It is a short book, 173 smallish pages. And it is “serious” literary fiction. Why on earth would I pick up such a book, promising to be a hard read? Don’t know. But I did. And luckily I started it early in the evening, because I couldn’t put it down. WAITING FOR EDEN, a finalist…
This ramshackle house, about to collapse, with not one true-square corner to its credit, is how I wake up some mornings. Out of plumb, not syncing with the world I find myself in. My jokes don’t seem funny, even to me. My cat purrs and bites me at the same time. I stub my toe…
I am reminded that there is both joy and sorrow in Mother’s Day. Joy, for the present family connections. Sorrow and regret for mothers who are no longer with us. But it also occurs to me that the primary attributes that we celebrate in mothers: care taking, love, empathy for others, are present in all…
When I was a little girl, my family had an old upright piano, black. We lived in a small house, so the only place available for it was in the baby’s room. That meant whenever he was taking a nap I couldn’t practice. My mother engaged a piano teacher who came promptly on Wednesday afternoons…
Rest in peace, West Fork, Oak Creek Canyon
Charles Dickens in his novels of Victorian England used to speak of thick, foul miasma of air that stung the nose and burned the eyes. We had that here yesterday as an inversion layer crowded the smoke to the earth, grounding the air support helicopters and spotter planes. I attended a community meeting in Sedona…
I’ve lived in Arizona for over 50 years, and for most of that time Oak Creek Canyon has been my haven. I rode down the switchbacks in my girlfriend’s boyfriend’s ’57 Thunderbird, when it was brand new and we were, too. I had my Senior High ditch day at Slide Rock. I swam naked…