Periodically, Ray and I visit Otto and Sons Nursery in Fillmore, CA, to look for roses for one of Ray’s clients. This charming establishment was founded in 1976 and has been thriving ever since, with Otto and his four sons at the helm. This is a lovely spot to go for a bit of rose…

Wise Voices Gene was a brown horse who lived at a farm and his legs were very thin. He was born with those thin legs and even though he could walk, he couldn’t gallop like other horses. This made Gene sad because every month there was a celebration and the horses got to run in…

I am sitting upstairs in our bedroom enjoying the cool air pouring out of our brand new air conditioner that Ray bought yesterday at Home Depot. Our old air conditioner ground to an unceremonious halt two nights ago after freezing up several times during the day. Naturally, this was on a day when it was…

I grew up with two strong black women who worked for our family, one from the time I was born until I was 8 and the other from when I was 8 until I was 19. Their names were Louise Love and Lorene Massey and they washed our clothes, cleaned our house, cooked our food,…

Here is the maple sugar-sweetened hummingbird cake I made to commemorate Ray’s and my 40th wedding anniversary. We ate it with homemade honey-sweetened vanilla ice cream. This was after a relaxed meal of tortilla soup I made in my trusty Instant Pot. Our big event today besides all this cooking/eating was a trip to the…

I have been up in Ojai today making slipcovers for our outdoor furniture. I am not a seamstress of any real merit, but I am capable of sewing a straight stitch on my old Brother sewing machine. I will say that I’m a better seamstress now than when I started, which, in truth, included another…

I wrote this piece a while back, but it seems more relevant today than ever. We are in the midst of change in our society and the process is messy. However, change can bring good things and make life better for everyone. We just have to recognize that messiness is part of what happens when…