It’s the holiday season and the end of the year. Every single day I have three to five requests in my mailbox for donations. Today it was a cancer group, an international aid group, and one other that I can’t remember, and I’ve already 86’d the envelope. Yesterday was the same thing. All last week… Continue reading Give Us Money!
Category: holidays
The Six Stages of Thanksgiving
(re-run) I’m having Thanksgiving at my house today for nine or ten people. I say that because my brother-in-law may or may not show up. There is lots of football to be missed if he comes ninety minutes north to my house. It will be me, my three kids, my two sisters, my niece and… Continue reading The Six Stages of Thanksgiving
Almost Toast
(re-run) Marlene and her friend Beth came out to California from New Hampshire after college to work for Bank of America. They each made a new friend, and each new friend brought another friend to the party (plus one more) until they were a group of seven recent college graduates, living in the city of… Continue reading Almost Toast
Romance Coast to Coast
(re-run) Nicky went back to Connecticut to see his mother.“You’ve got to meet this cute Italian girl working in my office,” a friend said.“I’m only here for a week,” said Nicky.“My wife is in night class with a cute Italian girl,” another friend said. “You two should meet.”“I’m only here for a week,” Nicky said,… Continue reading Romance Coast to Coast
Spinning a Spider Story
(re-run) My strength and toning instructor loves to tell us trivia while we work out. Last week she said spiders are the most active between 6 and 8 p.m. and that the female spiders go out looking for food at that time. The males follow. Isn’t that just like a male anyway, to wait until… Continue reading Spinning a Spider Story
The Sweet Spot
(re-run from 2018) It’s that time of year. The nights are cooling down, the sun is setting earlier, everything is either starting back up or ending. The outside music venues are closing up, and the Halloween costumes are showing up in the thrift stores. The kids have been back at school for almost a month. … Continue reading The Sweet Spot
Holiday Heartache
(re-run from 2019) As I sit here on a Sunday afternoon, I have fluffy white “Iowa” clouds (cumulus) out the windows across the back of my house. I used to look into a wall, but that baby is gone, and now I have nature. This month has been so full already, three chorus concerts with… Continue reading Holiday Heartache
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
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
First Dog, Lost Dog
After moving to farm country to teach high school Spanish, I watched my roommate Kristy come home one day with a German Shephard puppy. “Meet Shane!” she said. She hadn’t asked me. She hadn’t asked the landlord. When she did ask him, his response was, “Not in the house.” Kristy made Shane a bed of… Continue reading First Dog, Lost Dog
