Sometimes we don’t have a choice when it comes to our pets, whether that means which pet comes into our lives, and when, or how our lives are changed by them. Meet Beatrice. A stray cat who started coming around two weeks ago and has since adopted our family as his own. I wasn’t ready...
Money gives us a good reason to work. It pays the mortgage, puts food in our bellies and allows us to purchase the very important, can’t live without, flower seeds in the spring. If we love what we do, the time we spend making a living is enjoyable. But what I have found to be...
Kindness comes in many forms: a smile from a stranger, a heartfelt compliment or an unexpected subscription to High Desert Journal. I was perplexed when I first saw the journal as I couldn’t figure out how it made its way to my mailbox. I thought, who would have sent this? It wasn’t until a day...
The sun has been shining and daytime temperatures have been in the low 60s. However, nightly temps have been dropping into the low 20s with last night bringing frost. Taking a risk, I’ve decided to leave the Meyer lemons on the trees in hopes they will ripen (and sweeten) a bit more. I wouldn’t dare...
I was preparing to leave for Colorado, but wanted to spend a little time with my sister first. We decided on a picnic of sandwiches — hers organic turkey, mine organic cheese — then we headed to goose park, or McConnell Park, to enjoy a beautiful fall day by the Sacramento River. We talked about...
I don’t know why I remember the Doublemint gum my nana kept in her apron pocket. When I was a young girl, I looked forward to visiting Nana for many reasons — one reason being that a minty piece of chewing gum would be waiting for me. I’d walk into Nana’s kitchen and make my...
Have you ever met someone and immediately knew the two of you would become friends? That’s how I felt when I met Rita. Rita manages the cabin and property where I stayed while vacationing in Colorado a couple of years ago. I had just arrived and was getting settled when she walked up the steps...
The sun sets at our backs, Melting into tomorrow. We are fixed like two boulders In a placid apricot sea, Only our heads above water. * Any (e)motion toward one Another Is nonexistent — cruel joke. Our feet, planted firmly In the shifting sands of Truth long to be loosened. * Somatically we are separate, but...
When I was eight years old, I asked my mom for a pottery wheel. After much begging and pleading, she bought the wheel and I set up shop in the small dusty room adjoining our garage. It was summer then and I had three school-free months to perfect my craft. I had visions of making...
I sit atop a knoll, overlooking the original homestead of my late great-grandparents Charles and Clara Wiening. Maggie, a sweet border collie sprawls out under the canopy of a maple tree, panting and chewing on a stick that has nearly disintegrated under her drool and sharp teeth. The rush of water flowing through the irrigation...
