Am I an Outlier or a Weirdo?

I don’t go to Starbucks. I don’t have an iphone, not sure how to spell it. I don’t have an Amazon Prime account. I don’t shop at Whole Foods. I won’t shop at Walmart. I recycle everything, even dig through the garbage looking for things my roommate adult child chose not to recycle. I love… Continue reading Am I an Outlier or a Weirdo?

Taking the Plunge

Aileen had an antique store in downtown Hayward with her husband. The business grew from their first 450 square foot shop until they’d moved into a store that was 3800 square feet.  Her husband did the refinishing buisness in the workshop, and she ran the shop.  Life was good until Tom got lung cancer.  Suddenly… Continue reading Taking the Plunge

Escape

(re-run) Long before dating sites and the personal computer were invented, Scott answered a personal ad in the Contra Costa Times. Remember newspapers? They were ink-on-paper affairs that folded in half, but not shiny like a magazine (a magazine was a booklet of ads, stories, and photographs with a theme that was published weekly or… Continue reading Escape

Antique Dolls Get a Bad Rap

Fifteen years ago, my second cousin died an untimely death. She left me all of her dolls that had passsed down on two sides of the family until they ended with her. She had no children, no one to pass the dolls to. I’ve been dragging around my childhood dolls for half a century. When… Continue reading Antique Dolls Get a Bad Rap

A Double Double

(re-run) They met online. Veronica liked his blue eyes, just like her late husband’s. He liked her lean frame and told her so. She enjoyed the morning email exchanges for a couple of weeks. He harassed her for eating at Chick-fil-A since the business had just come out as anti-gay. She was a Southern girl… Continue reading A Double Double

Three Strikes, You’re Out

(re-run) He didn’t seem her usual type — he was a few pounds overweight, but not bad looking, and he wore a nice suit in his online photo. He was an architect. He pursued her with photo-likes over a few weeks and text messages, too. Kate agreed to a phone chat. At least he seems… Continue reading Three Strikes, You’re Out

Escape

(re-run) Long before dating sites and the personal computer were invented, Scott answered a personal ad in the Contra Costa Times. Remember newspapers? They were ink-on-paper affairs that folded in half, but not shiny like a magazine. A magazine was a booklet of ads, stories, and photographs with a theme that was published weekly or… Continue reading Escape