I went to my favorite beach town for 24 hours to get away from it all. The weather was foggy, the weeds in my yard were thick, and my two dogs were fighting. But three thrift stores in Carmel had their end-of-the-month half-off sales yesterday, so who cared about the weather, the weeds and the… Continue reading Must Be a Small Town
Category: memoir
The Racist and the Ficus Tree
When I was young, the one black boy in my elementary school was my classmate. His name was Teddy. This was white-white-white Iowa in the 60’s. My first grade teacher, Mrs. Van Cura, got angry at the class one day for misbehaving and said, “Whoever doesn’t behave will have to play with Teddy at recess.”… Continue reading The Racist and the Ficus Tree
Cornhole, some Critters, and a Ghost on her Phone
Yesterday was the annual singles’ club party/picnic at one guy’s lush estate in Hayward. I picked up my girlfriend, and we let the GPS woman’s voice direct us down Five Canyons Road to a bunch of turns until we finally found the place. I’d been there many times before but always as a passenger, never… Continue reading Cornhole, some Critters, and a Ghost on her Phone
If It’s Cloudy It Must Be a Cleaning Day
re-run Weather affects my mood. If I wake up to a sunny bright day, I want to get out, go exercise, go shopping, rake my yard, buy a fountain. If it’s raining, I want to cook some soup, make cookies, and read a book. If it’s cloudy, I want to organize my office, wash the… Continue reading If It’s Cloudy It Must Be a Cleaning Day
Shop Till You Drop
We had already hit two thrift stores and were heading for a third. Then I remembered that Vicky wanted to go to the ones in Carmel. I turned onto Forest Avenue and took the winding highway 68 through the Monterey pines. It would lead to the new roundabout that would send the traffic north to… Continue reading Shop Till You Drop
Letting Go
My cars sit out in the summer. There’s no way they can go into the garage. Fires are burning north of here and have been for weeks. The Bay Area air is smoky. I look at the blue plastic tubs of flammable clothing and think, “It would take days for all of this to burn.”… Continue reading Letting Go
Royals
re-run Today’s the day (technically tomorrow), when a prince marries an American! A celebrity! A person of mixed race! The world has gone gaga for a royal wedding. I am not that much into all things British, but I do like the family Windsor. After all, William married my distant cousin, Kate. Yes, my maiden… Continue reading Royals
Her Left Foot
It was Labor Day weekend. We needed to get a handle on the mess in the garage. I asked my oldest to watch my youngest while we parents worked outside. She was nine, in 4th grade already for a week, and the baby was almost two and a half. Then a series of unfortunate events… Continue reading Her Left Foot
The Ultimate Sacrifice
What do you do when World War II, the one that killed your big brother or the uncle that you never knew, has been over for almost 75 years? When you find out that your niece has always wanted to know the story? When you learn that your aunt has twenty years of research and… Continue reading The Ultimate Sacrifice
The Illustrated Man (and Woman)
This morning I woke up and wanted to write about tattoos. I went to another music in the park last night and saw so many. It’s a generational thing – getting tattooed — which will permanently mark an era. The only Tattoo we had back in the 70’s was the little man on Fantasy Island… Continue reading The Illustrated Man (and Woman)
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 