My Love Affair with Chocolate

From that first bite of a chocolate chip cookie or the first taste of creamy pudding, I’ve been a lover of anything chocolate. I love chocolate cake, brownies, cookies, cream pie, ice cream, desserts of any kind, Twix candy bars, truffles, and so on and so forth. My latest kick has been the huge chocolate… Continue reading My Love Affair with Chocolate

The Day Grandma Got Woke

(re-run) My mom loves to watch the daytime talk show called Ellen. It’s usually fun and games, with hunky guys and Ellen playing tricks on her guests and staff. She rounds out the hour with lesbian jokes, a musical performance by some obscure band, and Ellen surprising some needy but giving person with $10,000 in… Continue reading The Day Grandma Got Woke

Getting Away from all the No, No, No’s

(re-run) My mom, bless her heart, had to keep five children in line, mostly by herself.  She did it by keeping everyone in his or her place, as in, “No, you can’t do that!” I just found out that my younger sister also wanted to play clarinet in the band, like I did. But I… Continue reading Getting Away from all the No, No, No’s

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 had suffered through a Nebraska flood back at the farmhouse, and the car stank. I couldn’t afford a new… Continue reading Waitresses Make the Best Tippers

The Weakest Link – my Low Back

(re-run) The good thing about the current Coronavirus COVID-19 lockdown is that I have a hundred projects to finish.  Suddenly I have nothing but time to do it all. Everything was going along swimmingly yesterday. I exercised. I painted (spray-painted picture frames), I picked up dog poop. I did a heavy load of laundry.  I… Continue reading The Weakest Link – my Low Back

Prozac for Daisy Dog

So, this happened.  I walked the big dog, Pepper, yesterday. At the end of our walk, I saw a tall man I’d never seen before with a tiny dog, and the dog wasn’t on a leash. Our paths were about to cross, so I stopped and waited. “My dog’s not friendly,” I said. I didn’t… Continue reading Prozac for Daisy Dog

Help your Mood, Pull some Weeds

(re-run) Yesterday, I made the short trip to my little downtown, got some cash from the ATM, picked up two newspapers, and headed back home. On the way into town, I saw two city workers spraying Roundup on the weeds in the median strip. They were still at it, in the very same place, on… Continue reading Help your Mood, Pull some Weeds

Where’s My Fish?

(re-run) During the pandemic in 2020, it was easy running down to the beach house for a few days since nothing was going on. The freeways were deserted while everyone stayed home.  Now that life is somewhat back to normal, I have to give up fun things to make room for a beachy weekend. I… Continue reading Where’s My Fish?

Trapped Inside

(re-run) As the roses explode in red, peach and orange colors across my two yards, I am stuck inside.  Through the window, I see mounds of yellow blossoms on the Jerusalem sage plants, both front and back, red and white petals on the Hot Lips sage, purple tips on the English lavender, and every other… Continue reading Trapped Inside

Nature’s Prayer Moment

(re-run) Yesterday morning, I stepped up to the kitchen sink to fill the tea pot and looked out my window at the flowers exploding in my yard. I glanced over to the fountain where I saw dozens of identical birds taking drinks in a clumped up circle around the top of my round fountain. Their… Continue reading Nature’s Prayer Moment