Category: A View from My Seventies

14 Jul at 12:54 pm

A Day on Crete!

This from some time ago…vamping while I do a serious rewrite of our novel. Appreciate your kind indulgence… Earbud from my shortwave radio tucked in, in the middle of the night it has been lovely hearing the waves of unfamiliar…

28 Jun at 7:38 pm

Kindred Spirits ~ New!

Musings, Update

1

I had a good idea…to open up this page a bit, I thought to bring in friends (or people I wish were friends) that I regard as kindred spirits. I love the word kindred… it comes from Old English kinrædan, having to…

20 Jun at 9:57 pm

Blessings on My 91st Birthday

Musings

3

So yesterday I celebrated my ninety-first turn around the—what orb is it, moon? sun? gosh I forget…is that a sign of old age? Very like… It was a day-and-a-half. Began with my husband’s poem—oh, what a treat, having your very…

18 Jun at 11:55 am

Let’s Hear It for the Glorious Paramedics with the Santa Cruz Fire Department!!!

Aging Ain’t for Sissies, Update

15

Bill had just made his incomparable Scrambled Eggs with Cheese…I was sitting at my place listening to chatter about Marilyn Monroe and Louis Calhern in The Asphalt Jungle (remember my husband is a film historian)…Bill was telling the table (three…

9 Jun at 3:36 pm

America the Majestic, and Other Travel Tales

Around and About

4

I began writing these notes perched beside Bill in our bedroom on Amtrak’s Empire Builder--San Francisco to Chicago–just having rolled out of Havre, Montana. To explain: granddaughter (son David’s) Kate was graduating from Columbia University’s School of Social Work with…

20 May at 5:34 pm

A Ginger Cake of Boundless Virtues

From the Past, In the Kitchen, at the Table

1

Dear Readers, I posted this in spring of 2025 … thinking about Easter. Here I am thinking of it again, a cake for all celebrations … Bake it and you’ll agree! As a matter of fact, it’s the ideal cake…

12 May at 8:05 pm

“Some Rose!!!”

Around and About, What I Find Fascinating

2

There is an extraordinary rose bush bordering a garden in our neighborhood—I pass it every time we go out—that drives me crazy. It is in tree form—one shoulder-high stalk exploding in a voluptuous armload of buttery-gold-apricot roses as ripe as…

26 Apr at 6:29 pm

“Don’t look back…something might be gaining on you…”

From the Past, Musings

2

Cleaning up my study (yes, really and truly) I opened a notebook I’ve kept for ages, but haven’t opened for ages. There tucked in front was a treasured clipping from forty-four years ago. Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige began in Negro…

16 Apr at 9:42 pm

Brush It Off!

Musings

4

Here’s a brilliant insight I just learned, simple, direct, pain-lightening. I’ll begin with the context: I am the most fortunate woman on the planet. I have a heavenly husband who loves and sustains me. I have a wealth of children,…

9 Apr at 10:25 pm

Bill at 96 and Michael Connelly

Musings, Update

4

Bill at 96 and Michael Connelly Last Monday (sixth of April) we celebrated a glorious landmark in the family: my darling husband’s NINETY-SIXTH BIRTHDAY! Wowzer. As Bill mentioned a few times (rather in awe), that means he has lived ninety-six…