I remember seven spectacular summers …

This summer of 2017 has been amazing for me in a totally unexpected way.  My nine-year-old granddaughter went to sleep-away camp for the very first time – 3½  weeks at a girls’ camp in Vermont.  Every night, her camp posts several hundred photos taken that day, so that parents can see their daughters in action. …

Read More

What is patriotism?

I’m playing with words again, but, hey, that’s what being a writer is about.  And now, with another Fourth of July here, the concept of patriotism comes front and center. By definition, ‘patriotism’ means vigorous support for one’s country.  And while I’m not one for marching in a parade brandishing guns, certainly not one for…

Read More

Emoji elegy

Not long ago, my nine-year-old granddaughter took my picture with her iPad and made an emoji of me.  I loved watching her do it.  She was totally adept at navigating her emoji app to pick the hairstyle most like mine, the color of my hair, eyes, and skin, the shape of my face and lips. …

Read More

Why I just joined Instagram

I swore I wouldn’t.  Social media is only good if you do it well, but how many social media sites can one writer do well and still write her book?  I’ve done Facebook for a long while and have a healthy following.  For posting news, sharing events, offering contests, and simply getting the opinions of…

Read More

Walking on thin ice

I have three sons.  All are grown, married with kids, and gainfully employed.  They genuinely like me, and I genuinely like them.  In all of these things, I am very, very lucky. That said, navigating the waters with an adult child hasn’t always been easy. First came college.   Actually, the trouble began not when my…

Read More

Being Grumpy

I’m a positive person. I pride myself on that. But there are times – there are times – when frustration sets in, and I need to vent. I’ve shared pet peeves with you in the past, but I’m revisiting them now. Do you agree with any? Do you have your own? First and worst, drivers…

Read More

Little Loveys

In honor of Mother’s Day earlier this month, I posted a Facebook tribute to my mother along with her picture, and I invited readers to do the same. The response was amazing. The number of people reading the post and sending corresponding tributes to their own moms was heartrending. Their words touched me deeply. Whether…

Read More

Page Change

Whoa.  I just looked at my last blog, and realized how long I’ve been gone!  Well, not really gone.  I’ve been here at my desk the whole time, plugging away at my new book.  But now we’re into October, and sweet corn is passé in New England.  What’s in?  Apples and cranberries (the picture below…

Read More

What does summer sound like?

Well, how appropriate.  We’re at the lake, and I’ve decided to blog about what I hear.  Cradling my laptop, I head through the kitchen porch toward the open deck when there’s a shout from inside.  “Don’t let the screen door slap!”  I won’t tell you whose voice it is lest I incriminate him, but suffice…

Read More

Why do I blog?

Let me make one thing clear.  I don’t blog to express a political opinion.  As a novelist, my taking a stand on anything political or religious is disastrous.  When I talked here last week about civil discourse, it was to vent not about what we say but how we say it. So there you go…

Read More