Author Archives: Risa Nye

I’m Spending Hanukkah in Santa Monica!

What else is there to say? Have a wonderful holiday!

Here–this one’s for you

 Remember clippings? When friends or relatives would see something in the paper—an article, a recipe, a letter in Dear Abby—and they would cut it out and send it to you, perhaps with a little note attached: “Thought you’d get a kick out of this,” or, “Wouldn’t the kids love these cookies?” Or maybe the articleContinue Reading

Once again, remembering a friend

I missed the date, November 20, this year, but just by a few days. Giving thanks today for the memories and for good friends. (This is part two of an earlier post I published a while ago…)  The Moms in the Mountains, continued.     In my imagination, I can take the trip with my friendsContinue Reading

Lemon Tree

After another tough week of daily blogging, how about a break (I asked myself)? Go for it, I said. How about another recipe? I needed to look it up anyway, so. . . The Meyer lemon tree has cooperated this year, so if all goes well, this will be my contribution for Thanksgiving. We loveContinue Reading

The Falling Leaves

Madeleine gets to play in a bigger pile than her mom and uncle did–but it’s still a lot of fun. Back in the day… Lots of leaves in Central NY! More about Leaves:I’ve written about some special leaves before– how I used to bring out my collection every year to scatter around the table atContinue Reading

November 22, 1963

Friday, a school day. Just a week after my 12th birthday. Perhaps I would have put on a skirt and blouse that day, along with one of my prized mohair sweaters. I begged for mohair sweaters for months and had two of them finally. So I might have worn the red one, the cardigan, overContinue Reading

A Legacy in Soft Gray

 It’s sweater weather around here. Time to revisit this old yarn. . .  The gray yarn looked scratchy, like an old man’s stubble. Betty, my friend  Debbie’s mother, had knitted it into an almost-finished sweater. Two strands, twisted together, the heavy braided cables and stitches in row after row of pattern. I can’t remember whyContinue Reading

Masterpiece Dinner

We were two young couples in our early twenties: husbands in grad school, wives working in the same office and becoming fast friends. The four of us bonded over cocktails and college football games. In addition to our habit of sharing Happy Hours together on Friday nights, we discovered that we all loved to cook.TheyContinue ReadingContinue Reading

One by One: Off they go…

When our three kids were little, we spent part of our summer vacation at a beautiful mountain lake. As we watched the kids play in the sand or splash in the icy water, my husband and I realized the day would come when they’d get too grown-up or too busy to spend lazy days withContinue Reading

More "Writin’ on Empty"? Yes, with your help!

 What is Writin’ on Empty?  The long subtitle of the book explains it all: “Parents Reveal the Upside, Downside, and Everything in Between When Children Leave the Nest.”  I’m proud to be one of three mothers who brought this book into the world in 2008. My co-editors, Joan and Julie, met through the empty nest discussionContinue Reading