Over the holidays, the boys and I spent a few days in Berkeley to extend our visit with family. I rented a house in North Berkeley, near the tunnel that leads to Solano Avenue. It was an area we drove through often when I was in graduate school and Perry was in law school in
My summer was filled with momentous events – a trip to Russia, a keynote speech at the Well Spouse Association in Las Vegas and a visit to Seattle where my book was a finalist for the Nancy Pearl Book Award for Best Memoir. But one of my favorite activities was (and still is) walking
I spent a week in Tuscany at a writer’s retreat with this lovely view from my bedroom window. I arrived after a whirlwind of travel and sightseeing: hiking the Camino de Santiago trail in Spain, visiting quaint Dutch towns in the Netherlands, and exploring Renaissance art in Florence. I was scattered in thought and feeling
I hiked sections of the Camino de Santiago trail in Spain in late April, setting off from Bilbao and working westward on the Camino del Norte, Camino Primitivo and Camino Frances trails to Santiago de Compostela. I didn’t do the full pilgrimage of staying in albuerges or hostels, getting a pilgrim passport stamped at each
I donated one of my husband’s wheelchairs to Bonnie, his teacher at Santa Monica College. She brings used mobility devices to Africa each year and was delighted to receive the lightweight chair with big wheels. “It’s perfect for the gravel surfaces in Africa,” she said. I had many happy memories with that wheelchair. We kept
We spent the past week in Tucson, Arizona, visiting our son Paul. The weather was a comfortable 80 degrees every day and the city is easy to navigate with its wide boulevards. There were handicapped accessible sites like the paved path in Sabino Canyon. We took the tram to the top of the canyon and
“Where are you from?” is a question I was (and still am) asked constantly. And after I go through the litany – California, Los Angeles, Salinas, Castroville, Tulare – there is always the familiar refrain, “But where are you really from?” And so I explain. My parents immigrated from China, in the 1940’s. “Where
