Last week I put on my favorite Etienne Aigner heels and went out clubbing–that is, to the Minneapolis Woman’s Club. Housed in a handsome old red brick building near Loring Park at the edge of downtown, the club is one of my current home city’s most celebrated venues for weddings and concerts. I’m not a … Read more
So far, this spring has been a plodding one. I’ve been working so hard on the next Rei book for that I’m feeling a bit fuzzy and plan a shopping break tomorrow with my mother. Still, my thoughts aren’t far from Rei, who’s also experiencing the Ides of March, but in Tokyo. How I wish … Read more
Sunday, March 11 marks the first anniversary of the 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that killed over 20,000 residents of Japan’s Tohoku coast last year. Small cities and towns that few outside of Japan had ever heard of were suddenly world news. Tsunami waves, which at some points may have been 50 feet high, swept six … Read more
There once was a mother who longed for the suburban Japan she’d once lived in: a Hayao Miyazaki universe of lush gardens where camellias grew wild around and the chorus of tree frogs was deafening. The woman had to leave Hayama and return to American with her husband. They became parents. But because the children … Read more
When I turned on my Nook E-reader the other day I was in the mood for a sweet treat–to buy a few self-published E-books with a good buzz. Well, I was gobsmacked. Several titles by different authors on my TBR list had vanished! They had existed in the Nook Store a few weeks ago but … Read more
I’ve heard the following comments in my house earlier this weekend (and a hundred other times). “You promised.” “You said!” “You can’t change your mind.” My children obviously have been taught to stand by their word. But what to do when one’s conscience says that a decision should be undone? Four years ago, I finished … Read more