As I ran errands around the neighborhood today I couldn’t help but note that everywhere I went – to Box Brothers for packing materials for eBay sales, Pavilions for a few groceries, BOA to deposit checks – that people were especially friendly. An older man at Box Brothers told me all about the exceptional clam…
Category: Reflections on living
Reflections on Growing Older
I am sometimes reminded I am an “older” woman. I look down at my hands and see they bear the evidence of my age. Good hands, still strong and able, but undeniable proof that I have chosen to live a life that includes physical labor along with my time spent on writing and with students. Hands…
Rest in Peace, Beloved Sammie
Today our sweet Sammie, our Scottish terrier who has been ailing for a while, died peacefully on our back patio. Ray, Cordelia (our Corgi) and I were there with her as she slipped away. Cordelia licked Sammie’s eyes and her mouth, and then started barking. She looked at us as if to say, “Do something!” We…
Happy Birthday Eve, Brother Sam!
Tomorrow is my brother Sam’s birthday and I’ll just like to give him a shout out from CA to Texas or Ohio or Tennessee, wherever he may be tonight. My little brother is five years my junior and he has a musical streak that surpasses that of most mortal beings. He started pounding on a…
Sad News from the Breakfast Club
Some of you may recall that I wrote a few months back about an eighty-five year old woman – one of our Breakfast Club patrons – who I discovered was living in a West Hollywood park. Her name was Pat and she had come for years to the Breakfast Club, though for most of that…
Close Call
Ray, Rachael, Luna and I were walking out of a Thai restaurant this evening, just about to step off the curb, when a car came racing around the corner on the road right in front of us. Behind that car was a police car in hot pursuit. Rachael saw the driver of the first car:…
What I Believe
I am a liberal Democrat, but I do not believe in going into attack mode with any of my many Republican or Libertarian friends. I am a great believer in healthy dialogue about issues, but have no desire to draw a line in the sand between us and them. I believe that is what has…
What We Are NOT Doing
Dear folks, We need to look long and hard at what is happening in our society related to firearms and teenage boys. We have a serious problem on our hands and these mass murders are getting far too commonplace to be considered an aberration. In the most recent case in Oregon, news reports state the…
A Lovely Time Together
Back to LA after less than 24 hours in Ojai and only a couple of hours at the beach, and yet this quick trip felt as restful as a week away to anywhere else. Such is the power of the Ojai orange grove and a magical little piece of beach in Ventura called “Surfers’ Point.”…
Art Sign-Ups Early This Morning
I was up bright and early to stand in line at the Barnsdall Art Center so that I could sign up for a ceramics class. Liz and Ron were there, too. Liz, because we’re taking the class to together, and Ron as a stand-in for Ray who needed to go work at the homeless breakfast….
20 Minutes a Day 