It Is What It Is

My sweet mother has passed away. She, the one with so much enthusiasm for life. She, the busiest bee of them all. The one we all thought would live to be a hundred. She was 79. She was never sick until they found cancer in a routine mammogram. It was non-Hodgkin Lymphoma — not the…

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Wine & Words & Writer’s Whimsy

Last week, I was invited to discuss my novel, Finding Tranquility Base, with the members of the Wine & Words Book Club at Mitchell’s Bookshop in Agoura Hills, California. The group, led by Christine Harris of Espresso in Italy, meets monthly on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. in the bookstore. Now this is a group after…

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The Color of a Memory

Referring to my novel, Finding Tranquility Base, a reader recently asked me how I could remember so many details about West Texas when I haven’t lived there for many years. I’m not sure I have the answer for this other than to say that when I experience something provocative, my memory backs it up into…

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Shoot for the Moon

Last Saturday morning I woke up at 4:00 a.m. and dragged myself downstairs for a drink of cold water. I had a busy day ahead, so I wasn’t getting up to stay up. I just needed to quench my thirst and go back to sleep. But once in the kitchen I looked out the window…

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The Secret Life of Adirondack Chairs

I’ve always had a thing for Adirondack chairs. For me, they represent a way of life that is tranquil, comfortable, elegant and somewhat mysterious. Let me explain. As a kid growing up in west Texas, I remember sturdy metal lawn chairs. The kind that rock back and forth a little when you sit in them. They were practical…

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