Simple living is complicated
Browsing through a stack of women’s magazines in a waiting room recently, I counted no less than half a dozen features outlining how to “banish clutter” or “simplify and organize” everything that’s muddled in my chaotic household. One article suggested that dumping the contents of my junk drawers would enhance my self-esteem. Another promised I’d […]
Our year to break free
Are you stuck in a rut? Set in your ways? Afraid to take risks or try something new? The start of a new year is the perfect time to break free of our self-sabotaging beliefs and habits. My January column in Michigan Prime highlights several brave people who’ve taken the leap in midlife, plus I’ve provided […]
A light to warm our winter
This essay was originally published in The Daily Tribune on December 24, 1998, and is included in my book, Writing Home. Over the centuries, Christmas has been reinvented and repackaged, promoted and pummeled, like the cookie dough we cut into festive shapes and decorate every year in December. Christmas is a mass of contradictions. The […]
October memories
Sorting through my mom’s papers after she died last month, I found a copy of this essay, which I wrote after my father’s passing in 1992. First published in the October 1998 edition of Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion, it’s also included in my book, Writing Home. Lately I’ve been thinking of these lines from Anne Mary Lawler’s poem […]
After the flood
If your home suffered serious flood damage in Macomb, Oakland or Wayne County on August 11, you’ve probably spent the last half of your summer finishing basement repairs as well as finding safer ways to store your keepsakes. My new column in the October 5 issue of Michigan Prime chronicles what we lost and what we […]
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Welcome
If I had to state my philosophy in a nutshell, I'd borrow this gem from M.C. Richards: "All the arts we practice are apprenticeship. The Big Art is our life."
Focusing on lifestyle topics, I've freelanced for dozens of regional and national publications since 1984. Metro-Detroit readers know me best through my Sunday newspaper columns, which ran 14 years in The Daily Tribune and won a Best Local Column award from the Michigan Press Association.
Putting a fresh spin on midlife issues, I currently write a monthly "Life Lines" column for Michigan PRIME, delivered with Sunday editions of The Detroit News and Free Press. Whether you're facing a new empty nest, caring for elderly parents, or happily reinventing yourself after age 55, I'm writing "Life Lines" with you in mind.
My essays and features have been published and syndicated in many widely read publications, including, Reader's Digest, Better Homes & Gardens, Country Gardens, The Detroit News & Free Press, Victoria, Writer's Digest, Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, Literary Mama, Spirituality and Health, The Christian Science Monitor. Several of my essays are included in popular anthologies.
My collection of short essays, Writing Home highlights the years I worked at home as a family columnist while raising my son. Awarded several prizes for creative nonfiction, the book is a love letter to home and family life. Now in its second printing, Writing Home is also available on Kindle.
When I'm not writing in my home office, you'll find me in the art studio above our garage. My shrines and mixed-media assemblages have been featured in national publications and in juried art exhibits throughout southeast Michigan. And when I'm not here in Royal Oak, you'll find me in on the west coast of Michigan, working with my family on our historic Frank Lloyd Wright home on the St. Joseph River.
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