I was thinking today about how my brother George faced a huge adversity in his life shortly after he got sober. His life changed abruptly after a small non-healing sore was diagnosed in his mouth as cancer and two weeks later, he was at M.D. Anderson preparing to have his jaw and soft palate in…

I made this recipe this morning but substituted honey, maple syrup, and maple sugar for the equivalent amounts of granulated and brown sugar. The result was a rich and moist pumpkin and cranberry bread that I’ll be sharing this with family and friends this weekend. Baking makes me happy. I feel centered and calm when…

I am very pleased to share that my student Sara has won a Silver Key in the Scholastic Artists and Writers contest 2023, presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the oldest and most prestigious contest for youth in grades 7 – 12 in the United States. Sara’s piece, “Life Lessons Through Cooking”…

I am sitting with Michael and it’s our writing time. I don’t know what to write but I figure that writing anything is better than writing nothing. At least, my fingers will hit the keyboard and, hopefully, remind my muse that I am here waiting for some inspiration. I want to go back over my…

Is it a bad sign that I combined two different cakes that were starting to get a bit stale just so I could make a third cake? Perhaps. But who wants to waste a perfectly good cake, right? So, today, I combined the remaining quarter of an apple cake Rachael made for my birthday celebration…

We had our three January birthday celebration today at Sarah and Gregorio’s house and it was a grand ole time. I had the special treat of being whisked off to the mani-pedi place (along with all the girls) for a special pedi treat. Plus, we had Thai food, two birthday cakes, and homemade ice cream…

My birthday is tomorrow and here are just a few things that are on my mind as I leave one decade and enter a new one. I don’t know if these are what I have learned or what I hope to learn. Whatever the case, these are a few things, in no particular order, that…

Growing up, I had four brothers and one sister, who was the oldest. I was next to the youngest and the baby girl. My sister, Leslie, was eleven years older than I was and held a special spot in my heart. She was the source of much love and affection and, over the years, was…

We are up in Ojai. It is cold tonight. I just checked the temperature: 44. When we drove up early this morning, it was 39 degrees and rose to 59 during the day. The night is clear and there are lots of stars in the dark sky. The weather channel says the temperature here will…