I'm relieved to find these postings and to hear that you are safe out there at your homestead. I have been thinking of you since these floodings began. So much tragedy and sadness right now.
I just read this. Little did you know that 1 day after you wrote that you and Bill would literally be defending your piece of this against the elements. I'm so glad that you are safe though your sabbatical may be more work than you imagined.
My heart goes out to all who have been affected in Texas, especially those that have lost loved ones. Differences in politics, religion, nationality, or anything else means nothing right now. Finger pointing helps no one who is affected by the floods.We all need to pull together. It has been hard to think of anything else these past few days. If you know of any organizations that could use some support, please let me know. Peace
We're lucky, Karen--we just have a big mess to clean up (or learn to live with it), unlike the people who are dealing with the physical and emotional aftermath of the flood--one of those life-altering events for many. Here are two how-to-help lists: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/05/texas-hill-country-flooding-how-to-help/ and
Enjoy your sabbatical, Susan! You earned it, and self-care is a non-negotiable essential in this challenging times. I'm shocked at the flooding in TX and hope you and Bill are okay. I'm particularly looking forward to A Bitter Taste of Garlic in the fall.
Whenever I have been stumbling on headlines from Texas hill country today, I immediately think of you. I'm assuming that you are not in a floodplain, but I'm thinking that you might have lost electricity or road access to the wider world. Please let your subscribers know that you are okay.
Yes, power has been intermittent here. We've had over 8" of rain in 24 hrs and some serious flooding issues and may not be able to drive out for a few days. But we have everything we need. Thanks for asking!
Thank you for your dedication, creativity, perseverance and inspiring each of us to be more fully present, read thoughtfully, try new recipes and rediscover old ones, and broaden our reading. I have enjoyed every column. May you have a restful and enjoyable summer.
We dug out the 41 year old (it was a wedding gift) electric ice cream freezer today and Mom’s 65 yr old recipe (a box of instant pudding is the trick to make it really creamy), found ingredients that avoid milk allergies, so we can introduce Homemade Ice Cream to a new generation tomorrow at the Finny Family BBQ after the parade and Buckaroo.
It's been one of the most inspiring and supreme joys of this year and, indeed, my time on Substack to have found you and your vibrant little magazine. And then there's your generous support of me. May you have a fine old time staring into space, filling up that great imagaination of yours. We all need all your imagaination and common sense these days!
Susan - those of us who have spent time in academia hold summer as a special time. To read, reflect, recharge,
I plan to work with my brother, retrieving and recording our fond summer memories with grandparents in Denver. Such special times. My one granddaughter is doing various "camps" every week except for 2 when the family is on vacation. The other has a parent generated list of tasks to accomplish.
Gone, it would seem are the truly "lazy days of summer."
I have shared several of our guerilla books with others - and will continue in my own campaign to share the impact of what is happening here at home.
I am sure our community will stay connected in spirit. See you in September.
Thank you for sharing those guerrilla books, Georgeann--they deserve a wide readership. And enjoy your time w/your brother. My brother and I spent a couple of years pulling our memories together, hunting down our fugitive grandfather, and putting it all into a little book for our family. The project brought the two of us together, and still holds us together, nearly a decade later.
I spent two years tracking down the family lineage for both my family and my husband's family, focusing on Ancestry.com. But I had to retrieve various documents in odd locations. Peculiar gaps (as you discovered with your family) and long family histories. My maternal lineage traces back to a land grant in Virginia from the king; my husband's family goes back to the Mayflower.
My brother and I have always been close. As children constantly moving we were best friends. We've shared our children's lives. Now that my husband is gone, he calls every day. He has always had a unique and quirky sense of humor. He makes me laugh.
We're lucky, Georgeann, to have that kind of relationship with our brothers. I'm not sure how usual that is. I've never had a sister, so John fills both roles. Both of us are writers, so we're on multiple emails every day. So good that your brother calls you--that voice connection is special.
I also have a sister. She is 10 years younger, so I was off to college when she was 7 years old. Before I left, I did much of the child care except when I was at school. From the time she could crawl out of her crib she would always come into my bed at night.
I think my brother and I are so much more connected because of all our shared life experiences.
Yes, that's a long history of caring, isn't it? It's closed and private: it belongs only to the three of you, with all its bits of remembered events and people. And that's very special.
Enjoy your time and the opportunity to reflect and rest as well. We all need that.
