After three chorus performances which were fun but way too close together (three in thirty hours), I woke up Monday to some great news. My Penguin editor emailed me to say that a book I wrote twenty years ago was being picked up by an educational publisher to use in the classroom, and my cut… Continue reading Roller Coaster Week
Month: December 2025
Pontoon Boat Disaster
(re-run) My parents didn’t know how to swim. When we went on vacation at Clear Lake, Iowa, and Dad wanted to take us out in a rented pontoon boat. My mom objected. Dad won in the end, and the five kids put on our life jackets. I think my mom did, too. I am sure… Continue reading Pontoon Boat Disaster
Short Days, Dangerous Crosswalks, Too Many Books
The winter solstice is behind us, so each day is two minutes longer as we creep our way out of the dark nights of winter. In the meantime, I must remember to take off my sunglasses after following along the freeway sound wall and turning onto the mile-long road to my court. The ten-block drive… Continue reading Short Days, Dangerous Crosswalks, Too Many Books
My Inherited Dog, Boomer
(re-run) Boomer was never my dog, although he came into my care when I married his owner. I’m not sure how old he was when I met him. My dog, Tess, was two and Boomer was older. A small, part Beagle-part terrier, Boomer had not had a regular dog’s life. He had never eaten dog… Continue reading My Inherited Dog, Boomer
Tunes, a Car, and 120 Miles To Go
I visit my little beach house a couple times a a month. Mostly it’s so my potted plants don’t croak (thanks, Mr. Gopher), especially during this very dry winter, but it’s also a change of scenery and a chance to blow the cobwebs out of my head . . . . . . while driving… Continue reading Tunes, a Car, and 120 Miles To Go
Government Cheese and Pinto Beans
(re-run) I was nine or ten when our mom took me and my younger siblings downtown to a place to get some free food for poor people. Our dad was out of work for six weeks. My mother was humiliated. We waited in line until it was our turn. As the worker handed Mom her… Continue reading Government Cheese and Pinto Beans
No Christmas Tree for Me
(re-run from 2018) Eight Christmases in this house and only two trees. Both were living, and they got planted in my yard. Guess what? My yard is full. That’s what happens when you get rid of your grass, fire your gardener, and watch volunteer trees grow on their own, self-planting trees with a little help… Continue reading No Christmas Tree for Me
C is for Choices
Life is a series of choices: what to eat for breakfast, what college to go to, which person to marry, whether to see the cup half full or half empty. It’s much easier to look back at life and say what choices were good or bad. Whatever they were, they got you to where you… Continue reading C is for Choices
A is for Air
If a bluebird ski day is one without a cloud in the sky, then a dog-bird (bird-dog?) day is one where you can open all of your windows and air the doggy smell right out of your (my) house. All that stale winter air that has been recycling through my closed-up house during rain storm… Continue reading A is for Air
Bomb Shelter Blues
(re-run) My childhood house on 69th Street in a suburb of Des Moines, 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… Continue reading Bomb Shelter Blues
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 