(re-run) An Amazon robot punctured a can of Bear Mace, sending 80 employees to the hospital before Christmas. It reminded me of this true account told to me at a holiday party. In 2008 you take your wife, Liza, and your teen-aged kids to Alaska. You stay near the Princess Lodge in a fishing cabin… Continue reading Grizzly Bear!
Category: California
Melanoma and Me
This is the kind of post that is scary to write, knowing that melanoma is the deadliest type of skin cancer. When I got the call, I was hiking in one of the most beautiful places on Earth near Carmel, with two friends, a happy couple who happened to be in town. “I have melanoma,” I said… Continue reading Melanoma and Me
On Guardian Angels
(re-run) A friend and I had a glass of wine together the other night and reflected back on our lives and the times we should have been died but didn’t. Some would call it luck. Others would call it having a guardian angel. Some would say that was a weird way to spend an evening.… Continue reading On Guardian Angels
Jack London — Was He a Racist?
Who doesn’t love the story The Call of the Wild? I used to teach it and also Jack London’s doomsday story called To Build a Fire when I taught 7th grade in Council Bluffs, Iowa. White Fang is another Jack London story that my 8th grade remedial boys liked to check out from my personal… Continue reading Jack London — Was He a Racist?
Wasabi on a First Date
(re-run) They had the same hair dresser. She was coming in as he was going out. He asked for her phone number. She gave it to her hairdresser to give to him. There aren’t too many eligible men in their seventies, especially one that still had his hair! Garth took Gladys to a nice Japanese… Continue reading Wasabi on a First Date
Mr. No Class
(re-run) They met online through a singles website (not the swiping one). Tom lived and worked in Napa. Carin lived less than an hour away in the San Francisco East Bay on a horse ranchette with her seven horses. She ran a small upscale hair salon. After much texting and talking, they got together for… Continue reading Mr. No Class
Women, Race and Equality
It’s hot and smoky at the beach. Fires in Napa Wine Country rage on. Those poor people have had to evacuate every fall for the past four years. I searched for my sunglasses this morning but couldn’t locate them, so I walked the big dog in my hat but no glasses. I wore my N… Continue reading Women, Race and Equality
He Ain’t Heavy, He’s my Match Date
(re-run) Ingrid had been on the online website for a little over a month. She had tried meeting a few guys but only if they were willing to email back and forth and actually pick up a phone and call. Fred had flirted and called, and now it was time for them to meet. He… Continue reading He Ain’t Heavy, He’s my Match Date
A Ghost Story
(re-run) This is not a Halloween story. No words written in blood on the hallway walls, no moaning spirits or flickering lights, or candles blowing themselves out. Just a feeling of not being alone. Ghosts, if you will, leftover energy from those who came before us. As a child I was called the sensitive one.… Continue reading A Ghost Story
Hold the Crunch
(re-run) Jim’s job was to put the crunch in the new peanut butter, Jif. One machine chopped the peanuts into slivers, and another machine used pistons to plug the slivers into the creamy product. Jim also had to taste test peanut butter that had been sitting on a shelf for three months in 100 degree… Continue reading Hold the Crunch
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 