Category: memoir

The Darwin Awards

Posted in Amazon, California, Coronavirus, Covid 19, dancing, Darwin, gynecologist, llamas, meat-packing plants, memoir, Mother's Day, NFLLeave a comment

(re-run) The world is insane. A snowstorm is predicted for the East Coast. It’s Mother’s Day weekend. The local news station reported that scientists may take llama antibodies for Covid-19 and give them to humans to see if it would help with immunity. Does that mean the humans might start spitting when they are angry?… Continue reading The Darwin Awards

My Twix Bar Habit

Posted in candy bar, Iowa, May Day, memoir, middle school, MIssouri, Nebraska, pimples, secretary, teacher, Twix barLeave a comment

Her name was Pat, and she ran the middle school where I taught for six and a half years in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Pat knew everything, and everything went through Pat, the principal’s secretary. Pat was all business, and so was I. We didn’t develop a rapport past simple nice-ities.  Others could get Pat to… Continue reading My Twix Bar Habit

Uncle Frank and the Jar of Coins

Posted in 4th of July, antique, California, carnival, cats, cousins, Des Moines, grandfather clock, memoir, mom, money, uncleLeave a comment

I grew up with three uncles, one in Colorado, another on the other side of the state, and one near my home town in Des Moines, Iowa. Uncle Frank was older than the other uncles, but since his daughter, Nina, was my age, I hardly noticed.  He was married to my grandma’s younger sister.  They… Continue reading Uncle Frank and the Jar of Coins

Mornings Are for Blogging

Posted in blogging, Facebook, first draft, ideas, imagination, letter carrier, memoir, memory, morning person, night owl, photographs, revise, USPS, writingLeave a comment

When you’re mostly retired, like I am, you find that you think best in the morning. I’ve written and published 29 children’s books, and each one was born in the a.m., and not after midnight. At night I am pretty worthless. I can usually read until 7:00 or 8:00. Then it’s Snoozeville after that, which… Continue reading Mornings Are for Blogging

Pavlov’s Perfume

Posted in animal adoption, animal rescue, animal shelter, ARF, Belgian Malinois, California, dogs, Houdini, humor, Jack Russell terrier, memoir, Pavlov, pet, pom chi, relationshipsLeave a comment

(re-run) My girlfriend, who shall remain nameless, lest someone recognize her on this page, has a three-time rescue dog like mine. Hers also started out as a voluntary surrender puppy after his owner first lost a home in the Redding fire. Or possibly he was at the Redding shelter and got shipped out to make… Continue reading Pavlov’s Perfume

The Crack in my Face

Posted in bathroom, California, Central America, children, citizenship, clenching, DACA, doctor, Dreamers, drugs, ENT, forehead, furrowed brow, gangs, Guatemala, Honduras, immigrants, jaw therapist, memoir, mothers, mouthguard, welfareLeave a comment

Because my son moved in, I changed bathrooms. He gets the new one at the other end of the house, and I get the hallway one with the skylight and window (the master bathroom is a cave). I was putting on my make-up the other day with daylight coming in. There it was, a huge… Continue reading The Crack in my Face

The Heirloom Box

Posted in childhood, death, fairness, grandma, great grandma, heirloom, knitting, memoir, mothers, siblings, therapy, treasureLeave a comment

My great grandmother had passed away.  Mom and Grandma were going over to the house, and Sis and I got to go with them, because we were the oldest kids in the family. I didn’t remember my great grandmother except for when she was in bed, dying, her white hair spread over the floral pillowcase.… Continue reading The Heirloom Box

If Only I’d Known

Posted in 2020, brain, college, disco, fingernails, flirting, hindsight, hindsight is 2020, medications, memoir, Monica on Friends, Monk, OCD, rape, risk, risk averse, Spain, VenezuelaLeave a comment

As they say, hindsight is 2020, which is referring to your vision, not what year it is. As in, your vision about what happened in the past is pretty good, now that you’ve had time to look at all the angles and analyze it. Looking back over my OCD life, I now understand that it… Continue reading If Only I’d Known

Behind Closed Doors

Posted in abuse, attitude, basement, brother, Catholic, childhood, Facebook, gender roles, high school, Iowa, junior high school, memoir, physical abuse, relationships, worstLeave a comment

I read a great memoir about a girl’s tough childhood, with violence, danger, and an abusive older brother. I recommended it to Facebook friends online. A friend said she didn’t like it because she didn’t think the book rang true. “The Mormon part or the survivalist part?” I asked her. “Neither.” She didn’t think anyone… Continue reading Behind Closed Doors

Whole Court Shake-up

Posted in Bay Area, California, children, girls, Las Trampas Ridge, memoir, moving, neighborhood, neighbors, pandemic, party, real estateLeave a comment

Ten years ago, I moved to the best little court in my town, in the suburbs of the Bay Area.  At the time, it was a court filled with girls – two grade-school girls across the street (they moved in five months after I did), two same-aged girls next to them, a baby girl bordering… Continue reading Whole Court Shake-up