Blog

The Perfect Nursery

In those beginning days of motherhood, I would rush to the crib, pick him up, and try to soothe him. He seemed startled and not even the warm breast would calm him. I would rock him, not understanding his cry, and that is when I first heard it.
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Lahaina’s Banyan Tree

Note: I wrote this essay in 2020, many years after visiting it in 1980. It has always stayed in my memory of Lahaina. Because of the terrible tragedy that Lahaina recently suffered with a devastating fire, this beautiful monarch is one of the many victims. Now tree surgeons from around the Hawaiian Islands are trying…
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The Bag of Charcoal

More than fifty years ago, I had an unexpected meeting...
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Ah, California

Recently, I returned to my home state because I missed the Pacific Ocean. Oh, yes, I do love northern Arizona with its red rocks and its prickly pear cactus and mesquites, but California was calling. And this is what I inhaled… Greenery everywhere, filling my senses Camellias blooming     Azaleas flaunting Bird of Paradise displaying Coral…
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A Look Backward

Maybe it was my training as a newspaper reporter, or maybe because I had been raised by my family to watch my surroundings, but as I got out of my car, I noticed two men loitering around the men's rest room. I made a fast track to the women's bathroom and when I came out, one was still there, but the other had moved to the van.
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A Great Read!

When We Were Young and Brave by Hazel Gaynor is the kind of book that transports the reader to a a different time and place–a welcome change of scenery for those of us who are staying close to home during this pandemic. In this factual historical novel, the place is Chefoo, Shantung Province, China. and…
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