Upon reflection, here are twenty-one of the best things I did in 2015. These are in no particular order. I just want to remember what I did that brought me happiness this year. 1) Spent a day a week with my granddaughter. This might top the list as “best” since this lovely child has been…
Category: Writing as a Discipline
Friends’ Home Destroyed by Dallas Tornado: Please Help
I have learned that the home of two of my childhood friends, Sharon and Sandra Newton, was destroyed by the recent tornado that hit the Dallas area on December 26th. Sharon, Sandra and their husbands have lost everything. The good news is that they did find their cat this afternoon. Hooray for that wonderful discovery….
5-Star Recipe: Curried Red Lentil Salad
I know that many of my friends in west, north central and eastern Texas are holed up at home with all the rain and bad weather that is besieging those parts of the state. Stay warm, dry and safe, my friends. Here’s a recipe to try if you want some good protein coupled with interesting…
Christmas Eve: Church and A Few Thoughts
I am writing early today because we are leaving in a few minutes to drop a friend at the airport, then go to Sarah’s to spend a bit of time before I leave to serve as the thurifer at the Family Christmas mass at St. Thomas the Apostle, Hollywood, which starts at 5 pm. (I…
Revisited: 5-Star Gingersnap Recipe
Today I modified America’s Test Kitchen’s recipe for gingersnap cookies to fit into my non-refined sugar criteria. That mean basically just substituting white sugar with maple sugar. The results were excellent. The cookies have a real snap and they are filled with freshly ground ginger for a nice little kick. I’m going out on a…
Burning the Midnight Oil
I have had a student here since 4 pm – she just left at 9. We are working through all the supplements that go with colleges she is applying to that have a January 1 deadline. Ouch. There are nine schools and they each have one to three supplements. That means many extra short essays…
Happy News
My student Oona Oglesby received the word tonight that she has been accepted to Bard College based solely on the Bard Exam. The Bard Exam consists of four scholarly essays of no less than 2500 words in science, philosophy, literature and art. Hours of work to produce four thought-provoking essays, but clearly well worth the effort….
Home Alone Reflections
I am sitting in a very quiet house with my two dogs nearby, Cordie on the floor beside me and Frankie on the stool four feet away. Ray will return home tomorrow from a work trip to Texas; he is getting the condo in Fort Worth ready to sell. It is a week before Christmas….
Rachael is Back!
Congratulations to daughter Rachael who just completed her first semester at Fowler School of Law at Chapman University. Her last exam was yesterday and today she gets to feel relief from all that academic pressure. Hooray! I was searching for pictures of Rachael to add to this post and realized that there are very few…
A 5-Star Orange Cookie Sweetened with Honey or Agave
This is a great tasting holiday cookie recipe that is tried and true. Of course, fresh orange juice from the oranges in our grove would be best, but you can use any oranges you buy in the market. These cookies are light, orangey and delicious. Happy holidays! Orange Cookies Adapted from Rodale’s Naturally Delicious Desserts…
20 Minutes a Day 