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
It’s a Small World
(re-run) Today was a meet-up hike, my third time with Randy as our fearless leader. It was sunny with little to no mud and lots of cows. About twenty of us, plus four small dogs, walked five miles in two and a half hours. The great part is that the meet-up hikers go to places… Continue reading It’s a Small World
Marathon Man
(re-run) She had tried them all — Match, eharmony, Our Time, Chemistry, Zoosk, OkCupid, and CoffeeMeetsBagel. She’d had her share of weirdos and had learned to use a fake name, fake town, and a fake place of work. She had been stalked in the past. Now she knew how to do it and be safe.… Continue reading Marathon Man
Typical Tuesday
Today’s entire front page is about the two mass shootings over the past three days, one in Southern California, and the other one fifty miles from my house. We can continue to believe that it won’t affect any of us, that mass shootings happen to other people. It’s getting to the point where we can… Continue reading Typical Tuesday
The Day Grandma Got Woke
(re-run) My mom loved to watch Ellen. It’s usually fun and games, with hunky guys and Ellen playing tricks on her guests and staff. She rounded out the hour with lesbian jokes, a musical performance by some obscure band, and Ellen surprising some needy but giving person with $10,000 in cash. Then the death of… Continue reading The Day Grandma Got Woke
Another Brush with Nature
(re-run) My beach town has a state-run conference center in it, with rustic buildings designed by the architect, Julia Morgan. It’s what got me here back in the late 80s and 90s, attending a writer’s conference next to the ocean at Asilomar. Over the years. I’ve seen brown state-issued signs posted for mountain lion sightings.… Continue reading Another Brush with Nature
The Power of Nature
(re-run) Sun, trees, dirt, flowers. My nose is full of the smell of Eucalyptus. I used to hike twice a month with my senior hiking group called DASH. Then my sis moved in with me so that I could be her care giver. My hiking days stopped except for once last summer when I lucked… Continue reading The Power of Nature
Cut Loose on a Saturday Afternoon
(re-run) “I like the way you dance,” he said that Saturday afternoon. Margo and I had gone to Vino Godfather, a cool little winery in an old Victorian house on Mare Island in Vallejo. The island used to be a naval base, judging from the abandoned barracks on the way to the winery. A good… Continue reading Cut Loose on a Saturday Afternoon
A Good Blog Post if I Can Remember It
(re-run) My son calls Jeopardy the “old people” show. I started watching it five years ago when I took in my older sister to care for her. Now she lives in a home, and my son took her place last year. Actually, that’s not true, because she was in my daughter’s old bedroom, and he’s… Continue reading A Good Blog Post if I Can Remember It
Daisy’s Nervous Car Ride
Every two weeks I load up my dogs and head to Monterey County to check on and use my little beach house. But a month had gone by since the last time, due to 9 rainstorms that wreaked havoc on Northern California. Last week, it left one of my highways underwater. I finally found a… Continue reading Daisy’s Nervous Car Ride
Belly-up Beetle
(re-run) Curtis drove a 1969 vintage Volkswagen Beetle. George, his wing man, brought the weed. They’d met their dates at a party. Stacy and Camille went to San Leandro High. Curtis and George went to Castro Valley. Curtis liked Camille. George got Stacy. They all partied at a friend of a friend’s house in Oakland… Continue reading Belly-up Beetle
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 