I’m so glad you found me. This is your site for news, information, progress on the series, accolades, opinions and rants (yes both Emma and her creator can be snarky at times), whines, and the sharing of important information. Let’s get to know each other better. Stick around and enjoy the ride, and please feel free to contact me by leaving comments on the blog page.
As an author, I love nothing more than to write. But once a book is published, it needs to be shared. Please pre-order your copy of The Man Who Wasn’t There, or catch up on Emma’s adventures in The Difficult Sister” or it’s prequel, “An Unholy Alliance” today. You can order ALL THREE at a discounted price. And, I will be happy to personally inscribe any books ordered here. As always, THANKS for your support.
Every writer has a journey that each of their characters must take.
The State of the State Yesterday was spent on the sorting line of RR Winery. Pinot Noir grapes came in from our original vineyard on Ribbon Ridge–beautiful, plump clusters, sweeter than table grapes, fresh and bright tasting, in compact, tight clusters. For all the years I was involved with helping to start a vineyard and […]
Read MoreThe State of the State Our 4-day trip to Mitchell covered a lot of ground even though temperatures got over 100 degrees. First full day included a trip to the Painted Hills. Then Patrick and Janet showed us pictographs left by local tribes 200-300 years ago, plus a swim in the John Day River at […]
Read MoreThe State of the State Damn, it’s hot. I’m not complaining. I love summer, particularly those long luscious days when sunset doesn’t come until after 9 p.m. Summer is about heat. My lovely daughter and I plan to enjoy it. We have a pool date set for Tuesday that may involve lunch and some Salt […]
Read MoreThe State of the State In western Oregon, summer has arrived with a couple of very warm days followed by some very East Coast thunderstorms. Rest and repeat. Today is the longest day of the year, so happy Solstice everyone! I’ve made Chicken Paprikash twice since we returned from our Grand Tour of the Danube. […]
Read MoreThe State of the State Having enjoyed two weeks in a different world, it has taken a bit of time to get back on my feet. As I wrote my April newsletter, I was headed to Europe and I anticipated I know not what. There would be the river cruise down the Danube, plus time […]
Read MoreThe State of the State Unless I break something between now and Tuesday morning, the die is cast. Long-awaited trip to Parts Unknown–for me at least. Wynne and I are flying out of Portland, taking a nonstop to Amsterdam, from there to Prague. I have never been there, but my late son Ian loved the […]
Read MoreThe State of the State I left y’all last month on the cusp of my trip to Tucson. If I went there to get sunshine, I was sorely disappointed. During my time there, more than two inches of water dumped from the sky–just like home. It was worse in Oregon, where there were snow flurries […]
Read MoreThe State of the State Yes, well, it’s been more like April than early February around here, which is more than a little scary. Trees are budding out, and I saw daffodils blooming today while on a walk. Eagles won the Super Bowl. Robert Mueller continues his silent quest. I head for Tucson in a […]
Read MoreThe State of the State The holidays are past. Thank goodness. They were fine, except for a few last minute glitches from the weather. Nothing serious. A little ice. Lots of good food and a bit of traditional music and bright lights. Significant infusions of butter. For me, looking back on the year that was […]
Read MoreMusings and reviews of theatrical plays.
“I have no plan,” announces the guru-like Teacher (Mary McDonald-Lewis) to a gathering of six disparate and mostly miserable souls in Bess Wohl‘s Small Mouth Sounds now running on the Alder Stage at Artists Repertory Theatre. The six are gathered at a silent meditation retreat in a rainy woodland setting. No cell phones. No outside food. […]
Read More“My sense is that American character lives not in one place or the other,” playwright Anna Deavere Smith writes in her introduction to her Pulitzer Prize-finalist play Fires in the Mirror, “but in the gaps between the places, and in our struggle to be together in our differences.” In this phenomenal play, now at Profile […]
Read MoreSomewhere in the west of Ireland, a group of immigrants waits for something to happen. They are housed in a row of caravans, bored, and new to Ireland. They want to go to work, to fit in, but options are limited. After much reflection, a group of them decides to form a hurling team. It’s […]
Read MoreAdam Bock’s A Life is a play about Nate Martin (Nat DeWolf), a gay man of a certain age. Directed by Rose Riordan, the play was commissioned by Portland Center Stage, workshopped at the 2014 JAW festival in Portland, and is now onstage in the Ellyn Bye Studio at Portland Center Stage at the Armory. This […]
Read More“Is it now?” Guy (Michael O’Connell) asks. He is sprawled, half-dressed, in front of a wheelchair in a room that is empty save for some large boxes at the side of the stage. “I thought I had more time.” Lights out. The next time we see Guy, he is dressed and in the wheelchair, looking […]
Read MoreThe Color Purple opens with two little girls–Celie (Felicia Bosworth) and her younger sister Nettie (Danea C. Osseni)–giggling and playing a game. Flash to 14-year-old Celie holding a baby, her second. Pa (C. Mingo Long) takes the baby from her. We’re certain he’s going to kill it. Traditionally, Portland Center Stage begins each season with […]
Read MoreFour New Yorkers in a city of eight million souls look just like any other four New Yorkers. Warren (Seth M. Renne) peddles pamphlets with upbeat sayings on a Manhattan street corner. Angry small town girl Deb (Quinlan Fitzgerald) comes to the city for graduate school. Claire (Kailey Rhodes) and Jason (Benjamin Tissell) decide to […]
Read MoreAbby Binder (Randi Douglas) is a grouch. And it’s no secret that she doesn’t want a roommate. Never has. When she is assigned one at the senior living facility where she resides, she understandably objects. Marilyn Dunne (Anita Sorel) is just too darned cheerful. And she makes noise. This is the setup for Pulitzer Prize […]
Read MorePicture this: Eldest son graduates a good college in Padua, Italy, comes home briefly, and then decides to forsake his fortune and hit the road to find his own “extraordinary”. Sounds like a slacker, right? Only this eldest son is Pippin (Paul Harestad), son of King Charles, or Charlemagne (Dan Murphy), leader of the Christian […]
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