(re-run) Mark was a good-looking bartender at an upscale restaurant, and full of confidence. He’d say his face was his moneymaker and that you need to use what your mama gave you. Mark went onto Bumble to find a date. He waited until a woman messaged him (that’s how Bumble works). Her photo showed a… Continue reading At Face Value
The Best Ten Dollars Ever
When I was a kid, I walked everywhere. I went to a Bluebird or Campfire Girls meeting a few blocks away from home, and one day, on the way back, I saw a pale green leaf fluttering on the street. I picked it up, un-wadded it and discovered it was money. A ten-dollar bill. When… Continue reading The Best Ten Dollars Ever
The Robin and the Chrome Bowl
(re-run) Every morning, as I sit at my kitchen table putting up my blog post and sipping on strong tea, a robin comes near the back porch to meet its reflection in an upside-down chrome dog bowl. The robin does a little dance in front of the bowl. The reflection does a dance back to… Continue reading The Robin and the Chrome Bowl
Letting Go
(re-run) My cars sit out in the summer. There’s no way they can go into the garage. Fires are burning north of here and have been for weeks. The Bay Area air is smoky. I look at the blue plastic tubs of flammable clothing and think, “It would take days for all of this to… Continue reading Letting Go
A Funeral, an Appendix, and a Dead Concert
(re-run) PK lived in Jersey when her friend’s mum was terminally ill in Boston. When her friend called to say her mother had died, PK woke up feeling bad but thought it was the heat. She wanted to go to the funeral and surprise her friend. She loaded up her three-year-old daughter and took off… Continue reading A Funeral, an Appendix, and a Dead Concert
His Baby, She Wrote Him a Letter
(re-run) Holly moved from San Francisco to the East Bay and missed her old classmates. The smart kids and the popular kids had already established their cliques. She was an outsider. Holly had no close friends to share her excitement and concerns at Bishop O’Dowd High School, even though she was kind of cute, smart,… Continue reading His Baby, She Wrote Him a Letter
Another Brush with Nature
(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 80’s and 90’s, attending a writer’s conference next to the ocean. Over the years. I’ve seen brown state-issued signs posted for mountain lion sightings. I’ve never… Continue reading Another Brush with Nature
The Second Shot
Three weeks ago, I boldly asked the care home owner where my older sis lives if I could have a vaccine. The CVS nurse was inoculating the 5 residents and two care givers, meaning they would have three extra shots in the ten-dose vial, which would be thrown out at the end of the day.… Continue reading The Second Shot
Butt Text Emojis and Other Stuff
(re-run) You’ve got to help out us Boomers. We try to be cool and stay relevant, but it’s hard, you know, since we grew up in different times. Our thumbs won’t be arthritic by the time we’re old. I know this because I’m already there, and my thumbs are fine. I did strain the third… Continue reading Butt Text Emojis and Other Stuff
That Dang Daisy Dog
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 on… Continue reading That Dang Daisy Dog
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 