A Work in Progress

There is a bird who lives in our backyard that has been a nuisance for the last three years. For starters, I don't even know what this bird is. No clue. I tried to Google it using terms like "bird with annoying screech" and "kicks up dirt and leaves scrounging for bugs and worms." Those searches didn't work. Weird. From Google, I received names like finches and woodpeckers, shrikes, and larks. If I could take a picture of the bird, I'd post it so you could see this miscreant in action. But, he's too fast for me. So, I'm no help there. Nor is he. This bird has a black head, white body, with red on its wings. He’s quite beautiful in spite of his annoying personality   The good news about researching local "Sacramento birds" is that I now know the identifying name of our resident owl. It's a Western Screech Owl. Yes, we have a resident owl. This adorable owl has made a home out of our old cable dish (and accouterments) that we had pla

This year is my year of yes. At least, more yes than no, and more yes's even when it hurts to say yes. Why? Because cool things happen when one says yes. (Yes to the right things, anyway). But, I'm serious. You can't imagine the crazy good things that happen when you let go and say yes. Case in point: We went to the California Auto Museum here in Sacramento a couple days ago. The coolest little museum with vintage perfection all over the place. With doors like this, you know cool has to be its middle name. But, as we left, my husband casually mentioned that he saw "on the news that the train station here was refurbished and reopened and the grand re-opening was today," and should we go? I said yes. Even though I had a zillion other things to do, I still said yes. We literally sailed into the building.  Literally. Sailed. Got almost instant up-close (across the front door!) parking, walked into a tour that was

Okay, so this has NOTHING to do with writing. But, it does have to do with my family. My younger sister, Rebecca, is an interior designer. She has been in business for quite a few years already and is only a young pup herself. http://rwarddesign.com/default.aspxShe has incredibly reasonable rates, she is located in central California, and whether you need new lighting and paint for a single room -- or an entire house-- she can do it all. She's a member of ASID, worked years as an intern, received her degree in design, and now runs a business of her own. My point: she's good at what she does because she studied and worked for it. Kind of like the way good authors become published with reputable publishers when they study, write and do it until it's perfect, day in and day out, and even when the writer feels they're moving at a snails pace. She is that dedicated, as a designer. Here's her fabulous blog . Here is her design website . She blogs quite regularl