My happy news is that on Sunday evening, Ray, Rachael and I are heading off to Barcelona to meet up with Liz, Sarah, Gregorio, Luna and Nico. (We are flying different airlines since we booked our trips a few days apart.)  Our kids and grandkids have a wedding to attend in Switzerland; Ray and I…

Today is the wedding day of my sister Leslie and her husband, E. Ray Agutter. They were only married 12 years but E. Ray was someone who was important to me for many years to come. I had the honor of delivering his eulogy when he died back in 2015. In honor of my sweet…

For those of you who will be holed up tomorrow watching the Royal Wedding festivities, here is a tasty salad that will add spice and protein to your day. I first tasted this salad at a friend’s party a couple of Christmases back. It is delicious and different. Full of flavor. It’s easy to make…

I had a good long talk tonight over the phone with my old friend, Judy HG, who moved to Ashland, Oregon about nine months ago.  Judy is one of those people in my life who occupies a special slot.  She and I can not see each other for months and then pick up our conversations…

I am sitting in the house alone save for the two dogs, who are waiting patiently for me to walk them.  I just finished a two-hour session with a student who is applying to medical school. We have been working on fifteen short answer questions for his application.  I am tired.  I worked all day…

I wrote this piece several years back, but since it’s Sarah’s 36th birthday today and she now has delivered any number of babies as a physician, I think it’s time again for her rather tumultuous home birth story. Besides, it reminds me of how precious this little bundle was and is, my very first baby,…

Today, I received a copy of my old friend Wendel Sloan’s book entitled, Kill a Moose for Jesus: Three Minute Essays on Punks, Poets, Parents, Preachers, Potheads, Parrotheads and Politicians.  Wendel, an award-winning writer, has written a column for the Eastern New Mexico News in Portales for many years now and many of these essays…

This morning, we headed back to LA from Ensenada. Unfortunately, we apparently weren’t the only Americans in Mexico this weekend. After spending 3 1/2 hours at the border waiting in line and five minutes at the border gate making sure we were all who we said we were, we were finally on our way back…

Here is a picture of the ocean where we are staying in Baja. The continuous roar of the waves is a lulling sound. The sky is gray, but the weather has been mild. We saw four dolphins jumping and playing in the waves for at least forty-five minutes this afternoon. This evening we drove about…