WATCHING MY FEET
Everything in life that is worth anything at all requires the belief that, if you persevere, you will eventually get wherever you are headed. The Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu once said: “The journey of a...
View ArticleA LESSON IN LOSS FROM GREEN BEAN
As usual, I have a “dog story” to tell you. And as usual, it is far more than that, having become, for me, a “life story.” I am on a plane travelling to the Dalmatian Club of American National...
View ArticleA POTENT MAGIC
As I tackle this week’s newsletter, I find myself feeling tired and swamped. When I consider how many things are happening in my life right now, I am not surprised. I have passed the three hundred page...
View ArticleMARGARITAS, FIRE ALARMS, SHIPS, AND SHOWS!
A road trip! A road trip! Who doesn’t love a road trip! While mine down to Southern California thirteen days ago wasn’t exactly filled with Jack Kerouac moments, it was nevertheless an exhilarating...
View ArticleFRIENDS ARE THE ANCHOR IN HALF MOON BAY
In 1989, my husband and I moved from the New York suburbs to those in the Bay Area south of San Francisco. For me, thirty-six years of “home” had been on the East Coast–but the lure of a new and...
View ArticleDodging Curveballs
Sometimes life sends us curveballs. Just when we are least expecting it, a new situation arises, be it good or bad, and we are left scrambling. Not so long ago, I was talking with a friend whose older...
View ArticleThe Mystery of Rescue Dogs
This week I have a “guest writer” for my newsletter. My old friend Tor Shwayder is here to tell you the story of his lifelong love of rescue dogs, specifically Stan. Uncovering the many mysteries of...
View ArticleDon’t Mess With Mr. In-Between
It’s Sunday afternoon, and my dogs lie beside me on the couch, chewing on fresh bones, while my husband watches the 49’ers game. Because the weather is somewhat rainy (cause for celebration here in...
View ArticleThe Gift of Words + Year-Long Book Giveaway!
Maya Angelou said it best: “When you get, give.” In the spirit of her sentiment I am running a contest to gift to you any one of my books, your choice. Gratitude for my readers was sparked not only...
View ArticleA Dog Is A Dog Is A Dog
A second chance is one of the most miraculous and elusive gifts we can give. But why is it so hard to forgive–not only the ways in which we let others down, but also the ways in which we disappoint...
View ArticleA Happy Display of Foolishness
To be misunderstood is one of the more difficult experiences we all face. It happens to every one of us at one time or another. How one deals with it speaks to both our self-confidence, and our...
View ArticleSearching for Jiminy Cricket
Every time I see an ASPCA ad on television for an abused dog or cat about to be put to sleep, I start to cry. Sometimes I get upset enough that I shut the TV off. I don’t want to look at their...
View ArticleGuilty Pleasures
So, it’s Thursday at 5:00 in the morning and I’m speeding along at eighty miles an hour, in the pitch black, to a burg called Vallejo, which is about an hour and a half from my house. I’m keeping watch...
View ArticleRiding Over The Potholes
Last week in our backyard, Mac inhaled a foxtail and we spent a rocky day at the vet. For those of you who don’t know what a foxtail looks like, it is the very spiky tip of a weed–one that will work...
View ArticleSkunked!
Dogs will be dogs–and skunks will be skunks. One night two weeks ago, our family of black and white spotted Dalmatians introduced themselves to a family of black and white striped skunks, under the...
View ArticleStaying By The Side Of My Wild Child
All of us have daily challenges, and sometimes tackling them can be demoralizing. We try so hard, whether it is in climbing out of bed to face a routine that bores us, or in trekking off every day to a...
View ArticleGive The Boy A Dog This Summer
When I was a child, my parents held out to me the example of an excellent and dedicated writer, my great-grandfather, Arthur Gray Staples. My mother, a Pulitzer-Prize winning poet herself, told me many...
View ArticleEastward Ho!
Last week, I received many responses to my last newsletter essay, the one about losing the ones we love. Many people agreed that we all need to pay more attention to the way we try and help those we...
View ArticleBuilding A Nest In Maryland
For the first time in a long time, children dressed in costumes and shrieking “Trick or Treat” will clamor at the stoop of my house on October 31st. In California, we lived at the end of a long and...
View ArticleMy Wild Child Strikes Again…The Inconvenience of Love
Last week’s trip to New York was everything I had hoped it would be. I had plenty of opportunity to visit with friends, as well as with my son and daughter-in-law-but mostly I spent a lot of cuddle...
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