This was a writing prompt from Dinty W. Moore’s book: Crafting the Personal Essay: A Guide for Writing and Publishing Creative Nonfiction. What makes me dull and uninteresting? A list in no particular order: 1) Being too polite 2) Being self-absorbed 3) Being afraid 4) Being nervous and self-conscious 5) Not taking risks 6) Not…
Category: Family
A Tasty Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe
I made these cookies today. The dough is mixed, chilled, then cut into slabs for baking. I have included below the original recipe from a GREAT cookie cookbook: bigfatcookies by Elinor Klivans. (I found my copy at a thrift store and use it often.) Because Ray and I don’t eat refined sugar, I have added…
Beach: Then and Now
The first time I sat on the beach at an ocean was when I was sixteen-years-old and I had come to Sierra Madre, CA from Texas to visit my sister, Leslie. She took me to Manhattan Beach, which was beautiful except for the offshore oil derricks. I had a brand new white bikini that I…
Luna and the Advantages of Planning
I am on the Gold Line train heading out to spend the day with baby Luna and daughter Sarah. This had not been my plan for today, but Sarah asked me yesterday if I could help her. I had a dozen tasks slated for today that I scurried around yesterday and completed. I am not…
An Early Morning Trip to Our Orange Grove in Ojai
I’ve been up since 4 o’clock this morning. My husband, Ray, and I wanted to do some work at our orange grove up in Ojai, but we both needed to get back by mid-afternoon. So, off we went at 4:30 am for the 11/2 hour drive. Luckily, there was no traffic at that hour so…
Religion and Family Values Here in Beverly Hills
When I was growing up in my little Texas town, I knew one man who was a Jew. He was the father of a friend of mine and I didn’t actually know him well. He was a local dentist, Dr. Poliakoff. After I married and moved to Sherman, Texas (25 miles from my hometown of…
A Time to Slow Down for Us All
I think my body is in holiday mode. All I want to do is cook or rest or eat. No desire to run out and clean more in the garage, which is on the to-do list. No, instead, I am inclined to stare at television, head off to the kitchen to whip up a honey-sweetened…
Baby Luna, Public Transport, Comfortable Shoes and Me
I am staring at a pair of well-worn tennis shoes that I have up on the chair across from me so that Cordelia doesn’t decide to drag one or both outside for a good chewing. These tennis shoes – gray Asics – with my socks stuffed in the tops are a little tattered and completely…
A Happy Visit
My nephew, Jim, is here with his two friends, John and Murray. They have just ridden their bikes from San Francisco to LA on Highway One. They arrived at mid-day looking tired, slightly sunburned, but happy. They said they had a wonderful trip, camping on some nights and staying in motels on others. They stopped…
The Right Way to Say Good-bye
“This old dog won’t hunt much longer,” my father said on that Friday evening I came home from the University of Texas to see him. I knew exactly what he meant. “No, Daddy, that’s not true.” Tears flowed down my cheeks. He lay propped up by pillows in bed, the sheet drawn up to his…
20 Minutes a Day 