(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
Category: memoir
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
Big Jack, Little Jack
Teaching high school didn’t open up many dating possibilities at work, unless you count the weird science teacher with the orange stick-up hair and the pocket protector, or the short English teacher who did impersonations as well as anyone on Saturday Night Live. One night, as I was complaining that I couldn’t find any good… Continue reading Big Jack, Little Jack
Mountain Lion
(re-run) It has happened again, this time in El Dorado County in the Sierra Foothills. Two brothers went hunting for antler shed, and instead they tussled with a mountain lion (mama?). The younger brother (18) has traumatic facial cuts and the older brother died (21). It’s so sad for that family. Didn’t they know it’s… Continue reading Mountain Lion
A Scary Five Seconds
(re=run) I had followed the same routine dozens of times. Arriving in my beach town, the dogs got excited and wanted out of the car. There’d been an accident in San Jose, so we were running a half hour behind. Daisy (Jack Russell) started barking and pulling on her tether as soon as we got… Continue reading A Scary Five Seconds
Determined to Dance
March or dance? Dance or march? A good R & B band was playing at a winery 45 minutes away, maybe for the last time before rainy season. Of course, marching would be fun, seeing all the signs and costumes, being part of history, and the weather was going to be fabulous, sunny skies and… Continue reading Determined to Dance
Get Some Facetime
(re-run) As I stepped into the waiting room of my chiropractor’s office, three women and one guy were looking down at their cell phones, sitting in a symmetrical pattern amongst the u-shaped chairs. Feeling giddy from my fifty-five minute massage I said,” Well, this looks like a blog post to me! You’re all on your… Continue reading Get Some Facetime
Daisy and the Rain Storm
(re-run) We haven’t had a big rain for 9 months. Today we are in the middle of an atmospheric river aimed at the Bay Area. People and plants are rejoicing. Firefighters are taking a much-needed rest. Yesterday, we even danced at a winery in light rain as a hope for a wet winter and also… Continue reading Daisy and the Rain Storm
Waitresses Make the Best Tippers
(re-run) After moving to Omaha and teaching for a couple of years across the Missouri River in Council Bluffs, Iowa, I grew tired of driving a car that smelled like a mildewed basement. My Chevy Monza (first car ever) had suffered through a Nebraska flood back at the farmhouse, and the car stank. I couldn’t… Continue reading Waitresses Make the Best Tippers
The Dress-up Box
(re-run) In my shop, I sold pioneer outfits for field-trip-bound 3rd graders along with tea cups, signs, and all things vintage. Think Little House on the Prairie. Most of the parents were happy to drop $75.00 on a well-made cotton outfit of dress, shirt, apron and bonnet. Some, however, were not. “Does she have a… Continue reading The Dress-up Box
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 