Category: Essay
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Book Review: Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano
There is a family of ten (10!!!) sisters who live in my neighborhood, a suburb of Washington, DC, and I am friends with almost all of them. I see some of them almost every weekend as they are all parishioners at my church. They have created something like 32 first cousins among their respective families. […]
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Puccini Ardillo, an Ode to a Fine Dog
After a brief illness attributed to old age, Puccini Ardillo, born February 8, 2007, passed away on October 31, 2022, in the loving arms of his family. A dog of many monikers, he was known as the little prince, boo boo, Pucci, and rascal. He is survived by Michelle and Tom, and his sissies Margaret […]
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Book Review: When the Moon Turns Blue by Pamela Terry
“You can take the girl out of the South, but you can’t take the South out of the girl.” The older I get, the more I identify with this old saying. I’m a Southern girl, born and raised in Louisiana, but have now lived in Maryland (NOT the South, no matter what you Yankees say […]
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Book Review: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
A few months ago I was reading through my April issue of Bon Appetit magazine when I stumbled upon a personal essay called “It Was Quite Possibly the Worst First Date Ever. Then I Ordered the Scallops.” It was one of the funniest things I had read in quite a while. I read it aloud […]
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Book Review: Fauci, Expect the Unexpected, Ten Lessons on Truth, Service, and the Way Forward
After seeing Dr. Fauci on televised news conferences for months on end and hearing his name bantered about by both supporters and detractors, when I saw this book on the new release shelf at my library I picked it up to hear from Dr. Fauci himself. First of all, this book is not exactly written […]
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Book Review: The Essential Instant Pot Cookbook by Coco Morante
At what point when reading a cookbook do you make the decision to just go ahead and purchase a copy for yourself? Wait, you don’t read cookbooks? I do. I check out bags of them from the library and read them cover to cover like my favorite mysteries or biographies. Sometimes I jot down a […]
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Book Review: Murder in a Teacup by Vicki Delany
Guilty as charged: I judged this book entirely by its cover. I had not heard of Vicki Delany before I saw this book on the “librarian’s picks” shelf at my local library, but a cover with a table set for afternoon tea in the foreground, a cat sleeping on a windowsill, and sailboats in the […]
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The Keys of My Life
Friday, June 10, 2022, was the last day of school where I taught upper school religion this year. Today I will turn in my school keys and walk out of the door as a retired teacher–again. If you follow me on my website or on social media, you may have seen my personal essay “I […]
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Book Review: Love & Saffron by Kim Fay
If books were people, and if Home Cooking by Laurie Colwin married 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff, and if those two book-people had a baby, it would be Love & Saffron by Kim Fay, and that baby’s godmother would be Ruth Reichl. I devoured this book in one day. Granted I was in […]
Michelle Blanchard Ardillo 