I always thought it was funny that people made such a big deal out of Groundhog day because…well…aren’t there always six more weeks of winter when it’s the beginning of February? That was before I went to the festivities myself. I now know that: a. There are thousands of people out there who are nuts enough to brave 5 degree temps and possible frostbite just to see a…
The great thing about getting older is that you forget so much, everything is new! Recently, I made a batch of polenta because I was worried the recipe in my book might not be accurate. I was sure I’d never blogged about polenta, then checked old blogs and realized that, not only did I blog about it, I made four batches to be sure it was good. It…
Back in 1994, I was living in Glendale, California when a 6.7 earthquake struck in Northridge, California at 4:30 am. The house shook so badly I had a hard time making it the seven steps to my son’s room. I’d just gotten out of the shower and was about to leave to go to my traffic reporting job. There was no power, everyone was wandering outside their condos…
Today I was going through old blogs I never posted and found one about an evening in 2012 I still remember clearly. It was an ordinary evening, but it stuck in my mind because every so often, those are the best evenings. Here’s what I wrote: You know, sometimes we sit around the table and talk; lingering because we’ve eaten too much and can only be moved by…
Now that I’m older I spend a fair amount of time reflecting during the holidays. This is an irritating habit old people have because we’re never sure how many holidays we have left. So, in an attempt to appear deep and philosophical we look back, then bore younger people with our reflections. This year my family gathered at Bernie and Donna’s house for Christmas dinner and later we…
The wait is over! If you’ve put off buying gifts because everything at the mall costs eight billion dollars, here’s your chance to make up for it. Come On Down! A Little Story About My Italian Mom’s Big Dream, is now out as an audiobook and available to order! (The paperback and ebook should be out in January – sorry to make you wait book lovers.) Ordering is…
Oh man, you knew this day was coming…the day when I won’t shut up about my audiobook coming out. I just found out you can pre-order the audiobook version of Come On Down! A Little Story About My Italian Mom’s Big Dream right now! I am told it should be available to download by December 17th. Order as many as you want. Really, go right ahead! (If you…
Verb Past tense: skunked; past participle: skunked 1. Informal•North American English Defeat (someone) overwhelmingly in a game or contest, especially by preventing them from scoring at all. Yes, that’s what happened to me in the upteenth Annual Cutthroat Tunno Pumpkin Pie Contest. I didn’t even place and I was convinced that Penzey’s Pumpkin Pie Spice was going to get me there. I even put my mom’s giant ceramic baby Jesus on the table…
Some days include a wrong turn down a one-way street, a GPS system that decided to take me on a tour of the area around the place I was headed to instead of directly there, a spilled latte that hit both my computer and my phone, and a general feeling of crappiness. As the Shirelles sang, “Mama Said There’d Be Days Like This.” That was my day on…
How the hell does November creep up on me so fast (every year) and whirl me into the holidays when I still haven’t even taken down my Halloween decorations? Add to that the embarrassment of realizing that I NEVER EVEN POSTED the winners of last year’s Annual Cutthroat Tunno Pumpkin Pie Competition! I am so sorry Nate, Alessandro and Muiriel! You deserve better. It truly wasn’t sour grapes,…