Except for a brief few weeks in Ljubljana a couple of years ago, I have never lived by myself. I've always had a roommate or a boyfriend or a husband or children sharing my space. Living alone is new for me. My apartment in the UK is perfect. Each room is beautifully painted and meticulously... Continue Reading →

I knocked on the door of my temporary upstairs neighbor. My dog might bark while I'm out, I said. I wanted him to know that I wouldn't be gone too long. But no worries, he was going out as well. When I got home there was a note on the red rain boots outside my door,... Continue Reading →

This picture is often offered up to me by Facebook in the memories section. Remember this? Oh yes, yes I do. He and I are sitting on the shore of the Baltic Sea in Humlebæk, Denmark. We passed white-washed, thatched-roofed houses with candles in the windows to get to that spot. It must have been... Continue Reading →

I really didn't know what to expect when I decided to move to Wales. People asked me, Why don't you move to California to be near your family and enjoy some good weather? Oh yes, the weather. That is definitely something I considered. The weather is an entity I am in relationship with here in the... Continue Reading →

My youngest daughter visited for her week-long fall break. I hadn't seen her since I put her on a plane at JFK in August. I told her I would wait at the airport until she texted me and said "at gate." I watched her go through security, holding my shit together so she wouldn't see... Continue Reading →

Stones, or cerrig in Welsh, and the sea, or y môr, make me think a lot about elemental beings--faeries, elves, gnomes, mermaids, slyphs and sea monsters. I find it hard not to contemplate the folklore and myths of Wales in this magical natural setting. My critical literary research has nothing at all to do with... Continue Reading →

I woke up to a yellow-tinted sky and a strange smell in the air. It was kind of like smoke, but not exactly. I remember smoke when my father's house burned down in Malibu in the early 90's. It was a time in my life when I was forming an adult identity--amidst fires and earthquakes... Continue Reading →

I climbed the hill, past sheep grazing just below the National Library of Wales, winded and sweating by the time I made it up the enormous stone steps. I needed to get my library access card so I can begin using the reading rooms for my research. When I walked in, the guard asked, "Are... Continue Reading →

I made a list of intentions. Number one: Keep cynicism away. It kills the soul. Number two: No judgemental attitudes. They squash openness. Number three: Seek out only people who are brave enough to express the truth. Number four: Find kind, pure hearted, joyful people to be in community with. I saw an advertisement for... Continue Reading →

Houses with gardens and weathered iron gates, one after another, in rows on every street. I sweat in the rain as I walk up what feels like a ninety-degree-angled "footpath," or "sidewalk," to the university. Like dollhouses, they remind me of where Lavinia and Jane from The Tale of Two Bad Mice might have lived.... Continue Reading →