Whenever one of my older siblings ever said, “Maybe I’ll just stay here—in our rural Texas town—and go to college close by,” my Mom’s reaction was a frown and a quick, “No, you won’t.” This was not said teasingly or with a laugh but rather in a hard-edged tone that left no opening for discussion….
Tag: family
My Favorite Room in Our Home When I Was Growing Up
When I was a little girl, I’d sit in the living room of our house on East 9th Street and listen to records on our stereo with its pull-out recorder player. I think the records, such as “Get A Job” by The Silhouettes, “Sixteen Tons” by Tennessee Ernie Ford, and “Oh, Donna” by Ritchie Valens,…
Thinking Tonight of My Maternal Grandfather: Robert McClucky Waugh
I never met my grandfather, but my mother’s description of him has brought him to life for me. He was a small man, not quite 5’8”, and very slim. He wore round spectacles and had bright eyes that shone when he saw his only daughter, Helen Marie. He called my mother his “little gurl,” since…
An Orange Grove Full of People
We have lots of people here at the orange grove at the moment. Liz and her family, Sarah and hers, and now the arrival of one of our oldest friends, Sonny, from Massachusetts. Sonny, an artist, is here with his easel and art supplies to luxuriate in the January sun of Southern CA, and even…
Christmas Morning at St. Thomas the Apostle, Hollywood
We began our Christmas morning at Rachael and Andrew’s house in Covina, where we’d spent the night after an all-day Christmas Eve celebration with our family, most of Andrew’s immediate family, and our son-in-law Ron’s mother, Cindy. We had coffee and Thai food leftovers from Christmas Eve, then drove 30 miles to Hollywood to celebrate…
Growing Up with an Annual Post-Midnight Mass Bash
My parents hosted a Christmas party every year in the wee hours of Christmas morning after Midnight Mass at our tiny Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Bonham, Texas. This party was for all the church people and anyone else who happened to be awake and available for a party that began around 1 am on…
Tribute to My Late Brother Jim on His Birthday Today
Today is my older brother Jim’s birthday. He was born in 1946 and died in 1995 from AIDS. Jim was one of those guys who loved both sailing and flying. He owned a 45-foot ocean-faring sailboat and a Bonanza Beechcraft airplane. He sailed to Hawaii in his sailboat; he flew to Texas, picked up our…
A Few Photos of Our Grandkids & Ron’s Mom
As Ray and I prepare to head to Sicily later this week, it was beyond a treat to have our three South Pasadena grandkids with us for an overnight stay. We also had the pleasure of having Ron’s mother, Cindy, visit at the same time, so we had a full orange grove! Cindy will also…
A Funny High School Memory
Today, my husband Ray was chatting with our youngest daughter, Rachael, about regional dialects and colloquialisms. He then said, “I think the only person I’ve ever heard say “warter” for “water” was George. He was referring to my older brother George who died a few years back and did, in fact, routinely say warter. However,…
Prompt: Open the Drawer
Today, I’m going to write from a prompt I found in the Observation Deck: A Tool Kit for Writers by Naomi Epel. This tool kit is comprised of a 160-page book with short chapters filled with writing advice, which also corresponds to a 50-card deck. Chapter titles include Change Your Point of View, Follow the…
20 Minutes a Day 