marlene-homeWelcome!

I have been a writer ever since we produced a newsletter at Girl Scout camp.  I have also been an elementary school teacher, a natural food store proprietor, and a college instructor. Along the way, I raised four children and wrote four books.

My fifth book, Back to the Land in Silicon Valley, is a memoir of the years my husband and I homesteaded with another couple and our children. I am currently working on a cozy mystery and several nonfiction projects.

These web pages are where I  post my finished work, share peeks at new projects, and connect with my readers. I have been writing a newsletter for a decade now, and you are welcome to wander among the archives or sort on a topic or title. Mostly I write, about food, about families, and about grandparenting.

If you subscribe by entering your email address on the right of this page, you will receive each essay as I finish it.  I hope you will come along on my adventure and also take a look at past posts and join the conversation.

And invite your friends.
stack of books

Marlene

Life Gave Me Lemons

Life Gave Me Lemons Once upon a time a friend convinced me to plant a Meyer Lemon bush  in my garden. I was more of a mind to fill my indoor space with houseplants, but she was insistent: “Think permanent,” she urged. Think “feed your family.” Think “independence!"...

Opening the First Page of a New Year of Stories

A New Year of Stories I suspect that, like me, you've been bombarded with entreaties to start the new year with new habits, new goals, perhaps even a new wardrobe. It can be overwhelming. I keep a pile of books beside my bed. They are books that I want to read, or...

A Much Needed Vacation

On The Road Again To my family, it must seem that I am on vacation all the time. Since I retired, and especially since I moved to southern California, I have made many road trips and enjoyed a couple of spectacular cruises. Of course my flight north during the LA...

Digging Out of the Slough of Despond

The Slough of Despond Following certain actions of the U.S. government around the beginning of July that I will not detail here, having a policy of no politics in my newsletter, I found myself wallowing in negative thoughts and being unable, or unwilling, to "snap out...

Grandma Camp 2025

How Time Flies It seems only yesterday I was on Amtrak riding home from Santa Fe, New Mexico, but suddenly it was Memorial Day, and then June. For their anniversary this year, my son and his wife wanted to spend some grownup time together in Ojai, so their 8 year old...
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