I have a thing about vows.  When I take them, I mean them. 

I remember walking up that long aisle, like Maria in The Sound of Music, not looking back, you up ahead, the four of us on that altar, confident, calm, serene, the right place at the… Read full post »

If you're ever on Captiva Island, Florida, there's a gaudy little bauble called The Bubble Room, a tourist trap filled with everything from Christmas lights to movie paraphernalia that serves up some of the biggest slices of homemade cake you've ever seen, wedges that look like t… Read full post »

As Americans are debating inkscrawls in Sarah Palin's palm and whether or not the 2008 Presidential election was sexist, Costa Ricans have gone to the polls to elect a woman to lead them.

Laura Chinchilla, a social conservative who opposes both gay marriage and abortion, has won election as th… Read full post »

After two long weeks in the hospital, my mother was finally released this weekend.

In a recent morning musing, I pondered Jeff Bridges.  Must be a Taurus, I thought.  Too much like me.  

That is not to say that I am the Dude.  Or the Starman.  Or even Bad Blake.  But there's something about Jeff Bridges I get.   He's just ever so slightly off… Read full post »

Like all good Canadians, that dog was born in British Columbia.  He introduced himself to us at the Tulip Festival in northern Washington while we were on our way home from Hawaii, with a nice trick, getting my brother to pull over at a rest stop.  

That… Read full post »

Whenever I travel, there's one item I never leave home without. . .an accessory so useful it trumps almost everything else I own.

A scarf. 

I always manage to tuck a big one away in an oversized purse whenever I go on trips, long or short, near or faraway.   

  … Read full post »

The Christmas holidays might be long past, but our nation's capital is a holiday postcard this morning with fresh snow blanketing the grounds of the White House.

White House correspondents Mark Knoller (CBS) and Ed Henry (CNN) have been posting TwitPics of the snow this morning from Was… Read full post »

The British Medical Journal The Lancet has retracted a controversial 1998 article which linked the MMR (measles/mumps/rubella) vaccine to autism.

The Lancet issued a full retraction in the recent issue, admitting they now accept that claims made by researchers in the articl… Read full post »

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed its nominees for this year's Oscar at 5:38 Pacific Time Tuesday morning, with Academy President Tom Sherak and previously nominated actress Anne Hathaway making the announcement.

The Academy Awards are returning to h… Read full post »

you were little green crocheted blankets

and warm soft baby clothes

snuggled up

taking a bottle

soft  hair, soft eyes

crying

laughing

i remember when mom picked your name

and how it fit

you were the light

the laughter

it isn't easy being firstborn

like you… Read full post »

 prière de ne pas déranger

  Read full post »

HÄ

In Hawaiian, breath of life.

Considered sacred.  A gift of God, breathed into man at creation, given along with healing and insight.  

To exhale is cleansing.  To inhale is to take in the new.

To many cultures, key to health.  As the Chinese say, "The man… Read full post »

Mom once told me she doesn't cry anymore.

She's been taking something for years that prevents it.  Recommends it to those whose hearts are close to their eyes, like me.

I'm not much of one for pharmaceuticals.  An occasional over-the-counter Tylenol or Advil, a baby aspirin.… Read full post »

The business of death and life is tough stuff.

Apparently when my mother was admitted to the hospital a week ago today through the emergency room, she had neither an advanced directive nor a health care power of attorney.

 In the absence of both, they've assumed she… Read full post »

I can't write about you.

I can't write about this.

I can't write about how I just spent the past several days in an ICU somewhere in Oregon, watching you struggle for breath, struggle for life, against all odds.

I can't write about it.

Can't… Read full post »

Apple founder and CEO Steve Jobs took the stage at 10:03 a.m. Pacific Time at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and announced what everyone has been waiting for:  The Apple iPad.

Set squarely between smart phones and laptops, the iPad looks like a big iPhone, and… Read full post »

Microsoft founder Bill Gates parties with the crowd at the Onitsuka Tiger party at Sundance last Saturday.  (photo courtesy The Wrap)

It's no coincidence that Bill Gates is in the headlines this week with his annual letter and official induction into the Twitter fold.

This is a hu… Read full post »

Iranians worldwide marked Saturday what would have been the 27th birthday of Neda Agha-Soltan, the young Iranian student gunned down in post-election violence o… Read full post »

to the lost calusa  

base camp in muddy bottom

It was land before it was dirt

Peered up from above on a perch

That view, not spare, swollen

Without what.  Who knew?  It was

Beyond the thing that could be sworn. 

Ibis crossing and turt… Read full post »

Grandpa was the first person I knew who kept a gallon jug of Tabasco on his kitchen table, checkerboard oilcloth tablecloth pushed up against the wall, painted bright yellow, and if you turned your gaze to the east you saw the copper sunrise over the Wind River mountains… Read full post »