“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” — Anthony Bourdain Continue reading Travel
Photographing children is rewarding but also very challenging. I have one adorable grandniece whom I love with all my heart, but trying to get her annual birthday portrait on her third birthday gave me more lessons in patience. She’s shy (I get that, so was I — and still am — and I have total empathy with her). What she has taught me is that … Continue reading Patience, Taught by a Little One
Last time we needed to buy a new chair for the house, the husband and I had a huge debate. He wanted a recliner. I thought recliners were so “old” and unfashionable. But I pick my battles, and caved for him. We came home with a recliner. After we inherited Pedro, our min-pin/mixed-with-eight-breeds dog, I discovered how much I loved having a “velcro dog” — … Continue reading I Have Become Martin Crane
What good fortune I have in that I was offered the chance to serve as a group leader for a study-abroad program through my school, SDSU, to Costa Rica. It was definitely a step outside my normal comfort zone, but I’m so glad I was given this chance and didn’t hesitate to take it. That’s not to say I didn’t have nerves or anxiety about … Continue reading Costa Rica: First-time Study Abroad For a Broad of 62
Several months ago, a cousin near DC suggested a family reunion in Savannah, GA. This involved a whole lot of cousins we had never met before. This is a geographical area we (my Bebe sister and I) had always wanted to see, so we went back and forth about if we could do this, but the powers-that-be and some very generous loves in our lives … Continue reading Savannah
I am posting this recipe because it is a cherished family recipe that I want to make available to those who had the privilege to know Wanda Webb. Wanda was the mom of my childhood best friend, Wendy, and my sister’s close friend Reggie. Reggie became quite the wiz at making this dish as well. Wanda was not only an accomplished cook, but she used … Continue reading Wanda Webb’s Cheesecake
I have an acquaintance who inspires me. He’s battling terminal cancer, and he is making every moment that he can count. In addition to deeply connecting with the people in his life, he is following his passion of music and adventure by traveling when he can to see the concerts that fill him up. We two stick-in-the-muds, as the Husband and I have become lately, … Continue reading Let’s Enjoy This Ride
As someone with an interest in genealogy, I enjoyed this article about one woman’s confusing results from her DNA test, and then her several-year quest to solve the mystery. Who Was She? In short, she received ethnicity reports that differed from what she was told all her life, discovered her paternal aunt and uncle, and thus cousins, were not related to her at all, and … Continue reading The End of Secrets, or More Confusion?
With all the negativity going on this crazy world of ours, I want to discuss the benefit of make-believe Fairy Princess role playing. I did it last Wednesday, and I had a blast. But pictures are worth a thousand words, as they say. Here are my two princesses. Continue reading Fairy Princesses
Sharon A. Penny 