Without writing an entire book here (but it is long), I want to share that my daughter in Arizona was affected by this citizenship mess. Arizona sent out a letter to many people about proving their citizenship. Nothing to do with race. In addition, the agencies aren't working together. Her driver's license with the star saying they listed her as a citizen was verified when she called DMV. That wasn't accepted.
She called me in a panic because she's recently been laid off and needs to receive unemployment and state medical help for severe heart disease. If she couldn't prove her citizenship, she could be without benefits and unable to get a new job. She was terrified of being arrested because of her pacemaker. A push or shove could kill her. AZ has already arrested older adults and held them for weeks in horrible conditions.
She was adopted by my second husband, and the birth certificate was changed. It wasn't a closed adoption or family secret, but AZ locks all adoption records. I have to pay to find the record, even though I'm a birth parent, and he's deceased. She's also over 50. I'm sure after twenty or thirty years, the paper had deteriorated, and I saw no reason to keep it. However, my name has also changed, and no longer matches either of her birth certificates. In addition, my birth certificate didn't list any parental information, not even my parents' names.
Do you see where I'm going here? Unless I could find everything, she might not have been able to prove her citizenship and would be held in custody until I ordered and received certified documents. Fortunately, they accepted her birth certificate this time. She also sent everything to Channel 3 investigative reporting to bring this to their attention and create a trail.
If Texas goes off the rails in the same direction, I may lose my citizenship status and my right to vote because I'm still not sure I can get copies of records that are too old to be online when I no longer remember exact dates. I have a passport that requires verifying my ID and name changes over the years, as does Social Security, which requires proof of every change.
My daughter has also provided proof to Social Security and other agencies for jobs, fingerprint clearance for state employment, and more. My advice is to be proactive. Don't assume that being white and/or not being foreign makes you safe, especially if you've married and changed names.
I could say a lot more, but this is my experience this week. Stay safe and be aware.
Penny, what an incredible story! And what an insult to a good citizen who has followed the rules. I'm surprised--and impressed--by your calm, equitable tone here. Your story makes me angry, physically angry. I see Pat's "clenched stomach feeling" in her note below. Add me to that list: an anger that is mixed with helplessness, disgust, and yes! hatred of cruelty that is disrupting so many people's lives. Thank you for giving us this glimpse--and do keep us posted, please.
Good lord! I wish I could zoom across the country to hug and help you! I never even imagined this could happen and as awful as it was for you and your dauhter I thank you for sharing. This is the second time in three days where I got this clenched stomach feeling that we're tipping forward more....the first was a photo on the front page of the NYTimes that showed the president at his allegator holding center as he peeredinto the cages that will soon be filled with immigrants. The saying "be safe" no longer applies.
I love how your new year begins in September, in alignment with school. School ordered my life for a very long time and the fall marks the beginning of the year for me too. Best wishes for a lovely summer.
I look forward to more and more. I assume you mean KAL now has his own Substack column (what do you call these things on Substack?), NOT that his cartoons are being added to YOUR Substack whatever???
I was afraid of that (what you-all CALL these Substack "things"). Sigh. Newsletter, column - I think I'll use column - I subscribe to a number of Substack columns and they are definitely not all newsletters. "Column" is more generic.
Oh, and yes I checked out KAL's column. Sigh. Not willing to pay I don't get to see much, but what I DID see didn't particularly move me. It's ok.
677326
I'm relieved to find these postings and to hear that you are safe out there at your homestead. I have been thinking of you since these floodings began. So much tragedy and sadness right now.
Thank you for your concern. Yes, just a big mess to clean up and fences to fix. Glad it wasn't worse here!
I just read this. Little did you know that 1 day after you wrote that you and Bill would literally be defending your piece of this against the elements. I'm so glad that you are safe though your sabbatical may be more work than you imagined.
My heart goes out to all who have been affected in Texas, especially those that have lost loved ones. Differences in politics, religion, nationality, or anything else means nothing right now. Finger pointing helps no one who is affected by the floods.We all need to pull together. It has been hard to think of anything else these past few days. If you know of any organizations that could use some support, please let me know. Peace
We're lucky, Karen--we just have a big mess to clean up (or learn to live with it), unlike the people who are dealing with the physical and emotional aftermath of the flood--one of those life-altering events for many. Here are two how-to-help lists: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/05/texas-hill-country-flooding-how-to-help/ and
https://www.kut.org/energy-environment/2025-07-06/how-to-help-kerrville-tx-flooding-flood-donate-texas-hill-country (The second link is to our local NPR station.) Thank you for asking!
