My Girl Friday (who works for me on Mondays) has a daughter, who sometimes comes along with her to work. Now that her daughter is nine, she is useful in many ways. 1. She entertains my dogs. 2. She entertains my sister, giving her someone to watch. 3. She brings music into the house, since… Continue reading The Uses for a Nine Year Old
Category: memoir
Interface with Nature
I live in a town that backs up to a gorgeous mountain in the middle of an otherwise flat part of the Bay Area. The hiking here is phenomenal, and the wildlife interfaces with the people whose homes border the state park. Two houses ago, I lived in a faux-gated community where every day there’d… Continue reading Interface with Nature
This Little Piggy
After college, I lived in a town with 2000 people and a bunch of pigs — real ones, the kind that grunt and poop and lift the gate latch with their noses. I saw something run past the window of my rented farmhouse. At first I thought it was a deer until I put on… Continue reading This Little Piggy
Wonderful White Elephant Sale
The biggest, most organized sale I’ve ever seen is the Oakland Museum’s white elephant sale . The Oakland Museum’s Women’s Board hosts the sale in a warehouse off Fruitvale that they own outright. Parking is tough, but once you’ve found your spot, get ready to shop till you drop. The Sunday preview sale is a… Continue reading Wonderful White Elephant Sale
Dive Bar Dancing
I never imagined that I’d still be dancing in bars at this age. But hey, a girl’s got to dance, and in the winter the live music in in the bars. So here I sit, waiting for my girl friend, who is dumping her grumpy guy tonight to come dance with me. She’s got a… Continue reading Dive Bar Dancing
Best Dog, Worst Dog
She was under a rusted-out Ford pick-up truck that looked as though it had been parked there for decades. Her sister was an ugly black and white Australian blue heeler/Brittany spaniel mix. She wasn’t much prettier. “Are you sure you want that one?” my future husband asked. I looked at the black spot on top… Continue reading Best Dog, Worst Dog
Lady Doritos
PepsiCo, have you been paying attention? This is the year of #metoo, #timesup and the second year of the Women’s March. This is the worst time to be introducing girly snacks , when the whole point of the aforementioned movements is to treat women THE SAME as men are treated. Men don’t get raped (well,… Continue reading Lady Doritos
A Good Dog Neighbor
Yesterday my son and I had lunch together at the local sandwich shop. He brought his little dog, half Chihuahua, half terrier. I fed Violet scraps of lettuce under the table while we ate. She thinks she’s a vegetarian. Afterward, we followed the usual routine and came back to my house, where Violet could run… Continue reading A Good Dog Neighbor
Escape
Scott answered a personal ad in the Contra Costa Times for a woman looking for a date. People used to run personal ads in newspapers to acquire dates, the same way they advertised open houses and garage sales. This was long ago, before the internet and before online dating. An ad was a commercial, a… Continue reading Escape
Prince Not So Charming
He was dressed as Prince Charming. I was dressed as a 1930’s nurse from Samuel Merritt Nursing School in Oakland, admittedly a weird Halloween costume, but the woman at the estate sale had practically given it to me after I bought $200 worth of antiques for my vintage shop. My friend, Nancy, her niece, and… Continue reading Prince Not So Charming
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 