Blog

Winter

December 5, 2019

It has been a long time since I wrote about my August trip to Scotland and, suddenly, it is December. This year has seemed both to be endless and to flash by.  The world in the midst of the largest refugee crisis since World War II; the climate crisis is accelerating and causing great suffering and damage all over the earth; and American democracy is in tatters. Yet we also have bluegrass music, outsider art, Michelle Obama’s biography, RBG, Emma Gonzalez and a burgeoning democracy in Ethiopia. It is always the best of times and the worst of times.

My own life is the same. My daughter and her family moved to Canada and I miss them so. Several friends have died or are in Hospice. And yet, I drove to the Ozarks to celebrate my cousin Karleen’s 80th birthday and family reunion. I finished two books, both of which come out next year. I traveled to beautiful places to see people I loved. And I still have my view of Holmes Lake, now a metallic icy blue. This morning as I enjoyed my first cup of coffee, a sliver of silver hope rose in the east beside Venus. My grandmother called Venus the morning star. I call her Grandmother Star. 

Time

We just visited old friends in Scotland. We've known Frank since 1974. He is 79 now and has had a stroke. He and his wife Frances are both psychologists like Jim and I.  One afternoon Frances and I walked along the Firth of Forth below the Ochils Hills. Cloud and light patterned the green pastures dotted with white sheep, the bronzed barley fields, and the mud flats of the tidal river. The light reminded me ...
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Trump

I haven’t written about Trump’s zero tolerance policies and the locking up of families on our southern border. It’s been too painful to contemplate, let alone articulate. As a friend to newcomers for many decades, I know people like the people who are now being treated so inhumanely. I’ve shared meals with them, played with the children, and taught them to drive or apply for jobs. They are not criminals to me, but rather beloved ...
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June 20th

Sara and I just sent our draft of the new content in the update of Reviving Ophelia off to our agent and other readers. We eagerly await their feedback. In July, we will be together and finish the manuscript. It’s been inspirational and fun to work on a project so important to us both.  Meanwhile, a thrush entertains me with his repertoire of songs, no two alike. Honestly, I think he is a showoff. High in our ...
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Cuban Exhibit

Today I went to the Sheldon Museum of Art to see two photography shows on Cuba. One was Roberto Salas: Pictures from the Revolution and the other was Michael Eastman’s Havana. Salas was a trusted friend of Fidel’s and photographed him in the mountains during the revolution, at the United Nations in 1960, and as an old man, still in his soldier's uniform. Castro is pictured smoking with his friend Che, waving to the people of Harlem ...
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