In Honor of the Queen’s Jubilee: An Excerpt from Rain Dodging
Traveling the Thames Back near my London hotel, I relished a quiet dinner at an airy Thai restaurant on Hugh Street. Ordering my standard Pimms & Lemonade, I eased back,…
I’m in the Mood for Pimms
Oh, yum! While editing Rain Dodging, I couldn’t help but notice how often I imbibed a Pimms & Lemonade: Stopping at a quaint pub, I descended three stone steps and sat…
Meet Mary’s Maids
(edited from first post July 16, 2021) If you have been following me, you know that the heroine of my book, Rain Dodging, is Mary of Modena, queen-consort to James II.…
Mary of Modena, Rain Dodging’s Queen: A Peek into Origins of Female Authorship
As I come down the revision home stretch, I would like to remind you, and welcome new readers, of how I came to write Rain Dodging: In 2006, researching for…
The World-Famous Palomino Club
As you will learn in my book, Rain Dodging, when I was younger I had a closet fantasy of being a cocktail waitress. As a young teacher, I fantasized about a…
Cornflower Blue: A Mother’s Abuse Atoned?
(Excerpt from: Rain Dodging) A misshapen outline remained where the pocket had been. Determined, I stepped into the dress anyway. I loved the texture of the cornflower blue fabric. The…
Read the First Pages!
Since I am finally returning to Rain Dodging for revision, perhaps you would enjoy the opening pages? Chapter One: Getting There “Take the Adventure, heed the call, now ’ere the irrevocable moment…
Cheaper by the Half-Dozen: Meet Six of Mary of Modena’s Attendants
The heroine of Rain Dodging is Mary of Modena. Her court was as close as England ever came to the world of the précieuses, the intellectual and literary circles that formed around…
Palomino Days
You wouldn’t see that on the streets of Cleveland, I thought, daring to peek to my right. One lane over, at Sunset and LaBrea, a bikini‑clad woman was eating a taco…
Tick on a Lip, a wedding nightmare
This is my second excerpt from Rain Dodging. Enjoy: Six months of wedding planning and preparations culminated in a week of very physical labor, for example, painting our hayloft floor for our…