ENGAGE

I don’t like to eat too early in the morning. Today it was ten before I cut up my usual oranges topped with plain yogurt and salted sunflower seeds, added a cappuccino made from freshly ground decaf beans, and for good measure juiced a couple of grapefruit. I’m enjoying this repast as I write—and as […]

Esma is on a crusade for the perfect lamb meatball recipe to take home to her uncle’s bistro in Manhattan and has purchased sacksful of aromatic spices at the market—cloves and paprika, powdered cumin and beads of coriander, crescent-shaped fennel seeds and purple-black pepper with a brass grinder thrown in . . . I haven’t

Sea lions stink! I discovered this last week as our hired sailboat floated past a colony of them a hundred yards off our starboard side, draped over the rocks of San Carlos like tourists at a Turkish bath (ask me about that story sometime!). They reeked up to high heaven and barked at us derisively—rude creatures—as we

Apparently the sewing bug cannot be assuaged as easily as whipping together the two beachy shifts I made a couple of weeks ago. So while helping my daughters shop for sundress patterns, I fell in love with their choice of the 1952 retro-style wrap (Butterick 4790) and made it for myself out of this gorgeous

I’m soon off to Los Cabos for a week of Mexican sun with my family! Primarily we’re escaping the Canadian snow, of course, but I’m brushing up on my Español in hopes of real conversation with a waiter at the all-inclusive resort or possibly a visit with our friends from Guadalajara. I want a multifaceted experience: Spanish

After a month of inactivity, with my arm sling finally off and the surgical site on my shoulder healing, I felt a great need to create something with my hands before I got back to drafting on my novel. So over the past few days I whipped up two sundresses for our upcoming week on

  (by G.K. Chesterton) There is heard a hymn when the panes are dim And never before or again, When the nights are strong with a darkness long, And the dark is alive with rain. Never we know but in sleet and in snow, The place where the great fires are, That the midst of

These mukluks from northern Canada are over four decades old–a Christmas gift from my brother when I was still in my teens. They tromped me through Manitoba snowstorms and kept me warm when snowmobile joyriding over the frozen Red River Floodway. They journeyed along with me to college in Minnesota, and wandered miles of wintry ranchland

THANKS to all who “accompanied” me on my online VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR during October and November, 2012, during which time The Third Grace was featured on many websites through reviews, interviews, and blogs. You can continue to read these anytime by clicking on the links below:  Monday, October 1:  Interview at Blogcritics Tuesday, October 2:  Interview at Examiner Wednesday,

My experiment was a success! To drive your taste buds crazy and fill your tummy with nourishing and winter-worthy comfort, try this recipe: Fry 12-15 thick slices of maple-smoked bacon, retaining drippings Chop 1 onion and 4 celery stalks; sauté in bacon grease, adding enough flour to make a roux in taking up the grease Combine onion-celery-roux in a large