So here we are again, already at Fat Tuesday with another Lenten season of sacrifice upon us. Seems it rolls around faster and faster each year, faster than Christmas even, though mercifully, with less stress. Lent is a good time to stay home, be quiet… Read More
Here we are at the very end of January and I’m only now getting to the first journal entry of the new year. It’s been a full month since my last post, and I feel guilty. I hate missing a deadline, even if it is… Read More
Christmas has come to my Mother’s residence. It doesn’t take much to evoke the beauty of the holidays here because this place is stunning all by itself. It could easily be mistaken for a Grand Hyatt or a Ritz-Carlton. Decorated as it is for the… Read More
Fall weather comes to South Texas all of a sudden and late in the season, with a cold front from the north that we Texans call a norther. A norther blew in this week, with temperatures dropping form the 90s into the 50s virtually overnight.… Read More
My family has been in Victoria, Texas, since the 1840s. (The gazebo above in downtown DeLeon Plaza on La Calle de los Diez Amigos commemorates the founding of the town by Don Martin DeLeon in 1824.) This is a history of which my Mother is… Read More
The storm hits and the drama of it all dominates the media: wind-blown newscasters hold fast to the nearest pole as they report on nature’s fury; rescue workers wade through waist-high water as they search for those refusing to leave; ravaged evacuees huddle in make-shift… Read More
Photo: A home in the Harvey floodwaters; photo by Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg The rains start gently, tentatively, as though they need to practice after months of prolonged drought. Over the next day or two, they build into steady showers — not unwelcome, mind you, since… Read More
My husband and I are celebrating our 576th month wedding anniversary this week. In each of the first 100 of those months, we exchanged little greeting cards, a romantic gesture to mark the date and to celebrate our progress as a couple, much as teenagers… Read More
A friend of mine recently sent me this quotation: “The road of life is littered with the bodies of flattened squirrels.” Exactly. When something is wrong, fix it; if it can’t be fixed, then replace it, or learn how to make do. Whether it’s a… Read More
October is birthday month: my own, my son’s, even my dog’s. We’ve always made much of birthdays in our family. From the time I was four or five, I had these elaborate, themed birthday parties. My mother went all out. One year, after a summer… Read More
the narrative thread 