A chocolate cake I like to make has a secret ingredient: mayonnaise. The recipe comes from the Cake Bible, and I’ve made it several times. It’s delicious. We don’t eat refined sugar, so I substitute one cup of honey for the one cup of sugar. Other than that, it’s the same and makes a very…
Category: Timed Writing
Flash Essay: Thunderstorm on a Sunday Afternoon
Thunderstorms. Texas is famous for them. This afternoon the sky grew gray off to the west, and in a short time the wind picked up and the smell of rain was in the air. I barely had time to go across the street and retrieve the dogs from their play date with our neighbors’ beagle…
Flash Essay: No Fun Tonight
Saturday night. Sick. Yuck. Woke up this morning feeling too tired after so many hours of sleep. Then intestinal woes hit me and I’ve been limping ever since. Party tonight and I’m at home with the dogs. I just didn’t feel like going. Think I’ll head back to bed. Just want to rest. My body…
Flash Essay: Lots of Driving and Another Building Project
We are now back in Texas. We left LA at 3 pm on Wednesday, drove to Flagstaff, AZ, arriving at 1:30 am, then left the next morning, arriving in Sherman at 3:30 am. this (Friday) morning. That seems like a long time and a lot of driving. And, of course, it was. We are only…
Outlaw Country, Emmylou and Hank III
When Ray and I take a long road trip we tune into the XM radio channel Outlaw Country. This features old time country music such as Merle Haggard, Carl Perkins, Willie Nelson, Bob Wills, Patsy Cline, etc. I love all kinds of music: symphonic, rock and roll, jazz, folk, big band, reggae, bluegrass, you name…
Flash Essay: The Fun of Writing Personal Essay
I just completed teaching an online course for Story Circle Network entitled, “Writing the Personal Essay.” The course was five weeks long and each week the students were assigned reading material on a different type of essay, then required to write that type of essay by the end of the week. Just so that we…
Flash Essay: Organizing before School Starts
I have spent my day doing the task I like the least: pulling everything out of my junk drawers and stow-it cabinet in preparation for the upcoming school year. I teach privately at home and I have been using the buffet that’s in the picture for papers, books, receipts, and anything else that needs a…
Flash Essay: One Small Detail…
When I was in high school, Diana Felmet was my Home Economics sewing teacher. Mine and every other girl in the school since Home Ec was a required course and boys were not allowed to take it. (Oh, how the times have changed for the better!) Anyway, I learned to pick out patterns and…
Flash Essay: Hank III at House of Blues
We went to hear Hank III tonight, son of Hank, Jr. And grandson to Hank Williams. We are big fans of III’s, mainly his original country music, but also his “hellbilly” music. He has a distinctive voice, a tight band,and songwriting talent. I struck up a conversation before the show with a guy behind me….
Flash Essay: A “Dream” in the Making
Today I helped our family friend Alvaro prepare his paperwork for President Obama’s “Deferred Action” for undocumented immigrants brought into the country as children. We sorted through transcripts, pay receipts, school ID cards, plus any other indication that he’d been continuously in the country for the past 5 years, and added these to a stack…
20 Minutes a Day 