True Love Finds a Way: Walking the Salt Path
What if you lost your home? lost your livelihood? had a dire diagnosis? With triple trauma, Raynor Winn, armed with Paddy Dillon’s guidebook and husband Moth with a copy of Beowulf, embark on a 630-mile walk on the sea-swept South West Coast Path. From Somerset...
Our Sago Palm Saga: Thank Goodness for Change
This post shows how a dying palm tree can be resurrected. It also illustrates how nature can restore itself with parallels to humans.
Sarah and Isaac, mother and son: Wordless Wednesday
Ninety-year-old Sarah with son Isaac demonstrates one of the miracles of God in the Old Testament of the Bible.
Too Much of a Good Thing
It's sometimes easy to spot too much of a good thing! An Overeaters' Tanka Fried chicken and pie Burger with bun, cookies too Huge slice choc'late cake Oh, you sure must wish to die Too much of a good thing—fie! ©MLB 2025 A Tanka is a Japanese lyrical...
Belle da Costa Greene: A Woman of Two Worlds
In Honor of Women's History Month 2025 Belle da Costa Greene, courtesy of J. P. Morgan Exhibitions My Review In the lush world of literature and the arts, librarian Ms. Belle da Costa Greene rises along with the fortunes of New York financier and...
Should I Write a Novel?
When I retired from college teaching, my colleagues gifted me with an illustrated Alice in Wonderland. Last week when I pulled this book from the shelf, I flipped through the illustrations, focusing on the characters, especially the March Hare. Why?...
February Fun Fax
In January 2025 I didn’t make New Year’s resolutions. At least not consciously. Last month I thought, “I’ll just do what I have been doing, but maybe try to do it better”—blogging, Pilates, making meals, keeping up with friends and gardening. This year (I’m thinking...
Oh My Gosh, the Wash!
How well I remember the sensation of the twin rubber rollers on the wringer of Mom’s white enamel washing machine pressing down hard on my young flesh from hand to lower arm—my screams—then Mom’s quick thrust, disengaging my arm from the wringer....
Stitching Memories: Fabric Art
From January to June 1967, creating my wedding gown kept me in stitches. Before my August wedding date, I was thrilled to first find a pattern, purchase fabric, and then fashion a white peau de soie dress on a budget. My roommates in the little bungalow on Middleton...
Breakthrough: Broken and Healing
Breakthrough “What a gorgeous day to take a walk,” I exclaimed to Barbara, my walking partner for years as we ambled down the streets of our neighborhood. “Yes, and isn’t it great: 65 degrees in December, and we don’t have to wear jackets” was her reply. We both pride...
Rebecca Chats with Marian on Tea, Toast, and Trivia
Welcome to Tea Toast & Trivia Soon you'll hear Rebecca' s voice: "I’m your host, Rebecca Budd. I am a Blogger, Photographer, Traveler. Above all, I’m a life-long learner." But first, an introduction. Rebecca and her husband Don reside in Vancouver,...
Holiday Special 2024
My Gift to You! Click Here for Holiday Special! Thank you!
Two Points of Light
Kindness and Gratitude: a November Meditation May I be grateful And express through kindly deeds My paéon of praise.
The Riddle of Mellow Music
It’s disgraceful---displaying a perfectly good violin as an ornament, but there it is—on top of my piano propped on a small brass easel! The thing is, it’s not perfectly good: the G string is missing altogether, a black peg has broken off the neck, horsehairs...
Sex and the Sago Palms in our Back Yard
My iPhone, sleek and neat in its azalea-colored bumper, is the linkage to my past and present worlds. Two weeks ago I published a blog post featuring snaps from my iPhone, one picture about a sago palm tree on our patio. Now I'm musing about another encounter...
7 Mini-Stories from Random Photos
A picture is worth a 1000 words, so the saying goes. But, sometimes a picture is worth fewer than a thousand words---only a few hundred. The photos below speak for themselves, but most need a little explanation, included with the vignettes below. All of them...
Two Novelists and an Author with her Grandson
Readers & Writers! I'm always on a reading spree, but today I pause to share some of my best finds with YOU! Novelist Alice Hoffman Reading Alice Hoffman's historical fiction is always a treat for me. Her prose glows as she probes the magic and mystery...
Hearty Laughs: Grandma Longenecker and Aunt Ruthie’s
Waiting in the sitting room for my dad’s truck to arrive for me, I was a spectator, looking through the mahogany-trimmed doorway into the kitchen. Women with prayer caps, Grandma Longenecker and Aunt Ruthie, were sitting at the gray, Formica-topped table facing...