Four Blobs of Beige

The lunch plate has a light beige blob, a medium beige blob, and a dark beige blob. One blob turns out to be pureed bagel. It is Sister’s rehab in a Jewish community home. The signs are in both English and Hebrew. The synagogue has gorgeous stained glass windows. The doors are all automatic. The… Continue reading Four Blobs of Beige

If It’s Cloudy, It Must Be Cleaning Day

Weather affects my mood. If I wake up to a sunny bright day, I want to get out, go exercise, go shopping, rake my yard, buy a fountain. If it’s raining, I want to cook some soup, bake cookies, and read a book. If it’s cloudy, I want to organize my office, wash the rugs,… Continue reading If It’s Cloudy, It Must Be Cleaning Day

So This is Retirement?

I took social security early last year. Don’t buy into the hype that it’s better to wait. I won’t start losing money on my decision until I turn eighty. By then I’ll have Medicare and won’t be paying $15,000 a year for health insurance. “How’s retirement?” you ask. I am busier now than ever before.… Continue reading So This is Retirement?

Two Bird Baths, One Fountain

I love my yard. When I first bought my fixer house on a fixer third acre, the yard was full of rocks and rose bushes. Now it has trees, plants, bushes, flag stone, one fountain and two bird baths. The fountain is an advertisement to creatures near and far to come into my fenced yard.… Continue reading Two Bird Baths, One Fountain

Designer Dogs, 200th Post

As I watch the end of the Oscars with a little dog cozied up in the chair with me and my sister asking when she can go to bed, I think back on the man I met the other night, the one who wants to get a Doodle Dane, a cross breed between a Great… Continue reading Designer Dogs, 200th Post

The Chicken Church and Other Tableside Travels

I used to travel, back in my twenties before marriage, before kids. Now I stay home with an older sister (who would otherwise be in a nursing home), one normal dog, and one little weirdo. But I still get to travel. My friends are in Austria, Indonesia, Hawaii, Tahoe, and Guatemala, as we speak. They… Continue reading The Chicken Church and Other Tableside Travels

The Uses for a Nine Year Old

My Girl Friday (who works for me on Mondays) has a daughter, who sometimes comes along with her to work. Now that her daughter is nine, she is useful in many ways. 1. She entertains my dogs. 2. She entertains my sister, giving her someone to watch. 3. She brings music into the house, since… Continue reading The Uses for a Nine Year Old

Interface with Nature

I live in a town that backs up to a gorgeous mountain in the middle of an otherwise flat part of the Bay Area. The hiking here is phenomenal, and the wildlife interfaces with the people whose homes border the state park. Two houses ago, I lived in a faux-gated community where every day there’d… Continue reading Interface with Nature