ... "

We could be ... will be ... again ... but ...
Not with the choices we've given ourselves ...
certainly Not with the loudest one ...

Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) hits the nail straight on the head in the opening minutes on HBO's new series 'The Newsroom'. He is asked by a college student a ...

04/30/2024

Our Middleboro Rotary group meeting this week on Wednesday, May 1st, will be held at 5:30pm at our adopted island - the John Glass memorial at John Glass Square - across from the Nellie Rose in Middleboro, at the 5-way intersection of Center Street, Everett Street, Station Street and Center Ave. - weather permitting, of course.
So far it looks like the weather should hold out.
Our plan is to tidy up and plant some spring flowers, then head over to one of the nearby restaurants for dinner and camaraderie.
All are welcome !! No green thumb required !

04/27/2024

This ...
" ... But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness...
in the noisy confusion of life
keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery,
and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world."

03/01/2024

Jeanne Verity shared a memory with the Public 4 Years ago ... and again recently

from Kevin Quackenbush Ben, wishing you continued success !

"I'd like to share this with, well, all of you ...
I offer Archaeology sessions, and have for > 25 years now.
All Venue's ... Grade schools, High schools, Home Schoolers, Montessori's, Private schools, Church groups, Scouts, even Sr. Ctr's and ... Libraries. A few years ago I was invited to visit a Library in Rhode Island. (in fact, they've just recently inquired again).
Upon arriving I found, not unexpectedly, that those attending were all adults, of varying ages, and a young grandmother with two young boys. I enjoy all attendee's, and delight in Kids. So ...
I enlisted their assistance in presenting for the ensuing 2 hours. They carried artifacts around the room, demonstrated some techniques with me, and generally were my 'PaleoAssistants'.
We all had a good time, and they seemed quite engaged.

Thereafter I received a thank you note from the Grandmother for the visit, and for including them in the presentation. She mentioned that they were, now, very interested in 'Rocks' (!) Cool ! And, as I had a few 'Rock' books in my library upstairs, I picked a couple out and mailed them to the boys.
That was then.
Since then, over the years, I have heard many times from the Grandma how engaged they both were in 'Rocks'. Collecting them, presenting them (as she said, 'pretending they were you') and developing a deeper interest in 'Rocks'. They both excelled in school, and often had science projects that were focused on ... 'Rocks'. Ben was selected for special trips and studies, because he was continually so passionate about his interest.
Well ...
A Very Special Congratulations to Ben for his most recent accomplishment. You have really done Most Excellently Sir !
I wish you All Great Things !
Your Grandmother is Very Proud of you ... as you should be in yourself.
I am, also ... Very."

01/04/2024

Who among you reads short stories ? or, writes them !?

Facebook shows I have > 1000 'Friends',
though I suspect that FB's algorithm keeps most of us apart the vast majority of the time. Still, I have quite a few 'Friends' that respond to my posts and whose posts I see as well.
So ...
I'm considering initiating this collective effort.
I've missed this and, want to get back to this ...
I've written short stories for decades. Though not since covid ...
the span between early 2020 & mid 2021 was simply horrendous.
Most everything stopped for me.

I write the stories solely for myself (with rare exceptions) and few have been read outside a very small circle.
Most I treat like 'cheese' ... get it to a certain stage, then tuck it away to 'age'. Pull it back out after some protracted period of time and maybe change a word or a sentence ... rarely more than reordering a paragraph. To me they're never quite 'finished'.
Some have 'aged' ... a very long time. LOL

Though, on one occasion I stumbled upon a Short Story contest on-line about 9 p.m. one Sunday a few years ago. I thought 'HMmmm, it's about fishing, maybe I'll give it a shot. When is it due ? Oh ! Midnight ! A challenge, for sure !'
A few minutes to consider a storyline, then the writing began. Write, review, change and re-write, repeat, repeat.
At 11:50 p.m. I had cobbled together a story to submit ... which I did just before the midnight deadline.
I heard nothing about the contest thereafter, which didn't really surprise me. In fact, not until a couple of months later when Pen and I attended the Fishing show in Marlboro, which we did every year. When we reached the Booth of the company that had sponsored the contest and saw their new publication, I grabbed one to flip through.
Imagine my surprise to find the contest winning short story on the back page, complete with illustration ... and, it was mine.
I had submitted three of my short stories in college, and now this one, decades later.

So, I'm looking for a small cadre of you, my FB friends, to 'sign up' to act as my personal review & critique board.
I'll consider all individual comments/suggestions and hopefully improve from them.

I won't drop completed stories on you ... certainly not at first.
Note that the story genres are quite eclectic.
I'm looking for critique's on e.g. :
character names ... do those I've chosen reflect the personality I've described ? At times the 'right' names just announce themselves to me ... other times the name(s) don't seem to fit. I'm a stickler for the 'right' name ... and at least one story's character names are not, quite, right. e.g. I have one character that has described herself to me in detail, and yet ... not her name. Perhaps she'll share that with you ?

Opening paragraph's ... how do the first lines work ?
Intriguing or ? Read on, or Meh ?

Story title ... I may likely offer e.g. three opening paragraph's ... & three different titles ... can you match them up ?

If/when we progress to the actual short stories ...,
Story line ... does it progress well ? gaps ? too sudden changes ? Other ?
Imagery ? What passages evoke the clearest/strongest images ? Why ?
and, of course, dialogue.
Sometimes sparse, other times woven in ... Always so challenging ... comment as necessary.

Do you have an intriquing character name ?
Or, an intriquing, compelling, engaging scene in mind ?
Share them ... perhaps there's a story behind them.

If I can get a small group of you for this, I may try perhaps a couple queries every week or so.
If you're interested in volunteering to assist this Wordsmith ...
please Message me.