Our daughter Rachael and her two friends, Natasha and Keara, decided last week to take a road trip from Los Angeles to our home in Sherman, Texas, which is 60 miles north of Dallas. They arrived today after 22 hours of driving spread over 2 1/2 days. The girls, all college seniors, arrived tired, but…
Tag: timed writing
From the Mouths of Dogs…
Cordelia and Sammie wish you a very happy New Year with hopes that 2013 will bring you prosperity in all aspects of your life. We could all learn from these two: 1) Sleep a lot 2) Eat with gusto 3) Play as often as you can 4) Snuggle close in bed 5) Defend those you…
Tomorrow is Our Open House!
It is 1:10 am and I am still up. Not what I had planned, but I had a wonderful evening with dear friends here in Sherman, talking and laughing and sharing the happy and tough times in our lives. Well worth staying up this late to experience. Tomorrow is our open house and the house…
The End of a Busy Day
I am sitting near the gas heater in our Victorian, my eye lids so heavy it requires a great effort to keep them open. It is 1:12 am. Today, we have dusted, swept, vacuumed, mopped, unloaded furniture from the U-Haul we brought, and rearranged a room or two. Plus, we had the pleasure of a…
Half-way to North Central Texas
We have just arrived via van and U-Haul in Benson, AZ where we will stay the night before heading on to Sherman, Texas tomorrow. We have driven 10 hours, covering 425 miles. We had lots of traffic for the first 3 hours. We have about 11 more to go, give or take an hour or…
Christmas Potluck and A Recipe for Potato Leek Soup
I am in bed after a wonderful Christmas Day with family and friends. We had a potluck this afternoon, and it was quite a success. We had lots of great food, lively conversation and laughter. Below is a recipe for potato leek soup that is excellent. I love Alton Brown from the Food Network. I…
Ginger Cookies: A Recipe to Count On
I have been baking today and the above picture shows the most perfect ginger snap I’ve ever made. The recipe is adapted from the book bigfatcookies by Elinor Klivans, which I gave to Ray for Christmas (one of my many finds from Out of the Closet thrift store). We don’t eat refined sugar so I…
Congratulations To My “Early Action” Students
I am pleased to report that ALL of my students who applied “early action,” meaning before the regular admission deadline have been accepted at the schools where they applied. These schools are fine institutions and competition is stiff. The acceptances so far include: University of Pennsylvania: Claremont McKenna: Tulane: Sarah Lawrence: University of Michigan Ann…
Christmas before Christmas
We celebrated our family Christmas this evening and the picture above shows my favorite present. Of course, I liked everything I received: the pack of panties, the bubble bath, the pumice stone and foot scrub, the gift card to Coffee Bean, the socks, face cream, Chai tea and new frying pan. But my favorite gifts…
A Cold Night + A Honey-Sweetened Cranberry Sauce Recipe
I am sitting in front of my fireplace with the fire blazing. It is cold for LA – 51 degrees with a light wind. Only chilly for other parts of the country, but for Southern California, it’s down right frigid, especially knowing it is getting down to 44 tonight. I am sitting two feet from the…
20 Minutes a Day 