Posts Tagged ‘family’
My Maine Childhood
I’m a Maine-summer girl. Some of my earliest memories are from visiting my dad’s sister’s place on Lake Sebago or my mom’s father’s cooperage in Portland. Then my mother died, and I was sent away to camp. If that sounds cruel, listen up. I was eight when my mother died. And back then, believe it…
Read MoreDo you do crossword puzzles?
When I was a child, I saw my father come home from work every night, sit down with the newspaper, and do the crossword. I have grown up to be very different from him, but here is one thing on which we agree. Crossword puzzles are the ultimate form of relaxation for someone who…
Read MoreWhat’s coming for Barbara in 2014
Young chick, old boots. That’s my theme here. As 2013 fades to 2014, it’s only natural to think about ending the old and beginning the new. But is that what really happens? Not in my book. And I mean that both literally and figuratively. I don’t see that we end and begin. Life is a…
Read MoreChristmas music and me
In theory, I don’t celebrate Christmas. I was raised lighting candles on each of the eight nights of Chanukah, with blessings and presents and latkes to match. But when I was growing up, everyone else on our street celebrated Christmas – everyone else in our school celebrated Christmas. And since I was in the school…
Read MorePage 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 MoreEver lost your cell phone?
Panic! We’re talking cold turkey withdrawal and then some, because cell phones have become key to our lives. When did that happen? Most everyone over thirty remembers when land lines were the go-to phone connection. When one of my sons decided to cancel his land line for cell-only status, I was worried. What if the…
Read MoreWhat 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 MoreNaming the characters in my next book
You’ve heard of Dennis Lehane, right? Since he’s a home town boy, my local press is all over him. So I wasn’t surprised to hear tv reports that his dog, Tessa (yup, that’s her pictured above), had disappeared on Christmas Eve and that he was offering to name a character in his next book after…
Read MoreTHE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS: a book recommendation
Judi, one of my readers, recommended this to me in a recent blog comment. I had already read several reviews of this book, but saw her recommendation at the moment when I needed something new. What a good read! The Light Between Oceans is set in the 1920’s, as was Rules of Civility, which I…
Read MoreWhy 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…
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