Sparkle Hands

Tonight, at chorus rehearsal, I was surprised to see the risers set up in the country club ballroom where we rehearse. The concerts aren’t for another month, so it seemed too soon for a riser rehearsal. But as the director pointed out, we are taking off the week of Thanksgiving, and that holiday is late… Continue reading Sparkle Hands

My Life in Dogs

(re-run) It was a dogless childhood for me, until I was thirteen. I had asked. My sisters had asked. It wasn’t until our younger brother came home from school and said that somebody in his third-grade class was giving away a perfectly good dog and could he keep it? It happened so fast. I was… Continue reading My Life in Dogs

The Beatles and Me

(re-run from 2021) I just realized the other day that the Beatles have been in my life for 57 of my 65 years. My older sis was a fan when they first played for America on the Ed Sullivan show. I was 8, going on 9. Little did I know that our bedroom would soon… Continue reading The Beatles and Me

The Princeton Ploy

(re-run) It was Sue’s third day as a freshman at Temple University in Philadelphia. She was riding the elevator with her friends between Hardwick and Johnson Hall when he got on. He had all of his stuff. He was moving in. “School started already,” one of her friends said. “I was in San Diego,” he… Continue reading The Princeton Ploy

Keep Your Nose Clean

(re-run from 2021) When I was a young adult, this expression was a warning to us to straighten up and fly right – to stay out of trouble. It was said to young men more than it was said to young women, but it meant that things would come our way if we followed the… Continue reading Keep Your Nose Clean

Hitchhiking Story

(re-run) When I was 20, I sold books door to door that summer in Ohio for Southwestern Company.  The regional boss told me at our Sunday meeting to spend a day working with one of his ace sellers. The problem was, I didn’t have a car to get to the town where he worked. The… Continue reading Hitchhiking Story

Sideshows are the New Running of the Bulls

(re-run) Watching the local news tonight, I saw that it was reported that many cities in the Bay Area had sideshows going on last night. Sideshows are entertainment involving people in cars and trucks spinning doughnuts in the middle of intersections while hundreds of people watch, ride, and take videos of the chaos.  It happens… Continue reading Sideshows are the New Running of the Bulls