We’re back in LA after a productive, but hot couple of days in Ojai. We are well on our way to getting organized up there; our plan is to return next week and spend two more days working. Ray has already gone to bed (he went up at 9), the dogs are both sacked out…
Category: Family
The Orange Grove, the Dogs, and Ray’s Studebaker Truck
Today was the first time we have seen our little foster dog, Sammie, truly happy. She was running down Ventura beach, light on her feet, barking with excitement, playing with a German Shepherd and “sister” Cordelia. And Cordie is so happy to have this litte friend. She is calmer with Sammie’s presence, less barky and…
The Orange Grove, the Dogs, and Ray’s Studebaker Truck
Today was the first time we have seen our little foster dog, Sammie, truly happy. She was running down Ventura beach, light on her feet, barking with excitement, playing with a German Shepherd and “sister” Cordelia. And Cordie is so happy to have this litte friend. She is calmer with Sammie’s presence, less barky and…
Enroute to Ojai, CA via the Pacific Coast Highway
Ray and I are heading up to our orange grove in Ojai for a few days. That means tent camping and no electricity. Still, we will be connected thanks to the internet. We are continuing our “organization” summer by going up to Ojai to dig into our storage bins there. We are going to pull…
Flash Essay: The Consequences of being “Nice”
When I was growing up, there was an admonition: “If you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything at all.” This came mainly from my father, who arguably was an extremely decent person, and one who followed his own advice. I don’t recall him ever talking badly about anyone. My mother had her own…
Flash Essay: Day One with Our Little Foster Dog, Sammie
I am tired. Babysitting little Sammie, our new foster Scottie, is the reason. My goodness. We’ve been downstairs, upstairs, in the house, in the back yard, and around the block twice. All with Cordelia one step ahead of little Sammie, leading the way. To my knowledge, Sammie still hasn’t peed or pooped. Our daughter Sarah…
Flash Essay: Countdown to Sammie
It is a cool evening here in LA with grey skies and a breeze that is shaking the leaves on the avocado trees out back. I’m sitting in a little outdoor alcove, which affords privacy under a canopy of green from a twenty-foot maple tree planted near the garage. I hear honking out front, and…
Flash Memoir: The End of an Era
“Yes, we’ll go to the State Fair next Saturday,” my father said. “We’ll take the family and drive to Dallas.” The words were right – the ones I wanted to hear – but my father’s tone was flat. I could tell he didn’t really want to go. He was reluctantly agreeing to the trip only…
Flash Memoir: The Unexpected Joy of Cooking
Food is love. Not exactly. Not in my family when I was growing up, at least. I saw that principle applied in other families where dinner time centered on a meal lovingly prepared by a mother who might have gone out and picked fresh vegetables from her own garden, or used canned vegetables from that…
Flash Essay: West Texas and New Mexico
Wide open spaces and oven-like heat, that’s what West Texas is like in July. And lots of little towns that you have to slow down from 80 miles per hour, first to 55, and then all the way to 35. And if you don’t, you can be sure that the local sheriff’s deputy in each…
20 Minutes a Day 