I’ve heard it said that Russian novels are so long because Russian winters are so cold! What better way to spend time inside than reading a book? In Iceland I hear there’s a tradition of gifting family and friends with books and chocolate so they may take to their beds cozy and satisfied for a long … Continue reading Celebrating Books
If you and your loved ones are safe and healthy this year, then you have reason to be thankful. Please do all you can to stay that way! The safest thing to do this holiday season is to celebrate with your own household members, and greet the rest of your family and friends via phone call … Continue reading Happy Thanksgiving Week!
My cat Zuzu and I just spent a contemplative ten minutes watching a bird darting about the branches of the camellia bushes that grow just outside my dining room window. It was a spur of the moment activity that was fun and diverting for both of us. After the bird flew on her way, I … Continue reading Greetings
We’ve all been “sheltering” now, to one degree or another, for seven and a half months. Initially I was both alarmed and secretly pleased—because suddenly I could be my introvert self without apology. My biggest fear was that the whole thing would end too soon—before I completed the half-finished novel I’d been sitting on for the past … Continue reading Sheltering, Part 4
This is a reprint of one of my most popular stories, a fun little mystery for October. Enjoy! Memorie is in a cozy pace, propped up with pillows and notebook, herbal tea and the most affectionate of her three cats at her right hip on the sofa next to her. She has arrived at this … Continue reading Memorie and the Coyote
Written with my Thursday night writing group with the following prompts: extra bread, to this day, time and place, small injuries, new sense of dread, donut shop, marvelous, no more accidents, easy to. . . , autumn leaves, I smell cat, the bed, warm evening, God's waiting room, third conflict in a year, running in … Continue reading Extra Bread
Goodreads had a Facebook post a week or so ago asking readers to “describe the book you’re currently reading in one word.” I’m generally too verbose to succeed with such restrictions, but this time it was easy. The Earthseed Series by the late African American science fiction writer Octavia Butler is like nothing else out there—and … Continue reading Earthseed, a review
Years ago I had a student named Joseph who was deaf and mute and on the autism spectrum. He was 9 years-old, with big brown eyes, and sandy hair. I loved him and I knew he trusted me. When it was time to come in from the playground, he could not hear the bell, so … Continue reading Wagons
It was pointed out to me in recent years that the Catholic Church has seven sacraments for men but only six for women. I already knew that, but I had never thought it about it in quite that way before. For all you non-Catholics out there, sacraments are sacred rituals to mark initiations, milestones, and … Continue reading Ordination
Last night I finished reading Travels With My Aunt by Graham Greene. Things being what they are in the world, I’ve been having a bit of trouble focusing on anything more challenging than Big Bang Theory reruns, so I was looking for something light and maybe even funny. This popped up as a dollar ninety-nine … Continue reading Beach Reads Without the Beach
