Category: memoir

Saying Good-bye to Man’s Best Friend

Posted in California, college, dogs, euthanasia, family, Iowa, memoir, pet, pet death, quality of life, relationships, veterinarian2 Comments

The family Dachshund just turned eighteen on June 9th. He is a skeleton with fur (photo is from years ago).  My son brought him out to my car to to show me the other day, since Wiener now lives with my ex. I have been the one to do the hard job of taking the… Continue reading Saying Good-bye to Man’s Best Friend

The Appendix, the Funeral, and the Dead Concert

Posted in Boston, brother, Catholic, children, daughter, deceased, family, friends, funeral, girlfriends, Grateful Dead, humor, memoir, pain, relationships, siblings, surgery, surprise, waiting room, worst2 Comments

(re-run) PK lived in Jersey when her friend’s mum was terminally ill in Boston.  When her friend called to say her mother had died, PK woke up feeling bad but thought it was the heat. She wanted to go to the funeral and surprise her friend.  She loaded up her three-year-old daughter and took off… Continue reading The Appendix, the Funeral, and the Dead Concert

OCD Dreams

Posted in basketball, best, brain, childhood, children, divorce, ex-husband, Facebook, family, flying, friends, humor, memoir, memory, music, relationships, student, Study abroad, teaching, worstLeave a comment

(re-run) I often dream about finding a public bathroom to use right before I wake up. It’s because I have to pee. Two nights ago I dreamed I was in a crowded restaurant and when I went into the bathroom, there were tables in there with groups of women seated around them. I stood at… Continue reading OCD Dreams

Pennies from Heaven

Posted in college, drugs, Eric Clapton, firsts, head shop, high school, humor, Iowa, J.J. Cale, memoir, music, relationships, smokingLeave a comment

(re-run) When I was sixteen, I saved up my babysitting money and went downtown to Cottage Grove Avenue in Des Moines, where there was a head shop filled with incense, hanging beads, roach clips, black light posters and tie dye. Although I wasn’t a pothead (I didn’t smoke cigarettes either), I enjoyed the ambience of… Continue reading Pennies from Heaven

Interfacing with Nature

Posted in best, biking, California, dreams, hiking, humor, hunting, husband, memoir, nature, outdoors, relationships, survival1 Comment

(re-run) I live in a town that backs up to a gorgeous mountain in the middle of an otherwise flat part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Bicyclists come from all over to climb the mountain and then get their joy ride on the way down the winding road. The hiking here is phenomenal, and… Continue reading Interfacing with Nature

Father’s Day Hike

Posted in boyfriend, California, Father's Day, hiking, humor, memoir, nature, outdoors, relationships, trees, turkey vultures, worstLeave a comment

(re-run) Several years ago on Father’s Day, my three kids went with to their dad’s for a bbq, and I went on a late-day hike with my (now ex) boyfriend. He’s one of those guys who doesn’t believe in rules and always thinks his way is the best way. We took a hike on the… Continue reading Father’s Day Hike

Mountain Lion

Posted in biking, California, escape, hiking, humor, memoir, Mendocino, nature, relationships, survival, Van Damme State Park, Washington, worstLeave a comment

(re-run) The latest mountain lion attack got me to thinking about how we humans hike, bike, and enter into cougar country and should know what to do in the event that we run into one. The newspaper article today tells about the two mountain bikers in Washington this past weekend that encountered a mountain lion.… Continue reading Mountain Lion