Yesterday, I visited daughter Sarah and her family in South Pasadena. My granddaughter Lyla and I decided to make cookies. Unfortunately, Sarah was out of flour so we used pancake mix instead. We made a batch of blueberry cookies and also a batch with chocolate chips. The cookies turned out remarkably well. Lyla and I…
If This Is the Beginning, Where From Here?
Dear Friends, I have had two conversations with family members who work at universities who say that their work worlds has been completely disrupted due to the policies that Trump recently put into place. Funds have been cut, professors let go, students wondering how they can get the classes they need to graduate on time,…
Today at the Ojai Meadow Preserve
This was my first time to this lovely nature preserve. There were paths, a pond, lots of birds, friendly people, and one heck of a view of the Topa Topa Mountains. Here are a few photographs:
The Things We Carry: My Friend Walter’s Rosary
I have been carrying a wooden rosary around for several months now. It’s in my computer bag, and I haven’t used it once—so far—to say the rosary. It was one of the objects gathered from the apartment of the late Deacon Walter Johnson, who, in his mid-80s, died unexpectedly last year. Everyone who knew him…
Flash Fiction: The Fire’s Aftermath
Daisy picked up a handful of black soot from the ground and smeared it on the only remaining wall of her home, which had been beautiful and whole just a week before and had been the place where she had felt safe and secure. Wrong, she wrote in big, bold letters, and then she walked…
A Moment with Rowan Williams
If you had ever told me that I would have the opportunity to spend several hours in the company of the Most Revd Rowan Williams, 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, and former Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, I would have responded with an emphatic, “Impossible!” However, I can now see that impossible is not a word…
The Benefits of Consistency
Consistency is a trait I value. I grew up in a home where people were not always consistent, so knowing what to expect on a day-to-day basis is something I find comforting. When I was growing up, there was a certain consistency to life: Lorene arrived every weekday at 8:30 without fail, she was consistent….
My Mother on the Anniversary of Her Death
Today in church, we prayed for people listed in our chantry book, where parishioners can add loved ones’ names to honor the anniversary of their deaths The first name called out this morning was Helen Waugh Leatherwood, my mother. My mother died of lung cancer on January 23rd, twenty-five years ago. Each year after my…
Need to Laugh? Find a Toddler.
I spent several hours today with my grandson, little two-year-old Ethan. He helped me take out all the trash, blow leaves, and scoop up dog poop. He also ate oatmeal with lots of cherries, and over the day he had pineapple, dried mango, a turkey patty, nuts, potato leek soup, and an apple. Best yet,…
A Poem Written By My Friend Sonny About the Ongoing Trauma of War
My friend, Sonny, sent me this poem yesterday. While he was visiting, we had been talking about writing, and he said, “I have a poem I wrote a few years back that I’ll share with you.” This is that poem. Sonny lives in the Northeast Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts. He was awarded a Purple Heart…
20 Minutes a Day 