Even though it is always curled in the back of our minds as a little knot of anxiety, I am not going to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic. Well, maybe just a little … If you are like me, you are up to your eyeballs in breaking information, including political dithering, self-isolation advice, closures and shortages, dire […]
Read MoreMarch 17 is Saint Patrick’s Day, and I’ve decided to let you in on a little secret. My mother wanted to name me “Kathleen Mavourneen” after the old Irish ballad, but my older sisters prevailed and I ended up with “Kathleen Helen.” (I think I prefer “Mavourneen.”) My heritage is not all Irish, but I […]
Read MoreBrooke, my human cousin, was spending the night, and she asked me if I would like to hear a bedtime story. When Joey was younger, he insisted on a bedtime story. While I rested at the foot of the bed, Dad or Mom (or sometimes Hattie) would read a boring story to him, and soon […]
Read MoreI’m trying to find a sunny spot to have my morning nap. But the sun is being capricious. I admit I did like basking in the sun in the desert—first, warming my back, then turning on my sides, and lastly, my belly. Heaven! When I was indoors, it seemed that at almost any time of […]
Read MoreI could go on and on about hiking in the desert. John and I discovered a gem this trip. Big Morongo Canyon Preserve is about half an hour from Palm Springs on Highway 62. It is nestled in the mountains above the tiny town of Morongo. Here, water runs year ’round, so there is more […]
Read MoreWe are in the last week of our month in the desert, and we have had so many experiences that they are swirling in my head like the images in the fancy kaleidoscopes sold at the art shows that dot the Coachella Valley most weekends … … Like the gentleman dressed in the navy cotton […]
Read MoreI want you to know that I am really adjusting to the desert life. I now have the horrid local Canada geese whipped into shape—no squawking before 8:00 a.m. How did I do this? See the description of my teeth below. Besides my new friend Hank, I have met and interviewed several local creatures, including […]
Read MoreI’m looking out at the snow-topped San Jacinto Mountains through a scattering of palm trees. We are in the Coachella Valley for a month of rest, relaxation, and restoration. For some reason, the clear horizons of the desert hold a healing power that drains away the accumulated baggage of the year, and everything takes on […]
Read More“Twenty twenty.” Don’t you just love the way that looks and the way it sounds when you say it out loud? To me, it conjures up thoughts of dreams finally fulfilled, new experiences, and shadow images that good things are in the future. As a year closes, I know it is traditional to look back […]
Read MoreHow do you approach the holiday season? I have to confess I approach December with feelings of anticipation, eagerness, joy … and also incipient feelings of being overwhelmed, apprehension, and exhaustion. These latter feelings usually start the day after Thanksgiving when my mind starts jumping from upcoming tasks like a grasshopper leaping from blossom to […]
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Kathleen Chamberlin 