Inappropriate Laughter

Last Tuesday, I worked long and hard. At my computer by 7:45am, I completed a detailed online review for a local business, a tight, pithy anecdote for a grant report, a short story, and an edit of another short story. I updated my Texas Public Library email list (15...
ST. VALENTINE’S DAY IN LIBYA 1985

ST. VALENTINE’S DAY IN LIBYA 1985

What does the average woman expect to receive on St. Valentine’s Day? Flowers, chocolates, and champagne come to mind, naughty knickers perhaps. At the very least, a card. I haven’t lived in Great Britain for ages, and haven’t been there on that...
STEALING BABY JESUS

STEALING BABY JESUS

After months of writing and several weeks of detailed rehearsal with my director, Michael Stuart, the show opens tonight at 8:00 PM at the Hyde Park Theatre. I know many of my blog friends don’t live in Austin and will therefore be unable to join us, but I hope...
Suddenly…Mum’s 90th Birthday

Suddenly…Mum’s 90th Birthday

Today would’ve been my mother’s 90th birthday. She died suddenly in 2007. She dropped dead of heart failure as she reached for her meditation chair, prayer books in hand. “She wouldn’t have felt a thing,” the doctor confirmed. It was a...
Praying for the Mantis

Praying for the Mantis

On my front flowerbed this morning, I spotted a tiny praying mantis, and right alongside it, hanging from another leaf, the ghost of a mantis, which I presume is its recently shed coat. As I watched, a large moth landed on the next stalk. I wondered if the mantis was...