This past week, pickers arrived at our grove to harvest our Valencia oranges. Before it was over, they had picked 37 bins, which amounted to 900 pounds of oranges per bin. That totals 33,300 pounds altogether at 17 cents a pound. The good news is this is triple what we have gotten in the past….
Happy Trails, Little Ones!
This evening, we said goodbye to three of our four grandkids. Our daughter Sarah drove up from South Pasadena to collect Luna, Nico, and Lyla. (Gregorio was busy at an all-day advanced training for soccer coaches.) Ethan will be disappointed not to have his cousins around—he loves their visits to the orange grove. In fact,…
Off to the Ventura County Fair
Luna, Nico, and Lyla Pacheco- Beaty are visiting for a few days along with Auntie Rachael and Uncle Andrew. Today’s excursion was to the Ventura County Fair. We took in many of the exhibits, the petting zoo, the pig races, the food stands, and, of course, the midway. I would write more but I’m just…
An Afternoon in Ojai: Join Me at the Library!
I’m very pleased to share that I’ll be speaking at the Ojai Public Library on Saturday, August 23, 2025, at 2 p.m. I was a little shy about reaching out, but I gathered my courage and sent an email to see if the library might be interested in hosting a book talk and signing. Just…
Flash Fiction: Fellow Grievers
Jacqueline heard the crows and felt called. Their caws brought her first to the window, where their black bodies balanced on the telephone wires, then outside to peer up at them. Caw caw caw, they sang, and she felt a strange calm. They brought her peace in a way she didn’t understand. A young woman…
Advice to a Lonely Uber Driver
A couple of weeks ago, I took the train into L.A. and caught an Uber from the Burbank Amtrak Station. During the twenty-five-minute ride to my destination, my driver and I ended up having a straight-to-the-heart conversation about his love life—or, more accurately, his lack of one. It started innocently enough. He asked about my…
Similes Gone Wrong (and Right)
I know, I know—a deep dive into similes isn’t what most people rush to read. Dear Lord, you might think, just how wacked-out has this poor woman gotten that she is now worrying herself silly about the difficulty of a simple figure of speech? Dear, dear, the poor thing needs a vacation where there is…
The Friend Who Taught Me How to Love
Yesterday was the birthday of my childhood friend, Patricia Jean Butler. Patricia and I met as little girls at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, and we spent nearly every Sunday morning together—often followed by long afternoons at each other’s homes. Over those many Sundays, we forged an unbreakable bond that carried us through childhood and into…
Writing Advice: If I Think It’s Brilliant, It Probably Isn’t
I’ve come to understand that real writing doesn’t even begin until the crappy writing is on the page. Only then do I have the breathing room to go back and shape it into something as good as I can make it—at the level I’m currently writing. Sure, part of the process is about refining, growing,…
20 Minutes a Day 