January 17, 2019/June 21, 2019 Staring with the Bad Part, Moving to the Good Part (Skip this first section if you could never read about Jack’s death in the Little House on the Prairie books or if you, like me, feel you were emotionally damaged by books like Where the Red Fern Grows…
The Christmas Bus (in June)
It took me a long time to publish this post, and I hope to catch up before the Bus adventures begin again this summer. December 25, 2018 I have always loved Christmas. I don’t think it is the holiday itself, but the holiday season, the cold and the cooking and the crafting and the gifting,…
Fire Danger: Extreme
(Talking About That Thing That Everyone Is Tired Of Talking About But That I Can’t Stop Talking About…and camping) For those who don’t know, when I was a little girl, I thought my father was Smokey the Bear because he worked for the Forest Service, wore a similar outfit, and reminded me of a bear…
The Last Trip of the Summer
The Third Way: The Last Trip of Summer When I am scheduling student presentations, I sometimes remind my students that oral reports or speeches are just like death. You know they are scheduled from the beginning of the term, but somehow you are never as ready as you would like to be, and yet, inevitably,…
The Dogs of L.A.
The Second Way: The Pittie in the SplittyAnd then there are the dogs. We have had dogs since we first met, and our current pair has now been properly introduced to the Bus. Buddy the pit bull actually came from the Dodger Stadium rental. One rainy morning we were headed out to breakfast when we…
Three Ways of Looking at the Bus in L.A. The First Way: Lost Angeles
Three Ways of Looking at the Bus in L.A. The First Way: Lost Angeles August 6-15, 2018 I’m getting ready to teach a class about Literary Los Angeles, so I’ve been reading about L.A. and thinking about L.A. and now I need to try to write about L.A. and yet I know this is an…
Precious Cargo
For Robert August 1, 2018 Precious Cargo Years ago I had a friend who was involved with and later married her college professor. That they were romantically linked caused something of a minor scandal at the time, although it was her husband who in fact officiated at my own wedding through the graces of the…
The Governor
July 27, 2018 Back when we were in Oregon, waiting breathlessly for Larry’s calls, and I swear, it was just like being a teenager and waiting for that boy to call, except this time everyone in the house would fall silent when the phone rang, there was great confusion about why the bus wouldn’t idle….
The Geologist’s Daughter
July 26, 2018 The Geologist’s Daughter For years I have wanted to write a book about my father, some sort of wide ranging epic, a TC Boyle, John Irving-ish sort of book with liberal sprinklings of Steinbeck, of course. The problem is I have never actually found the story I wanted to write, but…
