The Grape Juice Incident
Long before the lemon juice incident or the orange juice incident came the grape juice incident. The grape juice incident happened in the early months of 1970, now fifty years ago. But it is indelibly etched in my memory. Some time in early 1970, probably around March, when I was in the ninth grade, I […]
The Forest and the Trees and Writing Affirmations
I am in the thick of writing my current work-in-progress, approaching the halfway mark. I am in the trees, and I cannot see the forest. I write each scene and feel good about it, but I have no feel for the whole. Each conversation between my characters seems real, but what am I forgetting? What […]
Random Photos: Making Maple Sugar at Middlebury
One of the fun experiences I had during my years at Middlebury College was making maple syrup. Friends of mine knew a local farmer outside Bristol, Vermont, and one winter day I was invited with my friends to visit the farm and watch them make maple syrup. I wouldn’t even have remembered when it was, […]
Memories of a Flat Tire
I’ve written before about the odd things that can trigger memory. I had another such experience last week. I drove to a meeting on a foggy morning after a snowstorm past a grove of red cedar trees. They are called red cedars, but they are actually members of the juniper family. But whatever they are, they […]
Research for My Next Historical Novel: Oregon in 1864
One of my goals for 2020 is to research Oregon history for my next historical novel. The characters of the book I’m planning will be the same families as in my earlier Oregon Chronicles novels, though I’m sure new characters will demand to be included as well! Part of the fun of writing is seeing […]
Learning To Ski (the Next Generation)
I’ve written before about my first experience skiing. I hated it, though I later learned to tolerate skiing, and even to enjoy it when the base was deep, the weather above freezing, and the skies clear. By contrast, my daughter couldn’t wait for her first time skiing. I think she was about five. There is […]
On Choices, Priorities, and Consequences
As my children were growing up, I told them frequently, “You have to make choices in life.” When my daughter wanted to play two sports, I told her she had to choose one sport per season, because I didn’t have time to cart her to more than one set of practices. She still blames me […]
My Basement Office in Winter
I have discovered one drawback to having my office in the basement of our new home. Make that, “on the lower level,” in the vernacular of modern real estate. Heaven forbid that a house be saddled with such a dreary component as a basement. Particularly when it is a walkout basement. The drawback to my […]
Thoughts on Entering the Third Decade of the Third Millennium
It boggled my mind when I realized last week ago that this is the third decade of the third millennium CE. I know some people will quibble that the third decade doesn’t really begin until 2021. Twenty years ago, we debated whether the third millennium started in 2000 or 2001. But for me, the new […]
Five Years Without a Sky Above Me
My father died five years ago yesterday, on January 5, 2015. His death was sudden—I’d spoken to him the day before, and I’d had emails from him that morning. My brother talked to him that evening as our dad decided to go to the hospital because of some abdominal pain. Dad arrested in the hospital […]