Happy Birthday, Marcus — Happy Birthday, Me
Marcus would have been 44 today. If he were still alive. I have been dreading this day for several weeks now. Anyone who’s grieved a loss will tell you the firsts are the hardest: the first Christmas, the first anniversary, the first birthday, the first you-name-it, any milestone missed by your loved one is a […]
Or, Perhaps, The World Does NOT Need More Pie!
I promised I would not succumb to vanity, so here you see what eating too much pie looks like. My belly was so bloated from a weekend-long pie binge, my friend Alison thought we should take before and after measurements. What you see is two inches added to my normal 31-inch waist. And this is […]
We Picked Blueberries Too & Made Pie-in-a-Jar
Sauvie Island Farms was good to us. We came home not only with 25 pounds of strawberries between us, but also 9 pounds of blueberries. Or “Early Blues” as the farm calls them.And what to do with all those blueberries? Yes, of course, make pie, but in this case I tried a new style of […]
Strawberry Fields Forever (& Afterward Strawberry Pie)
A morning spent picking strawberries at Sauvie Island Farms proved bountiful indeed. Wait until you see the pictures of the pies we made (to be posted later). Wait until you see the picture of my belly so full and protruding with pie that my fellow berry picker/pie baker Alison (pictured below with her husband Thomas) […]
PIETOPIA: Literary/Pie Contest Deadline is June 25
When I blogged about the Pietopia contest in 2008 I had no idea I would a) be returning to Portland to live, b) be returning to Portland as a widow, c) meet Pietopia’s founder, Tricia Martin, in person (she’s lovely!) and hire her to design my pie website (and talented!), and d) be a judge […]
When Life Gives You Mud, Make Mud Pie!
It’s official. June 2010 now lays claim to the wettest June in Portland, Oregon’s history. And the month is only half over. I’m sick of the rain. Sick of the mud. And, in fact, I’m sick — with bronchitis. It’s no wonder! This time last year I was living in Terlingua, Texas where (sun-drenched) daytime […]
My Pie Memoir: Chapter One
I spent last summer in Texas working on my pie memoir. I was half way through it when Marcus died. The time stamp on my Word document shows the last day I worked on the manuscript was August 18, 2009, 6:04 pm. The next morning I got The Phone Call, telling me Marcus was gone. […]
How To Eat Pie and Stay Thin
The question comes up a lot: How do you eat so much pie and stay so thin? While I like to answer teasingly, “It’s just fruit!” I made the mistake yesterday of reading the nutritional values printed on the side of a box for — are you ready for this? — a frozen, packaged Trader […]
A Birthday Card for Peter Schoenfeld
Dear Peter,Happy 50th Birthday! I hope you are eating some birthday cake pie to celebrate your special day. I’ve been meaning to tell you how impressed I was with your very first pie. Thanks for sending the pictures. Your rhubarb pie looks delicious and your food photography shows great promise too. And while I admire […]
12 Tips for my Fellow Grievers
I’m not an expert on grief really, I certainly never aspired to be one, but I have learned a lot about the subject in the 9 and 1/2 months since my 43-year-old husband Marcus died. I have learned that even though my pain has been so excruciating, so heart-shattering, that I’ve wanted to die (and […]