I love live music, and the pandemic has made it harder to find. Some of the local bands have gone online, putting out their virtual tip jar while they play for an hour or two. Sometimes they are sponsored by a business, sometimes they do it from their apartments. I love the Beatles, so when… Continue reading Virtual Tip Jar Fail
The Uses for a Nine Year Old
My Girl Friday (who works for me on Mondays) has a daughter, who sometimes comes along with her to work. Now that her daughter is nine, she is useful in many ways. 1. She entertains my dogs. 2. She entertains my sister, giving her someone to watch. 3. She brings music into the house, since… Continue reading The Uses for a Nine Year Old
The Blond-tourage
Every woman over fifty gets the same advice from her hairdresser — lighten up your hair. As our skin fades and our looks do, too, we need brighter lipstick, sparkly-er clothing and blonder locks to stay looking as young as we can. My apologies to women of color; this may not apply to you. So… Continue reading The Blond-tourage
Moon Over Lafayette
Trudy worked at an engineering firm. Joe was the visiting copy machine repair man, or as her office mates called him, the Xerox guy. One day Trudy had to make copies. Joe was at the machine, repairing away. “Oh,” she said. “No copies for me!” “Hey there,” Joe said. “We should catch dinner sometime.” “Okay.”… Continue reading Moon Over Lafayette
Not your Normal Fishing Trip
Really, folks. You can’t make this stuff up. My fisherman friend, we’ll call him Pete, took a buddy and his boat and spent a day on the Delta (San Francisco Bay) where the Sacramento River meets the ocean, and the delta, a mixture of fresh and salt water and just as cold as the ocean,… Continue reading Not your Normal Fishing Trip
Melanoma and Me
(re-run) This is the kind of post that is scary to write, knowing that melanoma is the deadliest type of skin cancer. When I got the call, I was hiking in one of the most beautiful places on Earth near Carmel, with two friends, a happy couple who happened to be in town. “I have melanoma,” I… Continue reading Melanoma and Me
Bomb Shelter Blues
Our house on 69th Street in Urbandale, Iowa, had a big bump in the backyard. It’s where my grandfather built a fall-out shelter that connected to our basement. It was during the Cold War, and thoughts of atomic bombs being dropped on us was enough to motivate him to save his daughter and five of… Continue reading Bomb Shelter Blues
Lola Meets Ricardo
(re-run) Lola met Ricardo on the first day of college at the University of Iowa. She had signed up for a speech and composition class with an emphasis on women’s studies. When she got to the classroom, there was a note on the door that the class had been moved to another building. A guy… Continue reading Lola Meets Ricardo
The Blond-tourage
(re-run) Every woman over fifty gets the same advice from her hairdresser — lighten up your hair. As our skin fades and our looks do, too, we need brighter lipstick, sparkly-er clothing and blonder locks to stay looking as young as we can. My apologies to women of color; this may not apply to you.… Continue reading The Blond-tourage
The Darwin Awards
(re-run) The world is insane. A snowstorm is predicted for the East Coast. It’s Mother’s Day weekend. The local news station reported that scientists may take llama antibodies for Covid-19 and give them to humans to see if it would help with immunity. Does that mean the humans might start spitting when they are angry?… Continue reading The Darwin Awards
Rattlesnake Season
(re-run) It’s rattlesnake season here in the West. Snakes are cold-blooded and love warm surfaces like rocks or sunny trails when they are cold, and dark and shady places when they are hot. At night they curl up in the strangest locales – in coiled-up garden hoses, under the edge of pool covers, and now… Continue reading Rattlesnake Season
My Twix Bar Habit
Her name was Pat, and she ran the middle school where I taught for six and a half years in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Pat knew everything, and everything went through Pat, the principal’s secretary. Pat was all business, and so was I. We didn’t develop a rapport past simple nice-ities. Others could get Pat to… Continue reading My Twix Bar Habit
Lemon Meringue Pie
(re-run) Sarah thought she’d give Match.com one more try. After a round of on-line flirting with a good-looking, age-appropriate man, John asked her to dinner. Sarah said yes. They went to the Hayward restaurant and had a pleasant meal with lemon meringue pie for dessert. Things are going so well. This guy might be the… Continue reading Lemon Meringue Pie
Uncle Frank and the Jar of Coins
I grew up with three uncles, one in Colorado, another on the other side of the state, and one near my home town in Des Moines, Iowa. Uncle Frank was older than the other uncles, but since his daughter, Nina, was my age, I hardly noticed. He was married to my grandma’s younger sister. They… Continue reading Uncle Frank and the Jar of Coins
