A friend emailed recently to say he liked the quote I had posted (by Louis L’Amour.) In return, he offered the following quote by Ernest Hemingway, who wrote in “A Farewell to Arms”:

“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.”

Here’s my question, a two-parter: How is the world breaking you? And how is it making you strong?”

For several years, off and on, I’ve been working on a novel. [Read more…]

My husband is an editor by day and a bass player by heart. Nothing makes him happier than music. One of the perks of living in Las Vegas is the chance to hear a lot of live music.  I can’t begin to name all the people we’ve heard since moving here. OK, I’ll try: Sting, U2, James Taylor, Carol King, Tony Bennett, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Al Green, Leonard Cohen, Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, Van Morrison, BB King, Joe Jackson, Joe Cocker, Paul Simon . . . . Last night, I drove half an hour in the rain (yes, it rains in the desert!) to meet him after he got off work to hear Los Lobos, one of his favorite bands. He was very happy. So happy he didn’t even complain afterwards when we discovered I’d locked my keys in my car. Duh. We had to drive  home in his car to get the spare keys, then back to my car and home again _ and he was still smiling. Have I mentioned he’s a good and patient man? I woke this morning to blues skies and sunshine and _ I wish you could see this _ snow on Mount Charleston! (Yes, it snows in the desert.) Daylight Savings Time ends tonight, so we’ll all set our clocks back (if we don’t forget) and “gain” an hour tomorrow. All of this is to ask two questions: First, what kind of music makes you happy? And what will you do with your “extra hour” of sunshine?

I just watched the sunset over the Spring Mountains, leaving the desert in that lovely purple haze of twilight. The sun is headed west, to set again off the coast of California, where my children and grandchildren are settling in for the evening. It is my favorite time of day, when I can stop and reflect on the all the goodness and grace in my life. My husband heard from a friend today, whose wife is battling cancer _ again. My heart and my prayers reach out to them. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing right now, I hope you feel as blessed as I do. And I hope you will write and tell me about it.