This morning, like most mornings since I turned 50 nearly four years ago, I made coffee and stretched and wrote and read a little. Never...

This is a photo of Diego and his pig Loquat he raised at the high school for the fair. We are not ranchers or farmers; no one in our...

Tyring to be not too hard on myself, but man, you'd think that I could be a little smarter. Such a fine line I between just right and too...

Yesterday I paddled out alone at Sand Spit, a surf break in our region that is decidedly wild. It's in a park called Montana de Oro. The...

I have said before that with my children, I'm glad I cast a wide net of activities at them--that they have dabbled in everything from...

One of the most challenging aspects of menopause I have experienced is sensitivity to temperature. A few years ago I would notice myself...

Today was so beautiful with my son Diego and my spouse, driving up into the mountains toward Mount Baker and then taking a really...

Derek and I flew to Seattle last night to come see our little freshman, Diego, at Western Washington University in Bellingham where we...

In my early 40s, I went to my gynecologist and basically asked for a hysterectomy. I had had two babies, my sons, and did not want more...

Is self-doubt one word or two? What about self-loathing? Two words or one? Today was rough. The details don't matter. I am not a unique...

So after yesterday's blog post, I woke up thinking about the Cotidiano. It's a word I learned in Spanish before I learned it in English....

Because my brain feeds me a lot of ideas and they pull at me. But to accomplish anything meaningful, I have found that I really need to...

It started with swim lessons. I took the boys a few times a week. That presupposes that as a parent you can do that. My parents could...

Today I texted with a family member about Trump. He initiated the conversation by telling me about Elon Musk's PAC, which I already know...

Around noon today my son Diego let me know that there had been a death on Western Washington University's campus: a kid had died from a...

I have a friend named CHIP who read my book. And every other week or so he calls me to tell me to write the screenplay for my novel....

Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs? Nay, let them only see us, while We wear the mask. --Paul...

When I left Cal Poly in 2021, I was tired of language, of the written word. I was tired of evaluating writing. I had been teachign...

What a relief to know that after the last three years of not teaching, I could prepare a talk and not shake upon delivering it, that I...

This should not be a big deal, right? I have something to offer. People are generous and will not throw old, over-ripe tomatoes at me,...