My cars sit out in the summer. There’s no way they can go into the garage. Fires are burning north of here and have been for weeks. The Bay Area air is smoky. I look at the blue plastic tubs of flammable clothing and think, “It would take days for all of this to burn.”… Continue reading Letting Go
Category: California
Her Left Foot
It was Labor Day weekend. We needed to get a handle on the mess in the garage. I asked my oldest to watch my youngest while we parents worked outside. She was nine, in 4th grade already for a week, and the baby was almost two and a half. Then a series of unfortunate events… Continue reading Her Left Foot
The Ultimate Sacrifice
What do you do when World War II, the one that killed your big brother or the uncle that you never knew, has been over for almost 75 years? When you find out that your niece has always wanted to know the story? When you learn that your aunt has twenty years of research and… Continue reading The Ultimate Sacrifice
The Illustrated Man (and Woman)
This morning I woke up and wanted to write about tattoos. I went to another music in the park last night and saw so many. It’s a generational thing – getting tattooed — which will permanently mark an era. The only Tattoo we had back in the 70’s was the little man on Fantasy Island… Continue reading The Illustrated Man (and Woman)
It’s Not Rocket Science
The woman who works for me, eleven years my junior and twice as strong, told me that when her hot tub broke, she told a man at her community pool that she needed a rocket scientist to figure out what was wrong with it. “I’m a rocket scientist,” the guy said. A good pick-up line?… Continue reading It’s Not Rocket Science
Landing In the Dog House
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, probably… Continue reading Landing In the Dog House
How Thrifting Improved my Day
Okay, I admit it. I am a thrift store junkie. So when I go to my fave beach town, I make sure to stop at every thrift store at least once. That makes for six stops, nine if I venture down to Carmel. This trip I stayed in my town. I wandered into Second Chance… Continue reading How Thrifting Improved my Day
Moochy Mc Moocherson
It was the early 2000’s. Lynn met a cute guy in the wine country, Yountville, while dancing at a bar with her friends. Eric said he was also from the Bay Area, and he asked her out. She said yes. Lynn had told the neighbors about her new guy, so they were all out in… Continue reading Moochy Mc Moocherson
Crocodile Rock
Friday evening there was an Elton John tribute band in the plaza. Since Yellow Brick Road is one of my all-time favorite albums, I thought, why not? My youngest, visiting from Boston, had plans to see her friends in Berkeley. It had finally cooled off a bit, and the smoke from the wildfires wasn’t… Continue reading Crocodile Rock
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 