Daily happiness 9-24
the stillness before a storm a mentor kissing under a pine tree
Year: 2009
Men and Women
A long time ago someone (a man) read a book I wrote and was startled into saying, “Wow! You write like a man!” He meant it as a compliment. I thought a lot about this. Did you know that Charles Dickens, in 1858, wrote to a friend thusly about George Eliot’s Scenes of Clerical Life: Read more about Men and Women[…]
WriteSpa #6 – Men and women
WriteSpa – An Oasis for Writers
A long time ago someone (a man) read a book I wrote and was startled into saying, “Wow! You write like a man!”
He meant it as a compliment. […]
Daily happiness 9-23
the sun rising over Haleakala fresh peasant bread with olive oil, ripe tomatoes, sea salt birthday presents
Daily happiness 9-22
gathering clouds before a storm Barbara Tuchman’s history books a friend sending love from another country
Daily happiness 9-21
crunching into a fresh apple Mont St. Michel goodmorning kisses
Daily happiness 9-20
a great blue heron soaring across the pond intuition being absorbed by a book
Daily happiness 9-19
discovering a deserted cave filled with gold, silver, and precious jewels painted toenails the relief of attending to a small matter
Daily happinesses 9-18
photographs of the galaxies the quiet of a New England town in early evening girlfriends
Daily happiness 9-17
meeting at a taverna by the edge of the sea chrysanthemums sharing a look of laughter
Nothing Time
Today I took a walk with a single-mom friend who has recently taken on a full time job. Her 10-year-old son gets home from school at 3:30 p.m.; she arrives home with his younger brother about an hour later. I asked her if he was okay with being alone for that hour. She answered that Read more about Nothing Time[…]
WriteSpa #5 – Tag lines
WriteSpa – An Oasis for Writers I’m in Los Angeles for a couple of weeks and something I’m reminded of is the importance of tag lines in the movie promotion biz. On the billboards advertising upcoming movies these little catchy soundbites or slogans seem as important as the movie title itself. They personify the plot Read more about WriteSpa #5 – Tag lines[…]
Daily happinesses 9-16
walking on the beach at dawn getting dressed up for a party making a set of silver cuff-links for a friend
Daily happiness 9-15
sharing a poem with strangers George Whitman from Shakespeare&Co Bookstore in Paris an encouraging call from a literary agent
Shakespeare & Co and a Tribute to George Whitman
A friend is on her way to Paris, and I urge her to visit Shakespeare & Co, a bookstore on the Rive Gauche. It’s a place that changed my life when I was just seventeen. I had just arrived for a month of studying at the Alliance Francaise (hoping it would help me in preparation Read more about Shakespeare & Co and a Tribute to George Whitman[…]
Daily happiness 9-14
discussing great plans Benny Goodman evening primrose
Daily happinesses 9-13
knowing you’re on the right track essential oil of lavender the moon entering Cancer: home, hearth, family
Colors: Simplicity and Balance
If you’ve been following my ‘daily happinesses’ you might have noticed that each one is posted in a different colored font. And if you met me, after a while you might begin to notice that on certain days I wear red, on other days I might have on an orange scarf. Not always, but usually Read more about Colors: Simplicity and Balance[…]
if you brood over small matters
if you brood over small matters
the world becomes puzzling and dark
throw off that scratchy veil
and let in the light
it’s the big things that count:
the sun, the huge pine tree, the long summer day
bundle up the smallnesses
into a handkerchief
to be washed later
and hung out to dry in a sacred place.
Daily happiness 9-12
the shabby, sturdy binding of an old book from the 1920’s The Richat Structure in Mauritania a long rainy afternoon by the fire
Daily happinesses 9-11
Autumn in New York the smell of bonfires an encouraging touch on your shoulder
Vigilante by Claude Bouchard
It’s summer in the unlikely city of Montreal, and a lot of people are out and about in Claude Bouchard’s edge-of-your-seat crime mystery/thriller, Vigilante . It’s been a long time since I read thrillers that weren’t redeemed (my choice of word) by romance or humor; thankfully Bouchard certainly has the latter. I was quickly introduced Read more about Vigilante by Claude Bouchard[…]