My daughter Sarah and I are going to embark tomorrow on the Blue Zone Challenge from a book by Dan Buettner. This is a 30 Day program to live a bit more like people who live in the Blue Zones, places where people live to be very old while remaining healthy. This is not solely…

It’s been raining all day here in Los Angeles. Not a sprinkle, but rather a hard rain which is very uncharacteristic of this arid climate. There are blizzards up in the mountains and road conditions have been hazardous. Ray and I have stayed home all day and encouraged our kids to be somewhere safe, not…

Today, Rachael and I made this soup and cheesy garlic bread for lunch. It was easy, delicious, and completely satisfying. I am a big enthusiast of the Instant Pot, which I used for this recipe. However, you can easily make this soup on top of the stove. Just saute the vegetables in a deep pan,…

This is the official first day of Lent, which is a time of reflection, discipline, and repentance forty days before Easter Sunday. This time also represents the 40 days that Jesus went into the desert after his baptism and fasted. According to The Book of Common Prayer, which is used in the Episcopal Church, Lent…

I wrote the story below a while back. At that time, I took a deck of alphabet cards (a, b, c, etc.), which I have used in the past when working with younger kids on their reading and writing. I spread the deck out, face up, on the table and quickly formed the following words:…

Over this past summer, I worked with my writing student Ricardo on his essays for dental school. He was referred by his college roommate, Ryan, with whom I’d worked the previous year. With Ricardo’s strong test scores, high GPA, excellent work experience, and exceptional essays he has just let me know that he has been…

Today is my dad’s birthday and I want to spend just a few minutes remembering a few of his favorite colloquialisms that reflected his deep Texas/Southern roots. These phrases also conveyed a particular attitude about life. Everybody who has grown up in the South has heard the expression, “That old dog won’t hunt.” My dad…

My old friend Shirley Patterson, who now lives in Louisville, Kentucky with her husband Ray, wrote me an email this morning suggesting the following writing prompt: I remember my second marriage ceremony at George…. Okay, Shirley, here goes. At least part of the story Shirley is referring to pre-dates that “second marriage ceremony” and is…

It is 9:05 pm and I am in the same boat as last night. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero. A blank mind. Tired. Not interested. Whoever said that writing was fun in the first place? Who was that dumb cluck? Surely not ever me, a person who now sits and stares at a blank page and…

I am writing tonight not because I want to but instead because I have a writing buddy and she will check in tomorrow and see if I wrote. I want my answer to be yes so here I am putting words on the page despite the fact that I’ve been sitting here for at least…