Welcome to Fall 2020 – where it seems both imperative and often impossible to find our voices amid this catastrophic time. But voices do matter – and I am grateful that on this 6th anniversary of the publication of my memoir, I recently spoke my story into a new kind of life: The Coconut Latitudes […]
Spring news 2018
Spring has been a season of change as I take some time to explore my other artistic roots. While it’s easy for authors to feel guilty about not having a major writing project going, sometimes change is good. So, at the end of January, I flew to Mexico to take a plein air art workshop. http://www.artworkshopvacations.com […]
Spring News 2017
2017 began with a tsunami of events, some potentially cataclysmic and others more in sync with seasonal cycles. Someone forgot to turn off the faucets of ill-will that have been spewing forth in our nation, and Mother Nature forgot to shut off water spigots here at home. As rainstorms shudder against my windows and alternate […]
Fall/Winter News 2016
Fall is upon us, that bittersweet season where the earth takes a breather, goes fallow, and directs us to look inwards. It invites us to express gratitude for all we have been given. This year I am especially thankful for an unexpected family connection and visit – a gift I’ll cherish forever. On the literary […]
Images from Spain – Spring 2016
Earlier this spring, I participated in a writing workshop/adventure in Spain, hosted by Wanderland Writers. In Barcelona, I fell under the spell of Antoni Gaudi’s hallucinogenic architecture. In Seville, I accidentally became part of a religious procession where drumbeats, incantations, and incense punctured the night sky. I surrendered to the ministrations of an expert masseuse in a hammam, […]
Solstice and new beginnings
Solstice. A perfect metaphor for our dual selves, darkness and light. Celebrated since ancient times, it’s the occasion when the sun appears to stand still just for a moment before an inevitable seasonal change begins. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is the longest day – a time to fling oneself outside, to inhabit the long […]
Summer Reflections
It’s already summer; how did that happen? This particular June solstice brings with it a desire to reflect upon the head-spinning events of the past few months. Dictionaries define the term reflection variously. Interestingly, the root is from the Latin reflexiōn – a “bending back”, which seems fitting as I look backwards. Another […]
“Why There Are Words” Literary Event – Rita Reads The Coconut Latitudes
New Year – New Beginnings, Old Connections
In this new year, as The Coconut Latitudes branches out into the world, it continues to bring some unexpected gifts and connections. The latest arrived yesterday, when, out-of-the-blue, a message arrived from a pen pal who I corresponded with more than fifty years ago. The first gift was the arrival of photographs I’d […]
Gratitude and Surrender
As leaves fall and pad California hiking trails with soft blankets of ocher and crimson, we whisper prayers for rain, but know bare branches are also necessary for rebirth and growth. Walking on one of these mountain trails last week, I recalled words by Mark Matousek in a recent memoir writing workshop: “Growth demands a […]