Simple

  I’ve Wearied Myself I’m an expert at complicating things. I like to have plans, you see. And plans are better, aren’t they, with a contingency plan or two or six? Well of course. If it’s worth planning, it’s worth planning well, no? If it’s worth doing, it’s worth my best, right? Um, wrong.  There are plenty […]


I Can’t Always Get What I Want

But yes, I need what I get. As a graduate student, I spent a year on a Polynesian island doing research. Twenty years later, after discussing my adventures and misadventures with dozens and dozens of people, one thing is clear: However your imagination conjures my island experience, it wasn’t quite like that. One of the features of small-island […]


Gizmos, Gadgets, and the Gospel

One Little Corner of the Mojave Desert Waypoints Once I owned acreage in the Mojave desert. Situated at the northern end of a growing town, just outside the back door to Joshua Tree National Park, it was a big hunk of raw land. A dry wash cut across one corner, exposing rocks the color of […]


Gizmos, Gadgets, and the Gospel

One Little Corner of the Mojave Desert Waypoints Once I owned acreage in the Mojave desert. Situated at the northern end of a growing town, just outside the back door to Joshua Tree National Park, it was a big hunk of raw land. A dry wash cut across one corner, exposing rocks the color of […]


Not Just Half the Ocean

Grandson Cadence Visits the Pineapple Maze. September, 2011. Photo by Judi Matoushek, my Co-Grandma Another Speck, Farther Across the Sea “This is our guest room,” Elaine said, as we looked at a picture of a pleasant room. “And here’s the boys’ bedroom.” Rich and I studied the computer screen. My daughter, at the other end […]