Bedtime Stories: A Boy and a Girl With Reddish Hair

July 26 Marvaõ, Alto Alentejo, Portugal Late last night as we tucked the kids away to bed in the little room we are all sharing in an old quinta in the high granite hills of the Upper Alentejo, Oliver asked my husband to tell him a story.  Ryan closed his eyes for a minute before… Continue reading Bedtime Stories: A Boy and a Girl With Reddish Hair

Deep Breaths

Ready or Not?

“So, are you ready?” My father asked me this question two nights ago as he collapsed into the couch next to me.  My nose was pressed into a map of Iceland, where I had been uttering low guttural sounds in various attempts to pronounce the names of small towns along the Ring Road.  With an… Continue reading Deep Breaths

Countdown

Please accept my apology when I tell you that I haven’t channeled a writerly thought in now nearly a decade. In fact, it is with distinct physical discomfort that I sit alone tonight, in the darkened kitchen nearing 2AM, banging away at this keyboard in what is now my seventh effort to get this damned… Continue reading Countdown