12/12/12 – Time Capsule of a Quiet Day
Inspired by Xanthe Berkeley's challenge on Shuttersisters to create a time capsule of 12/12/12, I decided to capture this ordinary day so that sometime in the future, maybe 20 years from now (should this blogging platform still exist, or rather be accessible with the technology we might have then), I can look back into my life, into what an ordinary [...]
My Most Meaningful Read of 2012: Secrets and Spies – The Harbin Files
Of all the books I read this year, the one I have thought most about, talked most about and continue to think about is Mara Moustafine's Secrets and Spies - The Harbin Files. Unfortunately, the book is hard to get in the U.S. as it was published in Australia in 2002. My friend in Shanghai gave it to me [...]
The Garden of the Cang Lang Ting (Blue Waves Pavilion) in Suzhou, China
Walkway along the canal outside of the Garden, as seen from The Fish Watching Spot For a long time I have been meaning to share pictures from my visit to this classical Chinese garden in Suzhou. I hesitated because I felt I did not know enough about Chinese gardens to write about them. Now, as the landscape turns grey [...]
Guest Blog by Julia San Fratello: Accepting Myself at Ragdale
I am beyond pleased to host one of my memoir students, Julia San Fratello, as a guest blogger today. Julia just enjoyed her very first writer's residency at Ragdale this past September, and so I asked her whether she'd write about her experience. Thank you, Julia, for sharing! Here is Julia: I lay in my bathtub at home with the door [...]
Guest Blog by Shirley Hershey Showalter: Writing About Faith
As announced last Monday, I am happy to welcome Shirley Hershey Showalter as a guest blogger today. We met in the online world last year; I was initially intrigued by her 100 Memoirs blog in which she set out to read as many memoirs as possible to learn how to write her own. I left comments, and we connected. I have followed Shirley's [...]
Photo Essay: Point Reyes – Into the Fog
Cypress trees dripping with moisture on the way to the lighthouse at Point Reyes. Since today is November 1, and I have so far been celebrating fall with roaring colors, I'm thinking this is right time to share my photos of fog along the California coast. For me, fog goes with November, even though this is more of a cliché than based on personal [...]