Category: summer

My Past Life as a Cat Burglar

Posted in best, books, California, children's books, co-workers, door to door salesperson, firsts, humor, job, memoir, Midwestern, outdoors, police officer, Southwestern Company, summer, worst2 Comments

(re-run) I was fifteen hundred miles away from home. It was the summer of 1975. I had my sample case with me from Southwestern Books. I’d worn my hot pants to stay cool. I had already rung three dozen doorbells. Selling books door to door wasn’t always a cake walk. It was lunchtime. I had… Continue reading My Past Life as a Cat Burglar

Pontoon Boat Disaster

Posted in boat, childhood, Clear Lake, coffee, Iowa, lightning, memoir, OCD, pontoon boat, rental cottages, stomach, stomach issues, storms, summer, swimmingLeave a comment

(re-run) My parents didn’t swim. When we went on vacation at Clear Lake, Iowa, and Dad wanted to take us out in a rented pontoon boat, my mom objected.  Dad won in the end, and the five kids put on our life jackets. I think my mom did, too. I am sure my dad didn’t… Continue reading Pontoon Boat Disaster

Back in my Fat Pants Again

Posted in beach, Beatles, calcium, country music, Dexa scan, heat wave, humor, ice cream, memoir, osteoporosis, pants, singing, summer, Sun Kings, weight gainLeave a comment

(re-run) It sounds like a country western song. “Well, my true love done left me. He mosied ‘round the bend. It makes me sad that I’m heading back to my fat pants again!” In the winter, when I can hide under many layers, I am thinnest. Maybe it’s all the no-calorie tea and hot water… Continue reading Back in my Fat Pants Again

Remembering my Gay Boyfriend

Posted in antique, antique store, beach, boyfriend, dating, gays, girl friends, kiss, memoir, memory, motorcycle, photo shoot, photographs, piano, summerLeave a comment

(re-run) My little beach house is kind of magical, in that I can get away from the rat race and think about stuff I haven’t thought of in a very long while. It’s partly due to the fact that my beach house is my dumping house, where everything to be sorted goes to live until… Continue reading Remembering my Gay Boyfriend

Another Brush with Nature

Posted in California, cell phone, guardian angel, humor, memoir, mountain lion, nature, nine year old, ocean, outdoors, police officer, relationships, summer, worstLeave a comment

(re-run) My beach town has a state-run conference center in it, with rustic buildings designed by the architect, Julia Morgan. It’s what got me here back in the late 80s and 90s, attending a writer’s conference next to the ocean at Asilomar. Over the years. I’ve seen brown state-issued signs posted for mountain lion sightings.… Continue reading Another Brush with Nature

Remembering my Gay Boyfriend

Posted in antique, antique store, beach, boyfriend, dating, gays, girl friends, kiss, memoir, memory, motorcycle, photo shoot, photographs, piano, summerLeave a comment

My little beach house is kind of magical, in that I can get away from the rat race and think about stuff I haven’t thought of in a very long while. It’s partly due to the fact that my beach house is my dumping house, where everything to be sorted goes to live until I… Continue reading Remembering my Gay Boyfriend

Back in my Fat Pants Again

Posted in beach, Beatles, calcium, country music, Dexa scan, heat wave, humor, ice cream, memoir, osteoporosis, pants, singing, summer, Sun Kings, weight gainLeave a comment

(re-run) It sounds like a country western song. “Well, my true love done left me. He mosied ‘round the bend. It makes me sad that I’m heading back to my fat pants again!” In the winter, when I can hide under many layers, I am thinnest. Maybe it’s all the no-calorie tea and hot water… Continue reading Back in my Fat Pants Again

First Movie Date

Posted in army, army brat, copping a feel, firsts, Jane Fonda, junior high school, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, movie, movie date, summer, Texas, training braLeave a comment

(re-run) Ruthie was thirteen and an army brat, always moving with her family to a new school. This time it was to Fort Worth, Texas, after four years abroad in Morocco. She got a job working at a Snow Cone stand for 50 cents an hour, but the shifts were twelve hours long. She chewed… Continue reading First Movie Date

Pontoon Boat Disaster

Posted in boat, childhood, Clear Lake, coffee, Iowa, lightning, OCD, pontoon boat, rental cottages, stomach, stomach issues, storms, summer, swimmingLeave a comment

(re-run) My parents didn’t swim. When we went on vacation at Clear Lake, Iowa, and Dad wanted to take us out in a rented pontoon boat, my mom objected.  Dad won in the end, and the five kids put on our life jackets. I think my mom did, too. I am sure my dad didn’t… Continue reading Pontoon Boat Disaster