My So-called Life

Thirty years ago, Claire Danes was 14 years old. She starred in a short-lived TV show, even before she got famous for Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio (when she was 16). I had a new baby and two older children thirty years ago. I used to teach high school so I liked watching a… Continue reading My So-called Life

Scavenger’s Delight

(re-run) My neighbors give away good stuff. Last year, a neighbor moving to Oregon kept piling stuff on his driveway for us to take until he got the house emptied. His wife and kids had gone on to Oregon ahead of him. I made a haul of a plastic wagon, flower pots, a rolling garden… Continue reading Scavenger’s Delight

Scavenger’s Delight

(re-run) My neighbors give away good stuff. Last year, a neighbor moving to Oregon kept piling stuff on his driveway for us to take until he got the house emptied. His wife and kids had gone on to Oregon ahead of him. I made a haul of a plastic wagon, flower pots, a rolling garden… Continue reading Scavenger’s Delight

Laugh More, Worry Less

The state is on fire, again. It seems that three of the last four years have been off the charts for wild fires. 2017 – Napa and Santa Rosa burned. Santa Barbara County, too. 2018 – Paradise, the town, was wiped off the map. 2019 – Because of heavier winter rainfall, the fires weren’t so… Continue reading Laugh More, Worry Less

Doing the Swedish Death Purge

A friend of mine is Swedish, and she told me about Döstädning. I have no idea how to say it, but it means death purge for those turning sixty. The idea is simple – clean out your house before you die so that your kids don’t have to do it. But saying it and doing… Continue reading Doing the Swedish Death Purge