I watched PBS Masterpiece’s new program, To Walk Invisible, last night. It dramatizes a small slice of the life of three sisters, their destructive brother, and clergyman father. These sisters lived in obscurity for most of their lives, though now their names are famous and their works required reading in schools, printed in countless editions, and brought to life in several film adaptations: … [Read more...]

Today’s post is a follow-up to one from last month called A Tale of Two Kitties. You can read it here. In it, I wrote about our newly adopted cat, Socks, and our beloved cat of several years, Mojo. They were fighting constantly—Socks tackling and biting, Mojo hissing and hiding, and we had precious little peace in our house for over three months. I confess I was coming close to giving up and … [Read more...]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going … [Read more...]

As you may have heard, we are doing a series here on Inspired by Life...and Fiction, called "10 Things You Might Not Know About Me." Today is my turn. Here are 10 things you may not (yet) know about me: I live in St. Paul now, but I am originally from Chicago. Most of my relatives moved away decades ago, but at every family wedding, the Blues Brother's song “Sweet Home, Chicago” still fills … [Read more...]