I am sitting with my student and we are doing a quick-write. I have just returned from Texas – I mean I drove in from Texas exactly two hours ago. We drove from 4 am (Central time) yesterday morning until 8 pm Pacific time (which is 10 Central time) last night, which translate into 1100…
Month: October 2013
On the Road Again
We are in the middle of Arizona on Interstate 40 and it is dark except for the red taillights from 18 wheelers in front of us and the headlights of cars and trunks traveling east on the divided highway. We are listening to a compilation of Ray Wylie Hubbard on Ray’s Ipod. We have listened…
Love/Hate Food List
This will probably not be the full 20 minutes tonight. We have not left Texas yet and are getting up to leave at 4 am. So, clearly, I need to go to bed as soon as possible. I found this prompt and thought, “I could do this even if I’m tired.” So, here goes. Foods…
Saddle Up the Horses, We’re Heading Out…
Tomorrow, Ray and I will wrap up loose ends here in Texas, load our dogs, Cordelia and Sammie, into our Ford van, and head back to California. This has been a whirlwind trip for me and I am still suffering from jet lag. Of course, my fatigue may have less to do with acclimatizing to…
Church, Emotion and Ray
Today, Ray and I went to St. Stephen’s Episcopal church here in Sherman. Normally, I play hookie from church when I’m in Texas since being here feels like vacation, but Ray had other plans for today. He had struck up a conversation with Carol and David Griffith, a couple we have recently gotten to know…
Our 2nd Annual Neighborhood Garage Sale in Texas
We got up early this morning (before 6) to set up for our garage sale here in Texas. I had gone to bed around midnight the night before, and then here we were getting up at what felt to me like the dead middle of the night. Still, I struggled forth and our garage sale…
Our Fall Mini-Garden
Yesterday, I went out and bought plants for our fall garden. Here were the offerings at Anawalt Lumber in West Hollywood: These are the plants I picked, which include cilantro, two types of parsley, basil, two types of kale, Romaine lettuce, and red onions. (I could be forgetting a plant or two…) Here is the postage-stamp…
One Long Day
I have had one heck of a day. 6:45 – outside conferring with Gregorio, the man who works with Ray in the landscape design business. 8 am – off to buy vegetables to plant in our little backyard garden plot. 8:30 – Home to edit an essay for a student who is applying to be…
My Grandmother and Her Cane
My grandmother, Winnie Waugh, walked with a wooden cane for the whole time that I was a little girl. This cane was made of smoothly polished dark brown wood and was very plain – a simple curve on the end for her hand and a rubber cover on the tip to help grip the floor…
Tonight and Today
I am sitting in a very quiet house with William, the cat. Rachael, who is now living in Texas, has her friend, Natasha, from LA visiting her there. Ron and Liz are off on their cross-country trek; Sarah, Gregorio and Luna are snug in their beds in Pasadena; and Ray and our dogs, Cordelia and…
20 Minutes a Day 