I am a liberal Democrat, but I do not believe in going into attack mode with any of my many Republican or Libertarian friends. I am a great believer in healthy dialogue about issues, but have no desire to draw a line in the sand between us and them. I believe that is what has…
Category: Texas
Highly Recommended: M.E. Neidhardt’s Fantasy Novel: Abysmal Canyon
My old friend, M.E Neidhardt, has written and published a highly entertaining young adult fantasy novel entitled, Abysmal Canyon. I can highly recommend this book to any fantasy lover. There is intrigue, romance and a plot that will keep you guessing. You can buy is for a trifle on Amazon ebooks at http://www.amazon.com/Abysmal-Canyon-Crossworlds-Science-Fantasy-ebook/dp/B014C2UTP2. Learn more…
Home At Last!
Finally back home after what seemed like a very long trip from Texas to Ojai and then down to LA. I am just glad to be here. We are both exhausted, but happy to have made it through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California pulling almost a 20 foot trailer with a fifteen passenger van….
Last Day with Our Texas Friends
Our friends are leaving early tomorrow morning. We headed back from Ojai this afternoon and spent the late afternoon and evening visiting first at Liz and Ron’s house and then at Sarah and Gregorio’s. These are old family friends so they know our kids well and vice versa. It was important to spend time together…
Flash Memoir: “Seeing” As A Child
We had dark red linoleum in our kitchen at 902 East 9th Street where I grew up. The pattern had little bricks with gray jagged mortar lines and the bricks were slightly raised, as they would have been if they had been real bricks. The color was almost burgundy, and my parents had that linoleum…
Surprise Visitor from Austin
Tonight we had dinner with our niece Katie Leatherwood’s boyfriend, Nowell Maluski, from Austin. We went to Mandarette Chinese Cafe on Beverly Boulevard in West Hollywood and had a great meal. Tomorrow is Nowell’s 33rd birthday so this turned out to be a mini-birthday celebration. Thank you, Nowell, for getting in touch with us. It’s…
Childhood Refuges
I was a solitary little girl, who loved to nestle in the space between the Nandina bushes and the white picket fence in our backyard; bare toes digging into the loose North Texas black soil; bare arms serving as racetracks for doodlebugs in exploration. My dog, Bob, was my constant companion. He was middle-sized, black…
Old Photos
Today I found a box of old photos. What a treat. Here are a few to give you a window into my earlier life. My little brother, Sam, and me in the mid-60’s. This is taken in our living room of our family home in Bonham, Texas. Ray Beaty, when he came to Arkansas to…
A Reprieve from Near Death
A few years back, my husband and I were traveling from California to Texas, and I was pulling a 1958 Buick on a trailer behind our 15-passenger Ford Van. This was my husband’s idea of love at first sight – that ’58 Buick – a car from his birth year that he hoped to restore…
My Connection to Texas
Whenever I drive back to Texas, the minute I hit the border from New Mexico, a calm settles over me. Not that West Texas is my home, but still, I can see the big open sky and the flat plains and I hear that West Texas closed-mouth drawl when I stop for gas. These signal…
20 Minutes a Day 