Poets Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning carried out one of the most famous romantic correspondences in literary history. They first introduced themselves by epistolary means, and fell in love even before they had met in person. In 1845,  they wrote 574 letters to each other over the course of twenty months. They secretly got married [...]

Posted in food, my plants, poetry, ted, writers 1 Comment »

Happy Holidays. The scones have been eaten, the presents unwrapped [I got an AWESOME new computer bag], and Troy Patterson of Slate.com gives the 26 Top cultural moments of the 2000′s. Among them: The design of the jacket of the 2006 Penguin Classics edition of The Portable Dorothy Parker. *Nifty, to be sure, though I [...]

Posted in books, food No Comments »

I’m starting teaching again in just about a week and a half. A shorter winter break this time because I just got another teaching gig at one of our local colleges. Only one class but it’ll help. That makes three classes so far, not counting this great class i’m teaching at San Diego Writers, Ink– [...]

Posted in books, fiction, food, my writing, nonfiction, shopping, writers 2 Comments »

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! From NPR The Writer’s Almanac: On this day in 1666, Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary: 25. Christmas day. Lay pretty long in bed. And then rise, leaving my wife desirous to sleep, having sat up till 4 this morning seeing her maids make mince-pies. I go to church, where our [...]

Posted in books, cary elwes, crafts, food, shopping, ted, writers 2 Comments »

This year, or at least the last six months, I’ve been a lot more crafty (craftier?). I’ve always been someone who likes to make things–pipe-cleaners and yarn were staples of my childhood. I think I got it from my mom, she was always making something: latchhook rugs, afghans, puffy fabric picture frames, strawberry jam,  clothes [...]

Posted in crafts, food, my plants 2 Comments »

<–that’s our Turkey Soap Dispenser I just pulled a pumpkin cream pie out of the oven. I’m thankful for the coming new year. a year of change. A year of hope. A year of dazzling prolificacy. I’m also thankful for this: **this was one of those cheesy products advertised in the sidebar on Facebook. You [...]

Posted in Movies, Uncategorized, collage, food, shopping 2 Comments »

Have you ever read The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook? It’s wonderful. Full of sinful, fatty recipes (butter is the most frequently used ingredient), but also witty commentary, musings, profiles of people, made by Alice B. Toklas. Apparently, writer Monique Truong, came up with the idea for her excellent novel The Book of Salt– about Alice [...]

Posted in books, food, writers 1 Comment »

I’m trying to blog more regularly– even if it’s just short snippets. And, you may notice that in the blog i’m trying to focus on writing (and my writing) more often– in the hopes that it will spur me on to finish this draft of my book. Not that I won’t still muse about T-shirts [...]

Posted in books, fiction, food, my writing, teaching No Comments »

I’m enjoying my moleskin diary. I’ve decided to title this diary ’39′ in honor of this being my 39th year. I want to see at the end of April (my birthday) what i’ve written in this year. Last Monday, the 25th, was the first day teaching my Creative Nonfiction class. It was a great first [...]

Posted in Movies, Uncategorized, books, collage, crafts, fiction, food, my writing, shopping, teaching 1 Comment »

…check out how much my garden has grown! I’ve got Cayenne Peppers ripening red. I’ve been researching (aka Googling) how to cook with Cayenne Peppers and came across some interesting ideas like this. But if anyone else has some good ideas for what to do with Fresh Grown Cayenne Peppers please let me know. Here [...]

Posted in Movies, Uncategorized, cats, cute photos of me, food, my plants 2 Comments »