Tuesday December 28th Alison leaves today, I don’t know how the time flies by so quickly. We sat yesterday evening for our last dinner together for a while. Caz made the most divine latkes I have ever eaten and we piled apple sauce and sour cream on top. This used to be a Christmas Eve […]
Friday December 24th Christmas Eve It rained all day yesterday and all night, massive, fierce rainstorms that we haven’t seen for at least a year. The mountains received six inches of rain in twenty-four hours, which is unheard of. I left the bedroom windows open, just a crack, so I could lie in bed and
Testing on Christmas Eve Read More »
Monday November 29th I am removing November’s huge calendar from the wall and can’t bring myself to hang January. I usually hang two months at once, so planning takes place, but today dealing with the end of another Covid year, entering the new year of my eightieth birthday, feels too overwhelming. I am not ready
Tall, dark, and handsome Read More »
Saturday November 20th I have been waiting for December to come, Californian winters providing a welcome change from the long warm days of the rest of the year. The sun doesn’t rise over the mountains until past eight o’clock in the morning, early mornings still grey and at half-light. Yesterday I lit candles at lunchtime
Waiting for the winter Read More »
Friday November 12th The end of the year is speeding towards us again. I have the two large sheets of my own paper calendar hanging on my office-closet door, now covered in large green stick ums as reminders of things I mustn’t forget. Another private concert on a Sunday afternoon to look forward to, various
Thursday October 28th The Santa Anna winds are roaring off the desert this morning again, fierce and warm, it is still a surprise each year as winter closes in, to awaken to hot early morning winds. The trees are bent in half again and raining acorns, the entire hillside is covered in this year’s crop
Flying high in the canyon Read More »
Friday October 8th It rained! It rained all night much to our astonishment and I know this because I was awake every two hours. Listening to the rain while in bed is somehow very comforting and reassuring. This morning the oak trees are dripping water, the mountains are breathing a sigh of relief. A heavy
Rain, rain, come today Read More »
Monday October 4th I have much kinder memories of my mother and her Cousin Phillip who was close to her age. He was one of the sons of her many older sisters and today there would be non-judgmental vocabulary to describe him. ‘Our Phillip’, as he was known in the family, was deemed not quick
Wednesday September 15th The mornings are getting colder in spite of end of afternoon temperatures still reaching ninety. Each night before we sleep, I open all the large windows in the house and, for the first time in months, the house is cool in the mornings. Closing all the windows while the house is cold
