Little Luna (10.5 months) came to visit today and she had a whale of a time discovering the joys of all the gravel that covers our back driveway. She and I sat down in the sun (it was 73 degrees today – sorry you folks in the snow) on the warm rocks. She scooped up…

By Emily Temple on Jan 8, 2013 11:00am “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” — Elmore Leonard, Newsweek, 1985 “Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it – wholeheartedly – and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.” — Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch,…

Today If ever there were a spring day so perfect, so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze that it made you want to throw open all the windows in the house and unlatch the door to the canary’s cage, indeed, rip the little door from its jamb, a day when the cool brick paths and…

Ray and I had lots of fun tonight with a small group of old friends here in LA. We laughed, talked and played “Celebrity,” which provided its own opportunity for humor. A perfect way to spend St. Valentine’s Day. The celebration of love is a fine thing. Much love to all of you, my family…

Is it bad that all I want to do right now is watch the last few episodes of Project Runway that I’ve missed? Call me shallow, if you like, but after going to Ojai this morning and coming home to students from 2 – 7, plus editing another student’s work for my online class, I…

Here is a smattering of pictures… Yes, I’ve been delving into my treasure trove of photos again tonight.   Baby Ray in 1979 Rachael, 1999 Liz, 1999 Sarah, 1999 Len, George and Sam, 2002 or 2003 Leslie, George and Len Leslie Playing Ball George and Daughter Casey Watching Leslie in Basketball Game George with Rachael…

NOW WE ARE FIVE by David Sedaris In late May of this year, a few weeks shy of her fiftieth birthday, my youngest sister, Tiffany, committed suicide. She was living in a room in a beat-up house on the hard side of Somerville, Massachusetts, and had been dead, the coroner guessed, for at least five…

Baby Luna came to visit today. We had her from 8:15 am until around 4:30 pm. So much fun! Ray and I treated her just as if she were one of our little girls, which means that we just threw her in the car and took her wherever we were going anyway. The result, Luna…

I’ve just spent the past three hours looking at 29,000 photos (no exaggeration) of the past years of my life. These are in a hard drive that Ray has and the photos chronicle many events over the past 15 or so years. I have decided to pick out a few, but it’s tough. These are…

Mary Lou Holder sank down next to her brother, the one who was dying of cancer, and started pulling on the bright red bow of the gift he had just handed her. “This is sweet, Jake, that you’ve gotten me a present. You know you didn’t have to…” Jacob, twenty-five-years-old, smiled at his younger sister,…