Vintage Romantic Author
Zack sat at the kitchen table as specks of dust danced in the sunlight streaming through the four-paned window in the back door. He suddenly recalled sitting in almost the exact location when the house was new. Oddly, he clearly remembered seeing only a speck or two of dust 50 years ago. What was it …
Did you know Los Angeles had a Heritage Square? Me neither. It was no surprise when we depended on our phone to guide us there. Epic fail. I so hate phones. Evidently, people who live in Lincoln Heights don’t know it’s there either since no one we asked had ever heard of it. The only …
I guess I was a pretty involved mom in my day. I took on various jobs at my kids’ school, one of which was leader to the Buckaroos, the school’s version of boy scouts. One afternoon a week for four years, I willingly subjected myself to entertaining 25 first and second grade boys for 90 …
I’ve always been intrigued by ghost stories and imagine most people are. I even went with friends and family to a fun lecture about ghosts at Pierce College some autumns back. The speaker was a scientist, not originally interested in ghosts until he saw one. Putting his scientific methods to work, he began research on …
I’ve always been a collector. There’s something exhilarating about hunting and gathering. Maybe I have more in common with my cave woman ancestors than I ever imagined. As a child, I had a thing for glass animals. Doll clothes were a real obsession. One day, I’ll post some pictures of my vintage Barbie clothes—and I …
I must admit, it doesn’t take much for me to feel euphoric. I was anxious about a recent dental exam. Since I took a lot of antibiotics the first part of the year and wasn’t in great health, I imagined those months might have negatively impacted my teeth. Euphoria set in the moment the dentist …
Only rarely does a glib comment fall off my tongue. Recently, when a friend was having trouble finding the word she wanted to use, I explained that happens to me too. It’s why I’d rather write than talk! I understand a lot of people study for years before they attempt a novel. I know there …
There is nothing quite like the smell of turkey roasting on Thanksgiving. Sage and onion scent the house while the oven provides warmth. It’s the essence of the holiday. I took a cooking class as an elective in high school. The teacher was a Doris Day look-a-like, a young mother and excellent teacher. I still …
I am a fabric junky. There is no 12-step program I can join or I would consider it. Colors, patterns, prints and textures call to me from quilt and fabric stores. I have my own leaning tower of jelly rolls—2½-inch strips of color-coordinated fabric wound in a cylinder. I never met a fabric I didn’t …
My paternal grandparents still seem the oldest people I ever met. They looked incredibly decrepit. My mother told me it was because they led hard lives. When they moved to California from Nebraska in the 30s, they first owned a farm on Sepulveda Boulevard in Van Nuys. Later, they downsized to a little house on …