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…
Tag: family
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…
My Mothers’ Day Celebration
Color me happy. I spent a glorious afternoon with Ray; our daughters, Sarah, Liz, and Rachael; their partners, Gregorio, Ron, and Andrew; my grandchildren, Luna, Nico, Lyla, and Ethan; and Andrew’s mother, Martha. We ate, laughed, opened presents, ate more, talked, laughed more, and generally enjoyed each other’s company. Also, one of my former students,…
The Other Side of Mothers’ Day
Mothers’ Day isn’t always easy Many suffer from Loss DistanceDisconnectionGood mothering means Unconditional loveEmpathyForgivenessA kind and generous heartWe all mother in our lives We mother other people,Our pets, Our plants and gardensOur communitiesIf we are able,We mother ourselves
Back Home After My Great-Nephew’s College Graduation
Tonight, Ray and I returned from a short trip to Salt Lake City to celebrate our great-nephew’s graduation from college. We left at 10 am Mountain Time this morning and arrived home at 9 pm Pacific Time. A long driving trip but with some pretty views and lots of good music and radio shows on…
20 Minutes a Day 