Tomorrow would have been my father’s 92nd birthday. He’s been gone ten years now. Sharing a laugh on Father’s Day My dad always told me that I was a writer. He said this with admiration, I think. He encouraged me to write and would often help me when I got stuck. When I was taking an… Continue Reading
Moving on once again.
Yes, it’s that time. And while these are actual boxes in my actual house, they do not contain my personal memories. But it’s a fairly accurate portrayal of how much stuff I still need to wrap up before I leap into the next month-long look back. For those of you who have been along for… Continue Reading
From the Ground Up
I realize that the last post jumped ahead of where I am chronologically, but it seemed like the right thing to do.My rules; I break them. But I need to backtrack to the whole rebuilding drama. I kept a journal that began with the following entry on May 14, 1992:Our permit is approved! We meet… Continue Reading
Great balls of….
…no, not fire this time. Taking a break. It’s great balls of yarn. Not me, or Marsha It occurs to me that I haven’t written anything here about knitting yet. I’ve been knitting since my friend Marsha taught me how back in high school. Which means a lot of knits and purls and dropped stitches over… Continue Reading
Livin’ in the Mo(raga), or It’s Getting Real in the TJ Maxx Parking Lot
Where I live, in Oakland California, when you say something is “through the tunnel,” it really means you are saying, “in a galaxy far, far, away.” Through the tunnel has implications. I’m not knocking the ‘burbs here, but we Oaklanders had many adjustments to make to our new situation in Moraga, a place that still… Continue Reading
A Musical Interlude
Just because…it seems like I’ve gone from zero to 45 in a moment.
Making a List, Checking it Twice
After the fire, our insurance agent told us we needed to compile a list of everything we’d had in the house in order to be reimbursed for replacement costs. We were lucky to have purchased this type of insurance the previous year when we renewed our policy. It was inexpensive to add, and we’d hardly… Continue Reading
You learn a few things over the years
So, at 40, how much life knowledge had I accumulated? Some. Taking a break from the aftermath of the fire to reflect on things I wish I’d known sooner. (Inspired by Nora Ephron, who did it first and better) Curly hair will always be curly, no matter what. Using sunscreen all the… Continue Reading
When the Going Gets Tough…
Yes, the tough get going–but in my case, the tough also have a big party. My fortieth birthday came barely a month after the fire that destroyed my house and my neighborhood. My husband had planned a big party for me (not a surprise party–we’d already had enough surprises), and people managed to track him… Continue Reading
The Fire Next Time
I guess I’ve been writing about the fire that destroyed our home and our neighborhood in the Oakland Hills for almost twenty years now. I just spent a year writing about it for my master’s thesis.That’s a lot of words. Sometimes pictures do a better job of telling the story, so there will be pictures… I’ve… Continue Reading