We had a breakfast celebration for Liz today for her birthday. We had ricotta cheese waffles with real maple syrup, turkey sausage, scrambled eggs, freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee. The table was set with a tablecloth, napkins and candles. We had a fire burning in the fireplace all at 7: 30 am. We had…
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January 16th: Elizabeth’s Birthday!
Today I have been thinking about Liz’s birth back in 1986. How I had gone to the midwife on the morning of the 15th and declared, “I just need to have this baby,” even though my due date was two weeks away. I don’t know if it was the “I can’t stand being pregnant another second”…
My Mother and Her Pain
“Please don’t share our family tragedy,” my mother whispered to me while we stood in church together in Pottsboro, Texas in 1990. I understood what she was saying to me. “Please don’t tell these people. I can’t bear to deal with this right now.” Tragedy was not too strong of a word. We had just…
An Excellent Recipe for a Birthday Dinner
Tonight we celebrated my daughter Liz’s 27th birthday. I spent part of the day making her favorite foods for this occasion: spinach and cheese stuffed shells and banana cream pie. Liz’s birthday is not officially until Wednesday, January 16, but because of scheduling issues, we decided to gather tonight for our family dinner and gift-giving….
1st Day Back in LA
I am sitting here with Cameron, my first student in 2013. She, a pretty brown-eyed blonde with hair halfway down her back, has been my writing student since she was in elementary school (she is now a sophomore in high school). We are both feeling sluggish after a long winter break and are using 15…
Back in LA
We arrived at midnight and now it’s 1:45. We have been visiting with daughter Liz and her boyfriend, Ron, who stayed up late to greet us, which was very sweet of them. Now I am in bed after a warm bath. We are due to get up at 5:45 to go help cook breakfast for…
Time to Switch This Tired Brain to OFF
Welcome to the land of the living dead. Too much work in too short a time. Yikes. I have hit the wall – at least for tonight – and am ready to go stare at the television set with no care for what I am watching. For future reference, please remind me not to combine…
Shopping for a Tiny Apartment Kitchen
‘The house is quiet. It is 11:30 pm. Shadows fall across the floors in 2 rooms I can see from my vantage point in a chair near the gas heater in the staircase room of our Victorian. I don’t have one word to say that I think anyone would find interesting. But here I am…
Great Success
This is a quick message to say that our open house was a great success. We had a steady stream of visitors from 2 to 8 and everyone seemed excited to see the progress on our house. We were delighted to be among our friends, celebrating the historic preservation of this beautiful Victorian. With that…
Almost There!
We are on the last leg of our trip to Texas. It’s 11:37 and we’re about 45 minutes from Sherman. We left yesterday at 1 pm Pacific time and we’ll arrive about 12:15 Central Time. We stopped last night at around midnight and were up and driving by 7:30 this morning. It’s a respectably long…
20 Minutes a Day 