Something worth knowing which I never learned in school is how to deal with severe disappointment as a would-be homeowner.  But I’m learning it now through experience. The cycl/… Read full post »

I know everyone will be shocked to know I didn’t attend the official opening of the George W. Bush Presidential Library on Thursday, April 25th. You see, I had a previous commitment—an opening of my own.  On April 25th, the Los Altos History Museum opened their exhibit “A Place… Read full post »

      I think I might be a building addict—it’s been a week since I completed my most recent miniature house, and I might be on the verge of the bends.  I’m also in a far more mellow, well-rested mood, ready to give my t/… Read full post »

A Place to Call Home Part III

            Condominium hunting can feel a bit like Speed Dating Night down at the Insurance Agent’s Club. You’re not going to meet a lot of either serial raping axe murderers OR foreign royalty trolling/… Read full post »

Since I’m… Read full post »

            “Do you feel funny?” my brother Alan would rap out like a police interrogator.  He would turn  around in the back seat of our station wagon to see me tucked into what we called “the back-back” among t/… Read full post »

A Place to Call Home

            “I can tell you one thing, the walls of my future bedroom are not going to be plain white.” I made this statement to my mother at breakfast, a few hours before my birthday party on February 4^th … Read full post »

 We believe that in times like these we should turn to each other, not on each other. Gov. Deval Patrick, Sept 4, 2012

    Today, September 15, is my fourth Open Salon Blogoversary. Don’t all of you jump up and down in excitement at once.  It's also the 4th anniversary… Read full post »

       I tried. Really, I did. I listened to bits and pieces of the Republican National Convention on TV on  Tuesday night while preparing dinner, if only on a “know what your opponents are saying” basis.  Ten minutes after turning  it… Read full post »

Lanterns on the Motoyasu River, Hiroshima Japan

       The Peace Bell had a two toned chime; a long, deep booonng  followed by a short, higher-toned, clear  ding./… Read full post »

Dartmouth Street

“It will be like dorm life for seniors, and I always loved dorm life,” my mother said as she and my sister and I celebrated her decision that day to take the apartment she’d been eyeing for several months at Channing House, a sociable local retirement commu… Read full post »

Everyone at the Caboose knew Teddy’s weekend had gone badly the moment he came in on Tuesday for happy hour. He was a regular at the Caboose, but his appearance made everyone forget about watching the Dodgers vs Giants game to eye him. Some with concern, others with a… Read full post »

(Slightly expurgated version.)

   Late one summer night when I was six, my mother and I returned home exhausted after hours at the Emergency Room, me with my broken left arm newly immobilized in a plaster cast from thumb to elbow. Once home, we then collapsed at the kitchen table… Read full post »

Dear Walker Voters of Wisconsin,

    Well, what a mess. I doubt you’ll care, but I haven’t felt this bad since George W. Bush got his second presidential term. June 5th was the state-wide equivalent of a snoot-full. Or maybe a state-wide game of Russian Roulette when none o… Read full post »

     I’m starting to hate these occasions, Cara thought, perched on the edge of the sagging sofa while poking her bamboo fork at the dense slice of Renée’s Ayurvedic brick of a 50^th birthday cake. Certain restaurants would have served it as a vegeta… Read full post »

Before the show: Photo Credit Mark Gottlieb

“Honey I’ve got a great idea!” my mother told me over the phone one evening in late March. “What if we had a show of all your lit… Read full post »

        “Listen carefully,” he said.  “This won’t be easy for you to hear. But Julie is still alive. She’s working as a Safeway checker over in Capitola.”… Read full post »

  Vince and Meredith were old close friends despite their chronological incompatibility. They  both enjoyed the same things, enjoyed restaurant dinners and a movie out, or a trip to a symphony  or the ballet or an art/… Read full post »

This time, I decided to combine all three of the last Fiction Weekend Prompts all in ONE story. Read the results below.

               Dee Dee Parker… Read full post »

So, Rick…Yesterday I watched this Youtube clip of your televised interview with Piers Morgan:

    Then I had to watch it again, because I couldn’t believe what I heard you say in response to Piers Morgan’s hypothetical question about whether y… Read full post »