Four children and a dog on Christmas I have been thinking about my parents and the Christmas magic they created for us as children a lot this year.  My mom’s aunt and uncle, Aunt Nini and Uncle Will, moved into our house when I was two.  Uncle Will died just before my third birthday, and Aunt Nini lived with us for another sixteen years or so.  That was an important fact in helping Mommy and Daddy create the magical Christmases that I love to remember. Mom was the only one of

View from Bridge at O'Hare airport to Terminal L I had such plans for December. Three theater performances. A trip to see my grand niece christened a Catholic. Training for a 10 mile race in January. At least some of my plans have materialized. December 3 brought a dental emergency and oral surgery including a bone graft. Lost a couple of days to that. Went to the theater on December 6 in somewhat of a haze, but loved seeing a friend's son as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reind

Screen shot of updated webpage showing cover of "Count Your Blessings" and back of book blurb On Wednesday while I was cooking the Thanksgiving Feast, I decided to update my website. I concentrated on the two pages that features my book series, the "As It Could Be" series and the "Bayou Beni" series. If all goes according to plan, I will go tomorrow to get photos of more local churches and decide on the cover photo for my work in progress, and update my home page with inform

My daughter and I - October 1976 Taking a different path is never easy. It was not in my life plan to be pregnant at fifteen, married and a mother at sixteen, and divorced with a child at twenty-one. But that is the path I took. I would not recommend it to anyone, but I wouldn't change it either. My daughter is the greatest gift in my life. That said, she suffered trauma from before she was born, as I was emotionally battered throughout my pregnancy. No ones fault, just

Image of the word "PEACE" on the New Orleans City Park Administration Building, part of the decorations for "Celebration in the Oaks". Just yesterday I posted that I needed a boost, some encouragement, a reason to keep writing. Today I got that. I'm training for a ten mile race at the end of January, so I went to City Park to get six miles in. While I was walking, I met a lovely couple from Utah, Tabitha and Paul, who are visiting New Orleans. We chatted for quite a while,

Sales and Kindle Page Reads during the last 30 days I had a very exciting window from October 29 to November 11, because just about every day, someone, somewhere was reading one of my books. This has led me to obsessively check my Amazon author page to see if there are any new reviews. There are not. I wish I knew what provoked the reading, and I really wish I could get some feedback on what the reader or readers thought. I know I should be promoting my two Christmas books,

Roosevelt Mall in New Orleans City Park I walked five miles in City Park today. It was the first time I walked in City Park since May. I love City Park. It fills me with joy and wonder every time I go. And yet, while I was in the darkness of this summer, I never took myself there. The only thing that stopped me from going to City Park for more than five months was me. That is a hard truth. I have been having hard conversations with myself over the last week about how th

I've managed to write over three thousand words in my work in progress since my blog post five days ago. Someone, or a few someones are reading my books, and I am accumulating Kindle page reads. No ratings or reviews, but at least someone liked the book enough to keep reading. I'm getting better at making myself look away from the things that weigh me down, and making myself do the things that lift me up. I'm realizing that I will have to consciously work at not falling back

Picture of two Bibles - one a teen Bible, obviously old and well used, and a new adult Bible. In the fall of 2024, I registered for a 24 week bible study. I hadn't done a Bible study since grammar school, when my religion teacher, Sister Laurentia, had us read the Bible as part of our religion studies. That grammar school Bible had been my Bible ever since. I decided I needed to get an adult Bible for class. The two bibles are pictured above. I still prefer some of the

Plaque reading "blessed" that hangs in my office As I continue to work to stay ahead of the darkness, I realize that I need to focus more on the good, on the beauty of small moments. In the spring of 2024, I began volunteering to tutor special needs individuals. One of my students has been with me since the beginning, but there have been a parade of others. I am now on my third session with another student, and we are beginning to forge a real relationship. While meeting ea

Flowers growing in the seam of stamped concrete My little volunteer flowers are still going strong. Me, not so much. But I am coming back, a little at a time. I wish I could articulate all the things that have stood between me and writing my blog and working on my book. All I can say is the grief journey is complicated, and I have not been navigating well this year. I started this blog after Cecil died in 2023 - when I purchased a domain name and built my website. The fi

Pecan tree on my house - Katrina 2005 Every year since 2005, August 29th has been hard, but this year harder than most. The 20th...

Photo of hallway with four closed doors My books are family stories, and family stories include falling in love. My books are also what...

Rose Sculpture - City Park, New Orleans, Louisiana " Happy talk, Keep talkin’ happy talk, Talk about things you’d like to do. You gotta...

Volunteer Flower As I was working on my pool the other day I noticed that a flower had planted itself in one of the cracks of the stamped...

Wildflower field - City Park, New Orleans, LA The hardest thing for me about living alone is having no one to distract me from my...

View of Lake Pontchartrain from Bucktown Marsh Boardwalk One of my favorite things is how amazing and wonderful and diverse the interests...

Hotel Cecil - Rome, Italy I realized this weekend that I no longer measure my years from January 1, but rather from June 1. June 1, 2023...

Bucktown Marsh One thing I have learned about myself in the more than ten years I have been writing is that when I need to write about...

Swamp in Ama, Louisiana, with well camouflaged duck I'll start by admitting I am not a very good photographer. There was a very...