There are some days when the irony of the news astounds me. Headline: 40 Arrested at Petaluma Farm. Why? For protesting the treatment of chickens. They had trespassed on the property and were rescuing chickens. There was a picture of several people in handcuffs. Great front page story! Though I’m all for being proper stewards …
I’m taking some time off and going through family memorabilia that has been gathering dust far too long. Letters, pictures, diaries – boxes of them. I’ve found some surprises along the way. My paternal grandmother won a prize for an essay she wrote for a sugar beet company. She liked poetry. This is precious to …
Scent brings back memories. Hot sand and vineyards take me back to the weeks each summer I spent with my Grandma Wulff on her Livingston ranch. The verdant vines and almond orchard were places of adventure. I remember the feel of hot sand between my toes and racing to the irrigation ditch for a cool …
Whenever man tries to fix something in nature, he messes things up. That Kudzu vine in Japan is beautiful, isn’t it? Why not bring some home for landscaping southern gardens? (Now called “the vine that ate the South”) Ohh, I’d love to have one of those Burmese pythons in a terrarium! Wowza, that thing is …
A friend contacted me recently over a challenge she’d received from a hostess for an upcoming baby shower. A questionnaire had been sent for her to fill out and returned as a gift for the coming child. The papers would be placed in a box to be opened when the child became a young adult. She …
More than 100,000 people are leaving our sunshine state each year. We’re now seeing the migration up close and personal. A couple from our home Bible study has packed up and headed for Montana. One lady moved to Nevada, another to Florida. My brother and his family are planning a move to Oregon. After eighteen …
It has been six months and a few days since the October fires destroyed 6200 North Bay homes and 1800 other structures – 5300 of those homes were in our hometown of Santa Rosa. Most have been cleared, the 1.6 million tons of debris piled just north of town. The sight of mountains of concrete …
The first few weeks after a manuscript is accepted and begins the process of publication are a relief. The work that has kept me occupied for almost two years is finished. Relief gives way to a sense of freedom. No more getting up early and working all day. My time is my own. I always …
Cameron Moberg and I were finally able to carve out time to get together in San Francisco, where I was able to see his work in the Mission District first hand and not on the internet. He also gave me a lesson in the art of painting graffiti. We had planned to do it outside, …
Readers of my recent novel, The Masterpiece, have asked what happened to Roman’s landscape, based on a line Grace drew to get him started on a new project, and “The Indwelling” – an oil painting of Mary pregnant with Jesus. Over the course of writing this novel, all kinds of ideas floated in my head …