Yesterday I wrote about the earlier part of my life, my husband and family. Today the focus is on my writing life. Again, this topic is inspired by a college essay prompt that one of my students was writing on: interview yourself. Here’s the second part: Tell me about your writing. I began to write…
Category: Writing as a Discipline
An Interview – If Someone Asked Me About My Life
This was inspired by a writing prompt given by one of the colleges one of my students is applying to. It is not a thorough interview, just one aspect. 1) You have clearly done quite a few jobs in your life. Was that by design or did that just happen? I started out as a…
A Happy Christmas Celebration Today at the Breakfast Club
Today we had our annual Christmas Bash at the Breakfast Club, which is the homeless breakfast served the second and fourth Saturdays of each month at St. Thomas the Apostle, Hollywood. Thanks go out to Brit Bjurstrom, Salvador Hernandez and Mark Frazier for working late and getting up early to create a holiday wonderland for…
Post-Midnight Mass Christmas Party circa 1963
My parents hosted a Christmas party every year in the wee hours of Christmas morning after Midnight Mass at our tiny Holy Trinity Episcopal church in Bonham, Texas. This party was for all the church people and anyone else who happened to be awake and available for a party that began around 1 am on…
Flash Memoir Repost: Afternoons with Mr. Morgan
Mr. Morgan was a retired Episcopal priest who lived a few houses up from my family on East 9th Street in my hometown of Bonham, Texas. He and his wife, Anna, must have been in their 70’s when I was young. They both had white hair, and they walked with the stoop that comes with…
Milk Toast
When I was growing up my dad made me milk toast when I was sick. This consisted of two slices of toasted Mrs. Baird’s bread torn up and placed in a big bowl, then covered with warm milk sweetened with sugar. One pat of butter went on top to add a little extra richness. Milk…
My Utah Family and a Birthday
Today is my nephew’s birthday. Jim is my sister’s son and is one of my favorite people in the world. Our families are very close since Ray and Jim became fast friends about ten minutes after we got married back in 1980. Jim turned 49 today. Hard to believe he is that old since I still…
Fort Worth, DFW and Tex-Mex
Ray and I are currently sprawled out on a makeshift pallet on the floor of the Fort Worth condo. Our plane leaves at 7 am and we are heading in that direction at 4:30 since we have to return a rent car and it is DFW, which means a huge airport and a very long…
The Big Country (1958) and Ray
Today Ray was not feeling well so we spent some time watching movies on television. The Big Country (1958) was one of those movies. It stars Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carrol Baker, Charlton Heston and Burl Ives. I have to say that Burl Ives commands this movie with his performance. I didn’t know until afterwards…
Sherman, Fort Worth and Daughter Sarah
It is 12:42 am here in Sherman, Texas – 10:42 Pacific Time – and we just arrived at our house here about 45 minutes ago. We worked in Fort Worth all day on the condo, got stuck in Fort Worth traffic on our way to Sherman in early evening, then arrived an hour and a…
20 Minutes a Day 