A Honey-Sweetened Pecan Cookie Recipe

I made these cookies this evening. They have a cake-like texture and are delicious. With the pecan half on top, they also are a pretty holiday cookie. The recipe is below. I hope you’ll try these and let me know what you think. Honey-Sweetened Pecan Cookies • Prep: 15 min. Bake: 10 min. • Yield:…

Almost Time to Head Back West

Almost time to leave Texas and, as usual, we are far from ready to go. Too much to do to comfortably board a plane and head back to our other life – the one that includes very different kinds of work, not to mention our children and our dogs. Of course, we’re happy to see…

The Sherman Community Theater’s “It’s a Wonderful Life”

This afternoon we went to see “It’s a Wonderful LIfe” performed by the Sherman Community Players (SCP). Sherman is 6o miles from Dallas and is a town of 38,000 people. There is a sister city a few miles away, Denison, with another 22,000 folks so the area population is right at 60,000. This is the…

A Day Full of Family and Friends

We have had a long day today here in Texas – all good – visiting with family and friends from 9 am – midnight. No exaggeration. This is one of the best parts of being in Texas, seeing people we care about. There’s a sense of camaraderie among us that comes from knowing each other for…

Fall Weather in Texas and Other Thoughts

We are getting to enjoy fall here in North Texas. The temperature is mild – up to 70 degrees today – and tonight the breeze was cool, not cold. The full moon lit up the night, which made an evening stroll quite pleasant. While we are here, it’s raining in LA. Over an inch today….

Our Texas Home: A Step into the Past

Here is our Texas home. It is a Queen Anne Victorian that was a derelict building when we bought it; everything of value robbed – mantles, light fixtures, etc. – and the wall stripped down to the lath. My camera is not very good, and there are more rooms that are not included because I…

Our Flawed Selves

Today, while helping one of my students, I read several poems by Vievee Francis, who I have mentioned before on my blog. Her book Blue-Tail Fly is a series of persona poems about various figures ranging from before the Mexican American War until after the Civil War. One of those characters is Abraham Lincoln. One…

My Grandmother, Winnie Waugh

My grandmother Waugh was 4’10” tall and weighed about 210 pounds. She had a cane that she welded like a weapon and a temper that made you keenly aware of that cane. Winnie Waugh was her name, Mary Winifred Blackmon Waugh, and her father had fled from Mississippi after a bar room brawl. Her father,…

Our Grandbaby’s Official Name

My little granddaughter, who is still in utero, has received her official name from her parents. Luna Isabella. Her paternal grandfather has already decided he will call her by the pet name, Bella, which means beautiful in Spanish, his first language. That’s lovely. Luna means moon and she is likely to have big round eyes…

Back in LA!

This is Sunset Boulevard. We are back home after driving from Amarillo, Texas this morning. I drove until 2 hours from LA. Ray brought us the rest of the way. We listened to The Memory Keeper’s Daughter audio book the majority of the day. I think I enjoyed it…I am too tired right now to…