Honea Express Has Left the Station

If you've come to the site you probably see that really annoying box that already broke the news. It's what we in the biz call a "spoiler". In fact, you may have lingered 6 seconds too long and moved on already. It happens.

However, you might be reading this in your feed reader and to that I say, a) thank you, and b) the blog has moved. After 5 years of flirting with Blogger I figured it was time to buy a domain and settle down. So I did. The New Honea Express can be found at www.whithonea -- yes, I'm somebody. Thank you for making it happen.

I hope you've enjoyed yourself enough to consider an update to your feed reader and continue the journey. I'd love to have you.

Anything can happen.

Riding the Rails

Beyond the steam there are trees and through them hills and over them lakes and across them mountains and then the vast stretches of forever are all we have left. Behind me are children laughing loudly. They are the passengers of this train and our ride is full of obstacles and metaphors. Tracks are long, lost and out. The view from the window is full of things that float like stars and for every breath taken a new turn awaits to take it away.

There is light at this end of this tunnel and it trips fantastic.

Fantastic Four

The night is long and restless. Bones grow, the body rests and all kinds of other things I've learned and long since forgotten. Tonight is different. The change in the air isn't winter fighting with spring or the rotating anthems from podiums just across the border, but something bigger and yet, much more personal. It is the gentle turn in the night from one age to the next -- a parade of years that has just started and is already moving much too fast. Memories blow on the wind like so much confetti.

This would be my scrapbook.

The sun will be up in a few hours and with it the son. He rises with the world and immediately starts to conquer it. There are a lot of fart jokes along the way.

And dimples.

He is my fearless one. He runs head first into the day only looking back to make sure we follow. He explores every nook, cranny and the musical offerings of legendary rock bands. His world is filled with games and things to throw. His creative process is fueled by equal parts curiosity and mud puddle. His imagination is only limited by my ability to comprehend it.

"I'm not a big boy," he said. "I'm your baby."

And then he went to bed a three-year-old for the last time, ever.

Zane is turning four and I'm the one getting older.



Happy birthday, Son.

Five Curious Years and Cat-Like Reflexes

I can see the cat, white and quick, through the bare, gray trees. The cat runs in sudden bursts and stops on a dime, or whatever passes for currency amongst the wild. He stops and he stares.

There is a pattern here, for I too am stopped. I too am staring. I am watching him watch something else and that thing may be watching yet another something and so forth and so on and I can't help but wonder who is watching me.

I live in a glass house. I like to throw stones.

This past Monday my little blog turned five. That's like 80 in blog years. We didn't have a party. We didn't decorate. You didn't get me anything.

It's okay.

I take solace in the thought that you are there. Each post is a piece of me and together they blur like the trees for the forest. Sometimes I run. Sometimes I sit. Sometimes I stare at something else.

And always you've been there for me. Thank you for watching.

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UPDATED: Life is Like Winning a Box of Chocolates - Share Your Sweetest Love Story

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

I rolled the virtual dice and three came up. Everybody drink.

Three was assigned to the third comment, meaning the winner is Laughing Mouse, soon to be Full Mouse and possibly Sugar Buzz Mouse.

I need to hear from you by noon (PST) on Monday (2/8)!

Thanks to all of the romantics that entered the contest. Your love makes my notebook pale by comparison.

Also, thank you to See's Candy and Clever Girls Collective for making the chocolate happen.

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Where does one start a love story? Does it begin across a crowded room on an enchanted evening beneath a layer of warm whiskey and the sudden knowing that nothing will ever be the same again? Or did it begin years ago in a field overgrown with wildflowers and hands swaying in singsong fashion as the meadow gave way to memories and the most beautiful thing you have ever seen was the way the sun glowed upon her skin?

Where does it start and where does it go and how many pages need turn before one is living in the happily ever after?

Me? My story is your classic boy meets girl, boy loses girl, girl marries some soldier, boy fixes up old house, boy gets picture in paper, girl comes back, girl leaves soldier, boy reads to girl, flock of birds fly away type of thing. It was pretty romantic. They made it into a movie.

And it goes great with chocolate.


This is where you come in. The good people at See's Candies and Clever Girls Collective want to help you out with the pinnacle of romance: Valentine's Day. Yes, you can win some chocolate -- a See's Candies Red Signature Box -- that's two pounds of delicious chocolate, which the winner, that could be you, will receive in time for Valentine's Day! We want to hear your sweetest love story, hence the "Share Your Sweetest Love Story" contest. Leave your story - or a link to it, in the comments below and a winner will be picked at random after the contest ends - 11:59 PM on the night of Feb. 5th. It needs to end before midnight due to the whole pumpkin thing - but that's another love story.

Wait, that's not all!

Extra Ways to Enter

Do you really, really want to win? Here are some opportunities for
extra entries, in addition to your comment with your Sweetest Love Story:

1) Visit the See's homepage and sign up for the newsletter

2) Tweet about this contest using the #seescandy tag (you can Tweet daily and post the link in the comments below!)

3) Blog about why you want to win the Share Your Sweetest Love Story with links back to this post, as well as to See's and post the link it in the comments below.

Enter Now! Deadline for entries is midnight, PST, Friday, February 5th and we will notify you by email.

Did you get all that? Enter on my blog and one winner will be chosen. Also, enter via the ways outlined above for additional chances!

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Behind the curtain:
Compensation received for post - $50 Visa gift card & a Red Signature Box of See's Candies (Yum!)

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