The Rescue Dog Loves a Zoom Meeting

My crazy, neurotic, stressed-out rescue girl, Daisy, who has been a Nervous Nellie (sorry, Grandma) for the last two and half years and probably a few years before that, loves it when I Zoom. I Zoom with the chorus. I Zoom with the ski club. I Zoom with girlfriends. Whenever Daisy hears me talking to… Continue reading The Rescue Dog Loves a Zoom Meeting

A Good Little Shopper

(re-run) If you think this post is going to be about how I scour the racks at Nordstrom’s for the best deals of the season, it’s not. If you think it’s about how I maximize double coupons at the grocery store, I don’t. What it is about is how I can find the deals for… Continue reading A Good Little Shopper

A Girl, A Creek, and an Hour to Spare

(re-run) When my worker woman showed up Monday morning after having been gone for a two-week long vacation, I had a long list of to–do’s for her. I answered the door and found her nine year old daughter standing next to her. I said hello and went over the list with Kelly. I left to… Continue reading A Girl, A Creek, and an Hour to Spare

The Why of Tearing Down the Statues

I have half an hour before my Zoom exercise class begins. I was vacuuming when I came up with some thoughts to jot down before I lose them. On a 4th of July Zoom call the other day, the conversation turned to the protests in the streets and the tearing down of statues across the… Continue reading The Why of Tearing Down the Statues

Rosie the Riveter Museum Lady

If you were 98 years old and still serving as a National park ranger in Richmond, CA, then you would be Betty Reid Soskin.  She was born in 1921 and didn’t become a park ranger until she was 85 years old. Why does she do it?  Her museum is the Rosie the Riveter /World War… Continue reading Rosie the Riveter Museum Lady

Doc and Lillian

When I was just out of college and teaching in a small town in Nebraska, I rented a refurbished farmhouse from the superintendent.  His dad was Doc. Doc’s wife was Lillian. They became my surrogate Nebraska grandparents. Doc used to be a dentist, and one day he presented me with a mood ring. Remember those?… Continue reading Doc and Lillian

How to Relax for Bed

(re-run) I closed my online costume shop last summer. I donated 500 dresses to a charity for third world girls and sorted through my aprons, pulling out all the hostess ones, the sheer ones not for cooking. I had 150 of them. I gave them to my local thrift store, the one that knows vintage… Continue reading How to Relax for Bed

Sneaking into the Pool

(re-run) While student teaching in Venezuela, we learned how to have fun with not much money. One of the American teachers had stolen a couple of striped beach towels from an upscale hotel, and she had been sneaking into the hotel pool for years. “Just carry the towel and act like you belong,” Linda said.… Continue reading Sneaking into the Pool