Returning to Big Basin Redwoods State Park

This week marked a few auspicious events for me and my favorite place on earth, Big Basin Redwoods State Park. First, the park’s recent reopening allowed me to visit and hike (on limited trails) for the first time in two years. Second, this week marks the two-year anniversary of the severe storm that produced mega … Read more

Honoring Maureen Snead — sister, mother, friend

  This weekend our extended family is gathering to honor the life of our sister, Maureen Snead, who passed away on April 8th of this year. Today at her Celebration of Life, I read a little (okay, it’s long for “little”) thank-you note I penned. It’s not a eulogy or an obituary — it’s a … Read more

Easter “Messiah” or Christmas “Messiah” – which one are you?

Confession: it never crossed my mind that people listened to Handel’s 1741 Messiah as an Advent or Christmas seasonal thing until I was an adult attending classical music events on a regular basis. I myself listen to it around Easter, because, well, that’s how I grew up hearing it. It was a family thing in … Read more

Music for Grace — a Top 10 playlist for dying

For a gorgeous, non-classical, ambient 12-hour recording that’s amazing for sitting beside the dying, scroll to the bottom of this post… I thought my friend Grace had died already. This past week I was away on a five-day personal retreat without internet, so I had to go with the old-fashioned news source: one’s instincts. In … Read more

Q & A with author Terez Mertes Rose

I had the opportunity to sit and talk face-to-face with author Terez Mertes Rose the other day (okay so it was a mirror), about her recently released novel, Ballet Orphans, a prequel and Book 3 of the Ballet Theatre Chronicles series. Here’s what she had to say…. What was the most challenging thing about writing … Read more