Read This Book if —you’ve never read an account of an illegal abortion.—you talk to gas station attendants and coffee shop owners more than your friends.—you’ve used beach towels as blankets.—you like to drive barefoot.—you’re not sure where or what to call home. Life Question This Book Helped Me Answer: Why one of the best … Continue reading Book Review: Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion
Lesson: My Mother, the Turtle Conqueror
Sometimes it takes a giant prehistoric turtle to appreciate your mother. It started with an article in The Washington Post about paleontologists discovering the remnants of a prehistoric turtle that lived in South America ten million years ago. The fossil shell was 9.5 feet long. They estimate the turtle weighed up to 1.25 tons. The … Continue reading Lesson: My Mother, the Turtle Conqueror
In the Field: Writer Shelley Explores Heart-Stopping Cold and Near Drowning
Writer Shelley, my alter ego, is braver than I. When challenged, Writer Shelley steps up in the name of writerly research whereas I might just leave. So when faced with a frigid ocean, a (very) high tide crashing in, and a never-used snorkeling mask and fins, I channeled Writer Shelley. Because there was no way … Continue reading In the Field: Writer Shelley Explores Heart-Stopping Cold and Near Drowning
Book Review: The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Read This Book if —you’ve ever felt as though you were from two different worlds.—your best friends are closer than your family.—you’re always able to see both sides of an issue.—you’re of mixed descent.—you’re interested in the Vietnam War.—you’d like to better understand what it feels like to be an immigrant. Life Question This Book … Continue reading Book Review: The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Lesson: Brown, The Color Kittens, and the Year of the Ox
Brown It was the first thing people commented on when they saw photos of our new house: the awful paint colors. “That paint!” “Those bold choices!” Every room was a different color, more intense than the one before. Sixteen-foot walls painted rust red, clementine orange, forest green, lapis blue. And the baseboard and molding were … Continue reading Lesson: Brown, The Color Kittens, and the Year of the Ox
In the Field: 19 Pies (Minus 4 Stepped On) Are Better Than 1
I am not new to pie baking. Rhubarb cream pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate pie, lemon meringue pie, mud pie. I’ve made them all. So I was shocked when my son pointed out that I had never made an apple pie. Shocked. Appalled. Worse, my son didn’t remember ever eating apple pie, mine or otherwise (though … Continue reading In the Field: 19 Pies (Minus 4 Stepped On) Are Better Than 1
Inspiration: Hopscotch
During the pandemic lockdown in L.A., we walked around the neighborhood a lot. I started to notice hopscotch boards: hopscotch boards drawn in chalk, hopscotch boards power-washed onto sidewalks, hopscotch boards on the news. When I keep seeing recurrences of something, I have to think there’s a story there. Actually, there were three. Life Question … Continue reading Inspiration: Hopscotch
Quik Story: B is for Barbed
It got so bad that they took shifts in the kitchen so they wouldn’t have to see each other. He was out of work and Barb was out of her mind, first with the sourdough bread baking, then with the chocolate tempering, and now quilting. There were four quilts spread out in various states of … Continue reading Quik Story: B is for Barbed