The other day, we went to the beach—McIrish, the Princess, the Firefighter, the Peeper and yours truly. Oh, it was a glorious day! The...

Since I wrote about Sainted Mother last week, I thought I’d tell you a little bit about my dad, gone these many years. He was tall and...

In OUT OF THE CLEAR BLUE SKY, Lillie’s mother is chilly, judgmental, stylish, exceedingly well educated and wields her criticism like...

In Out of the Clear Blue Sky, there’s a guy named Ben Hallowell. Captain of a fishing boat. Cape Codder. Man of few words but can flirt...

Recently, my not-so-sainted husband implied that I was not the best driver. Readers, how dare he? So what if I missed that tiny little...

I don’t know what I did before Airbnb. As a writer, I get to travel quite a bit. If I’m going to be somewhere longer than a couple of...

Being that I am spiritual and religious-ish and grew up Catholic, I do believe in the afterlife. This month, I’ve been doing a lot of...

I just met my first grandchild. Holding my daughter’s son was transcendent. My little girl has grown this beautiful, perfect little boy...

While it’s been around forever, I just found out about the love languages, which are, according to the Google, words of affirmation,...

My role model for old age. Is it that I’m becoming a delightful curmudgeon, a la the Dowager Countess of Downton Abbey? Am I just...

Let the good times roll. The other day, when my sister was visiting our mom, we decided to have a game night. Oh, readers! It was a...

In case of apocalypse, head for my mom’s. She’s got a few of these stashed in the freezer at all times. While I recently was on Cape Cod,...

Well, it’s that time of year, so I’m going to tell you a Christmas story. It’s not the happiest story, but maybe it’s a good story...

My closet will not look like this, alas. Part of our house renovation means that McIrish will finally get his stuff out of my closet. Oh,...

Sure, it’s a neck. Tragically, I will not be able to chase my mother around the house with a turkey neck this year. I know. I’m sad, too....

Booey, my bear since I was two, remains with us. Of course he does! Our house renovation has now started on the inside, so McIrish moved...

I may have mentioned that we’re renovating our house…the first home improvements we’ve done since we’ve moved in, back when we were young...

I had a week off, gang. A week of real vacation time, which is unusual for us authorly folk. We usually have writing, editing, revisions,...

Last week, I finished my twenty-second novel. This one was a tough one to write for good and bad reasons. On the happy front, I was busy...

Oh, sure, I love the great outdoors as much as anyone! As long as I can go back to a comfy room with hot water and plumbing and a...