Buy me no baubles and I’ll save you the trinkets. Here are the gifts we really need this holiday season. This gifts we give all year. This gifts for which we forget to send thank you notes. The gifts that shape the giver. My Christmas list for the world. The gift of listening.…
Warm Tidings on a Cold Winter’s Night
On any given moment as I traverse our beautiful Sonoma square a dozen emotions can rise – amazement that the square is unscathed, sadness for the many children who lost their homes but still decorate the square with their art, hope for the world if one community can find a way through devastation with…
Ancient Dreams
I rise early on winter mornings, puzzling over my chaotic dreams, trying to make out the path through the forest of my mind. It’s there, if I give it my attention. Last night’s version: A young guy asks me if I want to get high. Strangely, I agree. We keep searching for a hiding…
Lifting up the part of our community hit the hardest.
In the aftermath of the fire, folks ask us, “How is it up there? Are people starting over? Are they finding places to live?” Yes, our friends are returning to their homes, our home is safe, the friends that lost their homes have found temporary places to stay. And…
Sonoma Rising.
Yesterday, I returned to Sonoma for the first time since the wild fires. My fear of facing the changes the wrought by the fires kept me from pressing too hard on the gas. Not long after I passed the Sonoma line, my heart clenched as I passed acres of blackened hills. Cows grazed on the…
This heart-breaking world journey.
The events of late, from hurricanes to the horrible event in Las Vegas, leave us breathless, so aware of our fragility, and lack of control. Yesterday I listened to the interview of a man in Puerto Rico, describing how he used his body as a shield, surrounding his son “like a shell”, while their house…
Claiming My Chaos
“You’re the calm in the middle of the storm.” People have said to me. “You kind of thrive in chaos,” a friend added recently. That didn’t sit so well. It’s not like I want my life to be crazy. It just happens. Although I can’t deny that crisis has a way of bringing out my…
New Winery, Old Friends, Perfect Alchemy
My husband, daughter and a few of our closest friends sink into extra deep couches at a new winery on the Sonoma Square. I am between edits on my forth-coming novel, and am determined to enjoy the novel’s setting while I wait. Rancho Maria, on 1st Street, next to the (ever delicious) Harvest Moon Café,…