Have you ever assembled a scrapbook–a grouping of pictures and mementos in one large collection? Scrapbooks today are often works of art, encompassing old pictures, ticket stubs, napkins, menus, etc. The item can be used to enhance the significance of the event. Brightly colored pages with themes incorporated in the design, die cut letters, miniature […]
New book,New Series Heiress Unaware
A new story has joined the lineup of tales in a series I’ve entitled Heiress Unaware. This story was originally written about a teenage girl who’d been in foster care for nine years, felt totally abandoned by her mother, and was about to be emancipated by the child protective services. Over the course of writing […]
When Motorcycles Meet A Novice
I’ve only ridden a motorcycle once in my life. Many years ago. My then boyfriend who would later become my husband and I were on a rock hunting expedition with friends in eastern Oregon. We were digging to recover quartz, specifically Jasper stone, and other rare rocks with interesting middles. My girlfriend’s brother-in- law […]
Our Sphere of Influence
Were you one of us? On Monday September 19, an estimated two million mourners lined the streets of London to say goodbye to the late queen, Elizabeth II, reigning British monarch for seventy years. Another four billion people worldwide viewed the funeral on television. The celebration of this woman’s life impacted as many people in […]
God Saved the Queen
This week the world received the unhappy news that Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning sovereign over Great Britain for the past seventy years, had died. I wasn’t sure how to process the information. The queen had been on her throne for as long as I could remember, but I had never met her. She […]
Labor Day-Marking a Season of Change
The first Monday in September was officially designated a day of rest for American workers by five states in 1887. Prior to that, protests demanding better working conditions for employees were first recorded in New York City in 1882. My home state of Oregon was among the first five states to recognize the need […]
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When Does This Book Become the Last?
I didn’t set out to write seven books. In fact, as a trained journalist, I didn’t believe I was capable of writing one. My specialty was creating four hundred word essays in under fifteen minutes. That’s what journalists do in order to make a publishing deadline. Write quick, brisk, concise copy for a waiting audience. […]
And Still I Do
Forty seven years ago today July 18, 1975, I promised to love, honor and cherish a man I had come to respect and admire during a tumultuous time of upheaval for both of us. I won’t lie—our courtship traveled over rocky ground as we got to know each other. I was impulsive and stubborn and […]
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This Day Finally Came
I remember writing letters to congressmen. I carried a sign and joined others along the main thoroughfares of my town protesting abortion. I drove to rallies in larger cities. I walked my neighborhood with a petition to put a bill on the ballot. But the force of the abortion movement remained a formidable foe. My […]