Happy to say that life is settling down a bit.  I have finished with all my students who had term papers that called for burning the midnight oil, and Ray and I are almost finished with an estate that has required a lot of sorting, assessing, packing and moving. Hooray.  Life might just get back into…

Hi folks. Forgive my silence.  I have been snowed with work, both with students and with a recent estate we’re handling.  With one student, I helped work on a paper about T.S. Eliot’s poem, The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock.  Now that is one interesting poem. Also, I am neck-deep with another student on…

We made a quick trip up to Ojai today to handle some business and discovered the grove in full bloom with the hum of bees everywhere.  A grove filled with orange blossoms – so sweet and pure – is one of the loveliest scents on Earth.  Seeing the bees busy doing their job added an…

We have been celebrating Ray’s birthday all day.  Breakfast with Rachael and Ariel at Hugo’s at 11.  A snack and chat with Liz and Ron at their apartment in Glendale. Then the official whole family gathering at Sarah and Gregorio’s house in Pasadena for dinner and presents.  That started around 3:30 and it is now…

I have just helped one of my college students finish a 20-page paper on the Aryan Brotherhood.  Feel free to ask me anything; she and I have spent a lot of time researching this prison gang. We have been working since 1:30 pm today and it is now 9. I am going to bed now….

I recently came across my mother’s memory book of my brother, John. It contains family photos, several letters from John she received in the months prior to his death, along with condolence cards and letters after he died in 1990. He was 46 at that time. He had been diagnosed with AIDS less than 2…

I am very pleased to announce that my writing student Alexa Nourafchan has won a national silver medal in the “Personal Essay” category from the Scholastic Artists and Writing contest. This is the oldest and most prestigious writing contest for youth in the United States and required Alexa to win a Gold Key in the…

I am the fifth out of six children; technically, the fifth out of seven since my little brother, Robert, died just a few hours after his birth. I was 18 months old at the time of his death. From my perspective, there were two sets of kids in our family: the older kids: Leslie, John…

We have grandbabies with us this evening for an overnight so my post is going to be short and sweet.  Here is my early morning stint at the St. Thomas the Apostle, Hollywood, “Breakfast Club.”  These fine volunteers are a lot of fun. Cooking breakfast for the homeless is actually a pleasure when surrounded by…

I made this cake to take with us to Mexico so that Ray and I can have our own “wedding cake” at Liz’s wedding. Clearly, everyone else will be eating a gorgeous one made of sugar. This is a delicious recipe. You can substitute sugar for the 1 1/3 cups of mild honey, but keep…