Enjoy your sabbatical, Susan! You earned it, and self-care is a non-negotiable essential in this challenging times. I'm shocked at the flooding in TX and hope you and Bill are okay. I'm particularly looking forward to A Bitter Taste of Garlic in the fall.
Thanks, Leenie. More time to read. And I just added your new mystery to my Kindle TBR stack!
Thanks! That's a boost to my spirits. I hope you enjoy all your reading. 🌿💚
Whenever I have been stumbling on headlines from Texas hill country today, I immediately think of you. I'm assuming that you are not in a floodplain, but I'm thinking that you might have lost electricity or road access to the wider world. Please let your subscribers know that you are okay.
Yes, power has been intermittent here. We've had over 8" of rain in 24 hrs and some serious flooding issues and may not be able to drive out for a few days. But we have everything we need. Thanks for asking!
Congratulations on Year 3, Susan! What a beautiful living fabric you weave for us here.
I hope you enjoy your sabbatical immensely!
I very much appreciate the term, "living fabric."
Thank you Georgeann! Susan creates such a vibrant space!
It's readers like you who make this possible, Maria. Thank you for all your support and your help. You're an inspiration. ❤️❤️
I have loved all the access you have granted to us fans over the years. Be safe out there and I look forward to seeing your return in the fall!
Thank you, Nancy. Enjoy your summer!
Thank you for your dedication, creativity, perseverance and inspiring each of us to be more fully present, read thoughtfully, try new recipes and rediscover old ones, and broaden our reading. I have enjoyed every column. May you have a restful and enjoyable summer.
We dug out the 41 year old (it was a wedding gift) electric ice cream freezer today and Mom’s 65 yr old recipe (a box of instant pudding is the trick to make it really creamy), found ingredients that avoid milk allergies, so we can introduce Homemade Ice Cream to a new generation tomorrow at the Finny Family BBQ after the parade and Buckaroo.
Enjoy your Finny BBQ, Pamela--sounds wonderful!
And thank *you,* for being a faithful reader and commentor. Love hearing from you!
It's been one of the most inspiring and supreme joys of this year and, indeed, my time on Substack to have found you and your vibrant little magazine. And then there's your generous support of me. May you have a fine old time staring into space, filling up that great imagaination of yours. We all need all your imagaination and common sense these days!
Thank you, Pat. You have a special gift--keep on sharing it!
Susan - those of us who have spent time in academia hold summer as a special time. To read, reflect, recharge,
I plan to work with my brother, retrieving and recording our fond summer memories with grandparents in Denver. Such special times. My one granddaughter is doing various "camps" every week except for 2 when the family is on vacation. The other has a parent generated list of tasks to accomplish.
Gone, it would seem are the truly "lazy days of summer."
I have shared several of our guerilla books with others - and will continue in my own campaign to share the impact of what is happening here at home.
I am sure our community will stay connected in spirit. See you in September.
Thank you for sharing those guerrilla books, Georgeann--they deserve a wide readership. And enjoy your time w/your brother. My brother and I spent a couple of years pulling our memories together, hunting down our fugitive grandfather, and putting it all into a little book for our family. The project brought the two of us together, and still holds us together, nearly a decade later.
I spent two years tracking down the family lineage for both my family and my husband's family, focusing on Ancestry.com. But I had to retrieve various documents in odd locations. Peculiar gaps (as you discovered with your family) and long family histories. My maternal lineage traces back to a land grant in Virginia from the king; my husband's family goes back to the Mayflower.
My brother and I have always been close. As children constantly moving we were best friends. We've shared our children's lives. Now that my husband is gone, he calls every day. He has always had a unique and quirky sense of humor. He makes me laugh.
We're lucky, Georgeann, to have that kind of relationship with our brothers. I'm not sure how usual that is. I've never had a sister, so John fills both roles. Both of us are writers, so we're on multiple emails every day. So good that your brother calls you--that voice connection is special.
I also have a sister. She is 10 years younger, so I was off to college when she was 7 years old. Before I left, I did much of the child care except when I was at school. From the time she could crawl out of her crib she would always come into my bed at night.
I think my brother and I are so much more connected because of all our shared life experiences.
