Here are Cordelia and Sammie in their bed on our return journey to California. We left north central Texas at 6 pm and are just arriving in Amarillo at midnight. Tomorrow we hope to have a long day on the road, stopping in either Kingman, AZ or Barstow, CA. This time we plan on 2…
Category: Texas
Texas and Our “Little” House Renovation
I am here in Texas where the weather has been beautiful. We’ve had cool breezes – but not too cool – and clear skies. We have been doing a lot of work on our guesthouse here, getting it ready to rent, so we’ve been outside a lot. The wind has been blowing from the south,…
Halloween at the Dallas Opera
We are in Dallas at the Dallas Opera Center for a performance of Aida. We are with our friends Darrah Dunn and Shann Schubert from Sherman, Texas. This is our Halloween treat to ourselves, a night out with close friends enjoying the new Winspear Center. The lights are about to go down. The orchestra is…
Hurray! Two Publications.
I am happy to report that two of my memoir pieces have been accepted for publication: one in the 2012 Story Circle Network hard copy anthology and the other in the SCN online anthology. The best part is that both of these pieces came from right here: my blog. I wrote them in my 20…
2 am – We Have Arrived
We have made it to our Texas home. Finally. We arrived at 1:15 am, after having driven since 7:45 am. Except for gas and a few dog pit stops, the only time we weren’t in the car was in Albuquerque for lunch at around 3 pm. We passed the time today listening to NPR and…
A Poetry Book That Pulls You In and Teaches You History
My daughter Rachael has introduced me to a book of poems from her poetry class at UCLA entitled Blue-Tail Fly by Vievee Francis. This is a wonderful volume of persona poems written in the voices of either real people or composites of people living from the pre-Mexican American War through the post-Civil War era. This book…
100 Things that I Love (With no effort to include everything and in no particular order)
1) Trader Joe’s Market 2) Homemade frozen strawberry yogurt 3) Cinnamon rolls 4) Comfortable shoes 5) A firm bed 6) A warm bath 7) Swimming underwater 8) The sun on a cool day 9) The night sky 10) Camping 11) Hot chocolate 12) Project Runway 13) Choral music 14) Bach 15) Art Museums 16) My…
By-Gone Halloween Treats: Homemade and Delicious
Halloween in Bonham, Texas, circa 1960. I remember well the trick or treating. Or rather, I remember the treats, particularly the homemade ones that were delicious. No fear of razor blades or glass embedded in the goodies. No indeed. The truth is the homemade treats were the ones I liked best. Take caramel apples, for…
Flash Memoir: “High-Top” Memories
When I was growing up, I had a problem buying shoes. My feet were small and wide, and in my little Texas town of 7,000 it was not always easy finding shoes that fit me in the local shoe stores. This meant at the very least traveling 25 miles over to Sherman, which had a…
Weather and Its Influence on Personality
Summertime here in LA. It was over 100 degrees today and people all over the city were out in shops and malls and movie theaters in an attempt to escape the heat. Even driving in the car was cooler than being at home since most Angelinos don’t have air-conditioned homes. After all, most of the…
20 Minutes a Day 