The water hits Hope.  There is a splash, and it all goes unnoticed.

Not swimming.  Not treading water.  Hope goes directly to the lake's floor.

With eyes wide open she looks at this new world with wonder.  Fish swim fast by her, leaving shimmering trails in the water.

Tiny bubbles… Read full post »

Hope dreams about them.  It seems so real.  Almost as if she could just reach out and touch them.  But they are not there.  They are always somewhere just beyond her reach.

Hope is three years old, Faith is five, and Charity is seven.  The family is summering at Lake Geo/… Read full post »

Jemma stands beside Hope and checks the oven one more time.  Finally the loaves sit on the racks.  Ready for their transformation.

Baking the bread makes Hope miss her mother and grandparents less.  She smiles as she thinks of them.

If her mother were alive she might not approve o… Read full post »

Hope stands alongside Jemma and kneads the dough.  Dough is kneaded, shaped, lined up on the counter, covered and left to prepare for its rise. 

The irony of the situation is not lost on Hope as she puts all of her strength into kneading the dough.  This is something Hope has… Read full post »

Hope, in fact, spends a great deal of time of late thinking about room and board.  Being rather partial to living indoors and eating on occasion, she continues onward with the financial aid saga.

Hope is  singing along to the radio as she checks her messages.  There are four from… Read full post »

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single student in possession of no fortune whatsoever, must be in want of a husband.

“And you.  What are we going to do about you?” Mischa says as she sighs and looks at Hope.

“You are impossible!” Mischa says whi… Read full post »

“What am I going to do with the two of you?”

“It’s Saturday night.  Both of you should be out and about meeting men,” Mischa says with more than a hint of concern.

“You’d have to light a fire under me to get me to date again,” Jemma says.

Since Jem… Read full post »

Today is the day for cake.  Cake, cake, and more cake.

While one wise soul once pondered if cake feeding is a moral imperitive, the decided consensus today is yes.  You bet it is.

Hope, Jemma and Mischa have just left the painting studio and bypassed the spray room.  There is acti… Read full post »

Mischa gathers up the designs she left behind the night before at the clean studio.  It is not the only thing Mischa has left behind.

Mischa and her husband have been "trying" for two years now.  No results yet.  For Mischa, who loves to micromanage her designs and plan everything… Read full post »

Hope and Mischa stop in the library one last time for the day and then walk to the bus stop.

Hope is wearing her favorite summer straw hat, her grey Phoebe dress with black leggings, and the large Rising Tide purse that is balanced delicately on her forearm is quite full.  Ho… Read full post »

Would it be possible for just a moment for you to set aside all your pre-conceived notions about how the publishing industry is going to hell in a hand basket, and please consider this.

The surerest way for you to get your book, poem, project, or classified advertisement published is by… Read full post »

This is how it starts.  Hope is dreaming of corn fields, a quaint farm house, and writing.  Mostly the writing.

Hope is singing along with the radio and hoping.  When most people would have given up a long time ago, Hope remains hopeful.  Hopeful until the end.

Hope… Read full post »

And so it is yet again.  Cake, cake everywhere and not a crumb to eat.  For Hope anyway.

Jemma's small frame is starting to show hints that not all of the cake is tossed in the bin.  Where it has no business being after all.  Seriously.

Some of the cake is… Read full post »

Jemma is blasting Lady GaGa and baking away her personal demons in the kitchen.  Hope opens her eyes one at time, hoping that this early reveille is not part of some new routine.

Hope eyes her alarm clock and sees only the five.  The rest of the digits seem unimportant at… Read full post »

Hope slips into the dining room in the nick of time.  Just as the doors are about to be locked.  She has made it.  Hope has arrived for breakfast.

Hope's Nordstrom Rack grey shopping bag has arrived too.  It holds empty containers awaiting their chance to be filled.  Food for… Read full post »

Hope sits on the floor in a sea of flour.  Next to her, her roommate Jemma crouches, picking tentatively at the broken pottery.  She picks up a large broken piece and tosses it in the trash.

"Are you OK?"

Hope looks closely at Jemma.  Her face is stained with tears, and… Read full post »

"Burn in hell!"  Jemma screams into the phone.

Jemma's conversation with her ex-husband goes downhill from there.  The pleasantries are over.

Hope turns on some music to drown it all out.  She can still hear kitchen cabinet doors slamming in rapid succession.  The sound of th… Read full post »

There is cake and pastry as far as the eye can see.  A parade of pastry. Strawberry and cream cake with cardamom syrup.  Lime Angel food cake with lime glaze and pistachios.  Twelve-layer mocha cake.  Lemon mascarpone brulee tarts with rasberry sauce.  Ganache-filled chocolat… Read full post »

Hope exits the elevator and it hits her.  Hard.

The smell of pastry wafts down the hallway and greets Hope.

She's baking again. 

Oh. My. Cake.

Hope's roommate is a pastry chef from California.  She has been baking seemingly nonstop since she moved in.  And her beautiful new appli… Read full post »

Many of the cherry blossom petals have already scattered about downtown Chicago.  Those that remain on the trees that line the streets that lead to Hope's school must hold fast to the branches in this very windy city.  Like Hope, they keep holding on.

Hope has arrived, settles herself… Read full post »

When I am teaching I sometimes think, "What would Winnie-the-Pooh do?"  Winnie-the-Pooh and the other characters from the Hundred Acre Wood are often simply and profoundly wise.  When I am sometimes stumped, my thoughts turn to Winnie-the-Pooh.

Let me tell you a bit about my day at sch… Read full post »