Yes, that's a long history of caring, isn't it? It's closed and private: it belongs only to the three of you, with all its bits of remembered events and people. And that's very special.
Enjoy your time and the opportunity to reflect and rest as well. We all need that.
Without writing an entire book here (but it is long), I want to share that my daughter in Arizona was affected by this citizenship mess. Arizona sent out a letter to many people about proving their citizenship. Nothing to do with race. In addition, the agencies aren't working together. Her driver's license with the star saying they listed her as a citizen was verified when she called DMV. That wasn't accepted.
She called me in a panic because she's recently been laid off and needs to receive unemployment and state medical help for severe heart disease. If she couldn't prove her citizenship, she could be without benefits and unable to get a new job. She was terrified of being arrested because of her pacemaker. A push or shove could kill her. AZ has already arrested older adults and held them for weeks in horrible conditions.
She was adopted by my second husband, and the birth certificate was changed. It wasn't a closed adoption or family secret, but AZ locks all adoption records. I have to pay to find the record, even though I'm a birth parent, and he's deceased. She's also over 50. I'm sure after twenty or thirty years, the paper had deteriorated, and I saw no reason to keep it. However, my name has also changed, and no longer matches either of her birth certificates. In addition, my birth certificate didn't list any parental information, not even my parents' names.
Do you see where I'm going here? Unless I could find everything, she might not have been able to prove her citizenship and would be held in custody until I ordered and received certified documents. Fortunately, they accepted her birth certificate this time. She also sent everything to Channel 3 investigative reporting to bring this to their attention and create a trail.
If Texas goes off the rails in the same direction, I may lose my citizenship status and my right to vote because I'm still not sure I can get copies of records that are too old to be online when I no longer remember exact dates. I have a passport that requires verifying my ID and name changes over the years, as does Social Security, which requires proof of every change.
My daughter has also provided proof to Social Security and other agencies for jobs, fingerprint clearance for state employment, and more. My advice is to be proactive. Don't assume that being white and/or not being foreign makes you safe, especially if you've married and changed names.
I could say a lot more, but this is my experience this week. Stay safe and be aware.
Penny, what an incredible story! And what an insult to a good citizen who has followed the rules. I'm surprised--and impressed--by your calm, equitable tone here. Your story makes me angry, physically angry. I see Pat's "clenched stomach feeling" in her note below. Add me to that list: an anger that is mixed with helplessness, disgust, and yes! hatred of cruelty that is disrupting so many people's lives. Thank you for giving us this glimpse--and do keep us posted, please.
Good lord! I wish I could zoom across the country to hug and help you! I never even imagined this could happen and as awful as it was for you and your dauhter I thank you for sharing. This is the second time in three days where I got this clenched stomach feeling that we're tipping forward more....the first was a photo on the front page of the NYTimes that showed the president at his allegator holding center as he peeredinto the cages that will soon be filled with immigrants. The saying "be safe" no longer applies.
And if we can't say "be safe," what *can* we say? Re: those flimsy structures. I'm remembering reading/writing about the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, which flipped a locomotive and killed over 400 people. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/09/07/deaths-laid-to-act-of-god-the-devastating-1935-hurricane-that-surprised-the-florida-keys/ That can happen again.
I love how your new year begins in September, in alignment with school. School ordered my life for a very long time and the fall marks the beginning of the year for me too. Best wishes for a lovely summer.
I look forward to more and more. I assume you mean KAL now has his own Substack column (what do you call these things on Substack?), NOT that his cartoons are being added to YOUR Substack whatever???
I think he calls his a newsletter. (I call mine columns, mostly.) Did you check his link? https://kaltoons.substack.com/
I was afraid of that (what you-all CALL these Substack "things"). Sigh. Newsletter, column - I think I'll use column - I subscribe to a number of Substack columns and they are definitely not all newsletters. "Column" is more generic.
Oh, and yes I checked out KAL's column. Sigh. Not willing to pay I don't get to see much, but what I DID see didn't particularly move me. It's ok.
Thanks, Susan! Enjoy your break...See you in September!
Thank you for all you do, a well deserved break.
Thank *you* for being a reader. We writers can't live without you, you know. 🙂
I have always enjoyed reading your work, whether it was years with China, the original newsletter, or this. Enjoy your break!
Thanks for hanging in there with us, Marylouise--with China and the Pecan Springs gang. Yes, a lotta years!