When my two oldest children were 5 and 2, we moved from one house in town to another. We didn’t gain any square footage, but the new house had a huge yard, front and back, and forty trees in a better neighborhood. The house had been vacant for months. The sprinklers weren’t working in the… Continue reading The Sprinkler Man and the Glass Coffee Table
Category: memoir
The Darwin Awards
(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
That Dang Daisy Dog
(re-run) This morning I packed the car to return from Monterey. The dogs get excited, so they actually get into the car first so that I can shut the doors and not worry about them. My little beach house shares a driveway with a family with a big boxer named Titus. He is sometimes loose… Continue reading That Dang Daisy Dog
The Blond-tourage
(re-run) Every woman over fifty gets the same advice from her hairdresser — lighten up your hair. As our skin fades and our looks do, too, we need brighter lipstick, sparkly-er clothing and blonder locks to stay looking as young as we can. My apologies to women of color; this may not apply to you.… Continue reading The Blond-tourage
Domino Effect
My youngest just left for grad school on the East Coast. She had moved back home for ten months to ride out the winter months of the pandemic. In April her dad up and sold his big house (where she always stayed) and moved out of state. Suddenly I had a twin bed in the… Continue reading Domino Effect
Chihuahua Vs. Foxtail
Foxtail weeds are dangerous for dogs. That’s why they make a mesh face and ear guard for dogs that venture into the open space on hikes. My adult child had taken the Chihuahua terrier mix on hikes daily since April. He never had a problem, until the other evening . . . Suddenly he burst… Continue reading Chihuahua Vs. Foxtail
The Burden of Being an Empath
Yesterday several TV stations reported the death of a six-year-old girl while on a free-fall ride built into a mine shaft in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. She fell 110 feet to her death. There was no age or height restriction for the ride. She was with her parents and older sibling. Something went terribly wrong. My… Continue reading The Burden of Being an Empath
Whatever is Meant to Be
(re-run) I’ve been on the hunt for bookcases for a while now. I have ten tubs of antique books sitting in a damp garage near the beach, and I think it would be good to get them into the house. I sold all my beautiful bookcases when I was getting divorced. I knew the new… Continue reading Whatever is Meant to Be
Mother-in-law and the Birth Control Device
Years ago, visiting my mother-in-law in Omaha with my husband and two (or three) kids, I faced a dilemma. What to do with my diaphragm as it air-dried after I washed it? There was no discreet place to put it, since we all shared the same bathroom. Instead, I elected to put it up in… Continue reading Mother-in-law and the Birth Control Device
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 poor Chevy Monza had suffered through a Nebraska flood back at the farmhouse, and the car stank. I couldn’t afford a… Continue reading Waitresses Make the Best Tippers
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 