CiCi's Garden

It’s been raining in the Napa Valley. And raining… and raining… and raining. It’s been cold, too. April in California this year was the 12th coldest in the 113 years anyone has been keeping records. And just when I thought it was over, it rained most of May as well. It even hailed, turning  CiCi’s [...]

In the Preface to my book DARKNESS OVERTURNED, I explain my pen name. There are several reasons why I chose for myself the name EsthersChild. The Esther of biblical antiquity had neither father nor mother ?and in a real sense, neither have I . . . One of the reasons I did NOT give was [...]

With Mother’s Day arriving, my oldest daughter Cassie and I were talking about childhood memories. Through the years her memories of how things happened and my memory of the same incidents hasn’t always concurred. It used to make us both unhappy because we each knew we were right. Accusations can too easily arise at such [...]

For several years Oak Titmice have made a nest in one of our birdhouses hanging high over CiCi’s Garden. Shortly thereafter the air fills with periodic loud peeping as mama and papa make seemingly endless trips to feed their young. One day all too soon it grows quite for the babies have flown. I always [...]