A Third Birthday!
Several weeks ago, my older granddaughter announced to me, with grammatical precision if not ideal diction, “I like pizza very much.” It wasn’t offered as an opinion so much as a statement of fact. So, for her third birthday earlier this week, her parents invited me to join them for a pizza dinner. I, too, […]
Seattle’s Waterways Evolved Over Time
Since I moved to Seattle, I’ve been reading about the city’s early history, when the Dennys and Borens and other early families settled on Elliot Bay in 1852 and began to build the town. They immediately began making their mark on the land—cutting trees and selling the timber to support their new lives in the […]
Lessons Learned from a Four-Week Hospital Stay
My husband was recently hospitalized for complications related to his Parkinson’s disease. I took him to the emergency room one morning, and he didn’t leave the hospital for over four weeks. As my husband said once it became clear he’d be there for a while, “I went into this as a volunteer, and now I […]
My Novels in Indie Author Project Select
I recently learned that my two most recent novels, When Heart Shall Fail and A Life of Joy, have been accepted into the Indie Author Project Select program—a milestone that I hope will expand where and how readers can discover my books. I’ve been fortunate to hear, again and again, that readers enjoy my novels. […]
Hope in the New Year
On January 1, I read a piece by Lauren Jackson in the New York Times’s Morning Column entitled “Your Hopes” Quoting Jamil Zaki, the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab, Jackson said there are three things people need to cultivate hope: They first need to be able to envision a better future, either personally […]
Fireworks for 2026
It’s all over but the fireworks. The presents are opened. The menorah is put away. The Christmas carols are almost off the air. There are just a few hours left of 2025. How did you do on your goals? Are you celebrating accomplishments or simply the survival of another year? I’m doing both. I finished […]
Who Is Coming Tonight?
This time of year, mysteries abound. A Virgin birth. Angels and magi. A fat guy down a chimney. Whether the eggnog is spiked. Every family has its own traditions, some religious, some not. Some Christian, some anything but. Sometimes it’s hard to navigate as families expand, as old generations pass away and new ones are […]
Learning about History, and an Update on My Work-in-Progress
I’ll begin this post with a shout-out to M.K. Tod, who writes a wonderful blog at A Writer of History. Last week, she wrote a post entitled, Unique demands of historical fiction, in which she discussed interviews conducted by Katherine Grant, a judge for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, with this year’s award […]
Random Thoughts on December in Seattle
This December thus far has brought us a lot of Seattle gray. A lot of drizzle, some serious rain, and only a few days when the sun peeked out. I think I’ve only seen the Olympic Mountains two days since Thanksgiving. Yet, I haven’t been able to stay inside this month. I’ve been busy. Here […]
This Year’s Thanksgiving: Family, Food, and Cherished Moments
Remembering last week’s Thanksgiving celebration brings a smile to my face. I think the memories of our holiday gatherings will stay with me for a long time. Our son and daughter-in-law visited from New York, making this the first Thanksgiving my husband and I have had with both our children, their spouses, our granddaughters, as […]