Although I’m taking a brief hiatus from this column in order to travel and promote my new novel, a recent issue came up that made me think. I can’t stop asking questions about nature and nurture, and I’ll tell you why.

In the past week, I heard three amazing stories of what happened when three people casually swabbed or spit and sent the sample to one of the several sites (Ancestry DNA, 23 and Me, My Heritage, etc.) that test DNA. They learned many things: about their ethnicity, their possible health risks and, importantly, about people who, based on the site’s data base of DNA, are most certainly relatives.

I love the Santa Ynez Valley. I love its rolling hills, the friendliness of the people and the care I have seen neighbors extend to neighbors. That is why recent events at Santa Ynez Valley High School saddened me.

In the early part of December, graffiti defaced several locations around the high school campus. Graffiti defacing a school building is never pleasant. Yet this graffiti was particularly ugly. A swastika was among the words and symbols used.

t’s a week past Thanksgiving. Hopefully we are recovered from the food coma induced by too much turkey, sweet potatoes and green bean casserole. Perhaps we are also losing the ringing in our ears induced by family squabbles.

During holiday dinners, some of us are compelled to sit across the table from people who feel differently about the issues facing our nation: the threat of an impeachment, the Russians (or somebody) meddling in our elections, who should the Democrats select as their presidential candidate, to name a few.

ew of us want to hear endless reporting of other peoples' infirmities. We listen politely, but hope it’ll soon be over. That’s why I apologize profusely for devoting two columns in a row to the illnesses of my family.

I’ve already complained plenty about my wretched knee replacement (which is, thankfully, much less painful). So, I really do feel sorry this week for writing about my husband’s hospitalization, but that's all I got! I’ve been at either Santa Barbara Cottage or our local Santa Ynez Cottage this entire week.