Author: Susan

I do this blog for PG audiences and another one for R audiences with Bae Bliss.

A Funeral, an Appendix, and a Dead Concert

Posted in Boston, brother, Catholic, children, daughter, deceased, family, friends, funeral, girlfriends, Grateful Dead, humor, pain, relationships, siblings, surgery, surprise, waiting room, worstLeave a comment

(re-run) PK lived in Jersey when her childhood friend’s mum was terminally ill in Boston.  Her friend called to say her mother had died, and PK woke up, wanting to go to the funeral and surprise her friend.  She felt bad but thought it was the heat.  She loaded up her three-year-old daughter and took… Continue reading A Funeral, an Appendix, and a Dead Concert

Motion Sickness and Me

Posted in best, California, carpool, firsts, friends, girlfriends, humor, memoir, motion sickness, music, perfume, relationships, socializing, worstLeave a comment

I have a friend who likes to apply her make-up in my car after I’ve picked her up. That way she can save time while I drive. I get to drive in the HOV lane with a carpool. All was good until the day she sprayed perfume on herself with me a foot away from… Continue reading Motion Sickness and Me

The Day I Found my Voice

Posted in California, dog house, firsts, girlfriends, humor, independence, Iowa, jump off a cliff, junior high school, memoir, Midwestern, mom, popularity, relationships, retail, worstLeave a comment

(re-run) When you’re in the dog house, you are in trouble. You’ve done something bad. As a child, I was never in the dog house because we didn’t have one. We didn’t even have a dog. My mother had her own strain of weird expressions that she said to us kids on a regular basis,… Continue reading The Day I Found my Voice

Age is Just a Number

Posted in memoir, dancing, friends, Beatles, park, porta potties, age, selling dishesLeave a comment

The other day, a woman and her husband’s great aunt came over to buy pink floral plates for the younger woman’s daughter’s baby shower. They spent an hour as the mom held up dishes, asking the older woman her opinion. “I’m 98,” the great aunt said, “and there’s nothing wrong with me!” “I’m 71,” I… Continue reading Age is Just a Number

Dance with Me, Young Jeremy

Posted in dancing, dating, humor, memoir, Nebraska, Omaha, relationships, restaurant, worstsLeave a comment

(re-run) Every dance bar in Omaha ended the night with its signature song. One bar closed with Last Dance by Donna Summer, another used Shout from the Blues Brothers movie (by the Isley Brothers) as its sign-off song. But my fave dance bar closed with the song New York, New York. It seemed an odd… Continue reading Dance with Me, Young Jeremy

Peace Corps Fail

Posted in dogs, memoir, Midwestern, Peace Corps, postal service, relationships, Spain, teaching, travel, VenezuelaLeave a comment

(re-run) It was in the spring of my first year of teaching when the call came. I was at Greenwood Elementary in Greenwood, Nebraska. I had applied to the Peace Corps the year before. They had just seen my application. They wanted to fly me to Chicago for an interview that weekend. They gave me… Continue reading Peace Corps Fail

Musical Cleaning Day (waiting for plumber)

Posted in Bill Withers, CD player, children, cleaning, dogs, Isley Brothers, memoir, music, musicians, pandemic, plumber, poem, purge, reflux diseaseLeave a comment

(re-run) The plumber said he’d be here by mid-morning, but it wasn’t looking good.  I worked on a review for a new children’s book coming out next month. I watched some Dry Bar Comedy while I digested my breakfast.  That is no longer a multi-tasking feature of my aging body. Reflux. It’s best to let… Continue reading Musical Cleaning Day (waiting for plumber)

Theft of your Intellectual Property

Posted in author, California, critique group, editor, friends, memoir, mentor, trust, writingLeave a comment

(re-run) If you are a writer, then what you write belongs to you as your intellectual property.  Be careful of critique groups and the people with whom you share your work. You must have an iron-clad agreement that your work is your work, and no one else is allowed to use it. This is a… Continue reading Theft of your Intellectual Property

Even Carmel Gets Weeds

Posted in art galleries, Big Sur, Carmel, chicken soup, drugstore, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Paradise, Point Lobos, restaurant, sinus infection, thrift store, weedsLeave a comment

(re-run) This morning was my Monday thrift store day in Carmel. It’s always Day Two of my trip to Monterey County, and it’s always first thing in the morning, before Highway One gets jammed with tourists heading to Point Lobos and Big Sur. The thrift stores are not in Carmel by the Sea. That part… Continue reading Even Carmel Gets Weeds

Saying Good-bye to My Grocery Store

Posted in Amazon, Costco, groceries, grocery store, memoir, shopping, Whole FoodsLeave a comment

My grocery store of 39 years is closing on July 17th.  There is hardly anything left to buy. After my July 3rd party, I stopped in to get the ingredients for my famous cheesy green beans: five cans of green beans, a block of Swiss cheese, a tub of sour cream, and a can of… Continue reading Saying Good-bye to My Grocery Store