Yesterday I read an interview with an author who praised the art of pretense.  Not pretending to be someone you aren’t — pretending to be capable and competent when you feel just the opposite....

My Spanish teacher is incorporating lots of conversation into our class and it’s fun, though often the things we say are truly laughable.  We did some role playing, learning to make travel plans, and...

When the sun is shining, angels are traveling.  I don’t know the origin of the expression but I loved the sound of it when someone told it to me.  Of course, it didn’t hurt...

It rained on and off for two days — good long soaking rains — and after the horrifically hot summer and so many deadly, scorching fires here in the Northwest, it was lovely.  I...

I got an email from the library yesterday morning, saying that I had had a particular book for so long that it now was listed as missing.  The library sends a cautionary email a...

At the start of the school year I happened to be in an office supply store and saw a woman buying a large stack of black and white composition notebooks.  They were on sale...

We usually don’t get any trick or treaters out where we live and for someone who loves Halloween as much as I do, it’s a teensy bit disappointing. I always buy candy, just in...

My hands dripped water across the floor as I walked from the sink to the air dryer in a public bathroom a couple of weeks ago and I puzzled over who in the world...

We had a veterinarian neighbor many years ago who together with his girlfriend, loved to do holiday things for our kids — like decorating a tree in the front yard with hanging plastic candy-filled...