The house smells of Murphy’s Soap because our weekly housekeeper of the past 22 years has just left. She swept and mopped this floor just an hour ago and the room feels clean and free of corgi hair that will soon begin accumulating again on the area rug and wooden floor. I grew up with…

I have had one of those days where everything I’m doing is in mid-process with nothing coming to a logical (and satisfying) conclusion.  I have been working on a paper with a student that is frustrating to organize, tackling an ongoing problem up in Ojai with our land partners that refuses to right itself, figuring…

My student, Lara King, has kindly agreed to allow me to reprint her winning essay here on my blog.  I believe this beautifully-written piece deserves a wider audience than simply the judges for the Scholastic Art and Writing contest.  Please read this touching essay about Lara and her grandmother who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, and…

Today, Scholastic announced their national winners and I am delighted to announce that my student, Lara King, has won a national silver medal for her personal essay, “Ship of Theseus.”  Lara is a high school student who lives in Michigan and her essay was selected from 350,000 submissions from young artists and writers all over…

I am delighted to report that I  have been chosen to offer two workshops in the upcoming “Stories From the Heart IX” Memoir Conference in Austin, Texas on July 20 – 22, 2018.  I will be presenting one of the two Friday pre-conference workshops entitled, “How to Improve Your Writing and Get Published: Flash Fiction…

This has been one of those days. Up early to prepare to be Master of Ceremonies at church, which means that you are in charge of all things related to the Mass. This includes making sure everything is in place before Mass, performing duties during Mass and then making sure everything is all wrapped up…

I made this recipe this evening.  It was easy and delicious.  I made rice to go with it since the sauce from the chicken was so good. I got the recipe from https://diethood.com/instant-pot-honey-garlic-chicken-recipe/ if you want more information. The recipe uses sesame oil, which gives it a wonderfully rich flavor. I have included my photos from…

Yes, I am in love.  This is no exaggeration.  Ask my kids or Ray.  I am cooking in my Instant Pot almost every day.  The cool thing about this contraption, which is one part pressure cooker and one part slow cooker is that once you put everything in the pot and hit the timer, you can…

Yesterday, I saw love in my husband’s eyes, heard pride in his voice.  “It was pretty cool how you went to that drop-off station and unloaded that big couch and those two heavy doors all by yourself.” Ray had planned all week that he was the one who would be taking a necessary load to…

Just returned from Texas.  It is 12:11 am.  We had a successful workday at the condo, which included the new fridge arriving. The laundry room is where the fire was, but the smoke caused lots of repainting to have to happen.  All is well now. I am now going to bed.  Talk tomorrow. Here are…