A Blight on My Hometown

The First Baptist Church in my hometown of Bonham, Texas, population 7,000, has banned the Boy Scouts from meeting at their church because of the Boy Scout of America’s decision not to discriminate because of sexual orientation. My thoughts: Dear God in heaven, how can we still be dealing with this sort of blatant bigotry…

2 Excellent Recipes Using Pineapple

I made two recipes today that both used canned pineapple. That doesn’t sound all that good, but both were exceptionally tasty. One was a rice salad and the other was a maple and molasses-sweetened pineapple upside-down cake. Here are the recipes. Let me know if you try these. I think you’ll like them. California Rice…

Gravity: The Film

Well, I am not going to be among those who shower lots of praise on the film, Gravity. While I thought it was very well-acted, I can’t say that it was a great movie. I wanted more exploration of the two (only) characters so that I could care more about them and their fate. As…

Grandma and Baby Luna: Having Fun Tonight

Tonight, I babysat baby Luna while her parents went off on a date night, their first since her birth not counting the other time I babysat while they went to a party. This time, it was to the movies. The first movie they’ve seen in a theater since this baby was born. Luna was a…

The Beauty of Open Spaces

I am sitting with my student and we are doing a quick-write. I have just returned from Texas – I mean I drove in from Texas exactly two hours ago. We drove from 4 am (Central time) yesterday morning until 8 pm Pacific time (which is 10 Central time) last night, which translate into 1100…

Love/Hate Food List

This will probably not be the full 20 minutes tonight. We have not left Texas yet and are getting up to leave at 4 am. So, clearly, I need to go to bed as soon as possible. I found this prompt and thought, “I could do this even if I’m tired.” So, here goes. Foods…

Saddle Up the Horses, We’re Heading Out…

Tomorrow, Ray and I will wrap up loose ends here in Texas, load our dogs, Cordelia and Sammie, into our Ford van, and head back to California. This has been a whirlwind trip for me and I am still suffering from jet lag. Of course, my fatigue may have less to do with acclimatizing to…

Church, Emotion and Ray

Today, Ray and I went to St. Stephen’s Episcopal church here in Sherman. Normally, I play hookie from church when I’m in Texas since being here feels like vacation, but Ray had other plans for today. He had struck up a conversation with Carol and David Griffith, a couple we have recently gotten to know…

Our 2nd Annual Neighborhood Garage Sale in Texas

We got up early this morning (before 6) to set up for our garage sale here in Texas. I had gone to bed around midnight the night before, and then here we were getting up at what felt to me like the dead middle of the night. Still, I struggled forth and our garage sale…

Our Fall Mini-Garden

Yesterday, I went out and bought plants for our fall garden. Here were the offerings at Anawalt Lumber in West Hollywood: These are the plants I picked, which include cilantro, two types of parsley, basil, two types of kale, Romaine lettuce, and red onions. (I could be forgetting a plant or two…) Here is the postage-stamp…