I visited a friend today who had just made the granola detailed below. It was absolutely delicious. Here is the recipe via my friend. Enjoy! Crunchy Grain-Free Granola 1/2 cup organic hulled sunflower seeds1/2 cup organic hulled pumpkin seeds1/2 cup organic unsweetened desiccated coconut2 oz (1/4 cup) honey (or other liquid sweetener for vegan diets – maple syrup…
Month: July 2025
An Honored Role at High Mass
Today I had the privilege of serving as Liturgical Deacon during High Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church in Hollywood. While this doesn’t make me an official deacon, it allowed me to step into that sacred role for the liturgy—a true honor. It’s the highest position a layperson can hold during the service,…
To My Son-in-Law, Gregorio Pacheco Ambriz, on His Birthday
Dear Gregorio, It’s hard to believe that it’s been sixteen years since you and Sarah met back in 2009, and thirteen since you two got married. That has been an eventful sixteen years, marked by the addition of your three beautiful children and the life you two have created for yourselves and them. You can…
Flash Fiction: The Fall of Adam Burlingham
“This isn’t the way it was supposed to be.” That’s all Adam Burlingham could say as City of London police, acting on orders from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, shut down his brokerage. “Be careful, you oafs,” he shouted as two officers grabbed the antique stock ticker—his father’s gift, still nestled in its walnut base…
Flash Fiction: The Legacy of the Dance
To my brother George, who gave me a similar statue before he died of cancer back in 2004. Mary Lou Holder sank down next to her brother, the one who was dying of cancer, and started tugging at the bright red bow of the gift he had just handed her. “This is sweet, Jake, that…
Flash Memoir: A Buick, an Embankment, and Grace
This is a story that happened a few years back right around this time of year. I would say this is the very closest I’ve ever come to facing my dying moment – and killing poor Ray in the process. Thank God for a little Divine intervention when we both really needed it. I have…
Be Bold, Be Steady: What My Teachers Have Taught Me
I’ve been thinking lately about the writers who shaped me. My writing path has been a long one—starting with essays, moving into novels, and then finding a home for a while in flash: flash fiction, flash memoir, and flash essay. After my two brothers died of AIDS, I began a memoir that eventually evolved into…
Flash Essay: The Past Five Years
Over the past five years, my life has transformed in some significant ways. First, two and a half years ago, my fourth grandchild was born. This would not be such a huge event (more than the birth of my three other grandkids) but Ethan’s birth helped propel a decision that Ray and I had been…
A Dream Come True: A Book Signing at Book Soup in West Hollywood
I am pleased to announce that I will be doing a reading and book signing for my novel Hope in the Time of Dying at the iconic bookstore Book Soup on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood on Wednesday, August 20th at 7 pm. Over the thirty years we lived in Beverly Hills, I dropped…
A Wonderful Video Highlighting My Friend, Jimmy Hughes, from My Church
Jimmy Hughes is a member of my church, St. Thomas the Apostle, Hollywood. Last Sunday, he told he how much my book Hope in a Time of Dying meant to him, mainly since he had ministered to almost 80 AIDS patients during the height of the AIDS epidemic. He asked me if he could dictate…
20 Minutes a Day 