I wish you could smell these beautiful gardenias. (Wouldn't scratch and sniff photos be awesome?) My dear friend Dani gave them to me. She has a whole bush full of them at her home. We met for coffee and I walked away with these flowers that bloom in June in Durham, NC. While on the …
Category: books
Hurricane Florence
It's weird to sit around and wait for a hurricane to arrive. I think (hope?) that we are not going to see too much in Durham. But I can't stop watching the WRAL-TV news showing my neighbors to the east. New Bern, an old city in eastern North Carolina on the Neuse River I am …
Summer Reading 2018
This is what I am currently reading. A former student who is now one of my beloved colleagues gave it to me this spring. I think she found it at our annual book fair, one of my favorite school-related events. It is a great read- kind of like peeking in the window and watching Renoir, …
Snow Day 2018
So, I want everyone to know that I just got up off the sofa, out from under this amazing blanket (a late Christmas gift from an 8th grade girlie and her mom), put on my clogs, and braved the cold- 24˚F- to take a couple of photos for you. I am brave like that. Teaching …
My friend, The Geezer
I read this book several years ago and fell in love with it. When I pitched my own (still unfinished) book to Algonquin, I was asked if I had read French Dirt. Oui. A couple of times. Little did I know that a few years later I would be introduced to Richard Goodman through a mutual friend, Jo Maeder, albeit …
Going back in time: A life resumed
I wrote the following post in February 2009, two months after returning from my six month sabbatical in Arles, France. I was feeling a bit nostalgic this morning and started looking back through old posts. I didn't have many readers then and the blog (and my writing) was just a baby. At that point, I …
One Sip at a Time
After reading the blog, Mr. Van Sickle sent me a copy of his book and asked me to review it. I have to admit that I have not yet written a review. To ease my guilty conscience, I decided to do a giveaway through Amazon. Oui, a free copy to one lucky reader! Click on …
