This former Californian has a bad case of the winter sleepys. Getting motivated to exercise, or do anything, when short, freezing cold, winter days are begging you to curl up on the couch with a blanket, a book, and a hot cup of tea takes massive effort. Add a pandemic where no one wants to have fun and you realize that slow drift to sleep every night with…
I’d like to say Sir David and I hung out and traded wildlife stories, but instead I watched this 94-year-old, who could just be enjoying retirement, give his witness statement on what’s happening to our planet. And yes, a witness statement is what you give when a crime is committed. If that sounds dramatic, good, because it is. If you have Netflix, you MUST watch David Attenborough, A…
It’s very appropriate that it’s 1:22 a.m. on Friday, June 26, and I just finished watching the 100th and final episode of Jane the Virgin (which I absolutely LOVED) because my life has sort of been like a telenovela for the past two weeks. First, I heard that I’ll be furloughed for another three months, which should take me to October 3rd, my former anniversary, so possibly not…
It’s New Year’s Eve. I am snug on my couch in my flannel pajamas with my fuzzy, cream bathrobe on, keeping an eye on Topper, cozy in the corner. I am having a cocktail of Maker’s Mark whiskey and Canada Dry Ginger Ale with TWO cherries and am incredibly content. I’ve never been one to traipse around in high heels at New Year’s Eve parties. I always hated…
How do you say goodbye to your last living connection to your mom?…
When you become a mom, you moan almost daily about the mess your kids make. Then they go to college and come back during holidays, leaving a mess, but are finally so grateful for your cooking, you totally forgive them. Then they move back after graduation, become your friend, resume the mess, wonder what to do, then tell you they’re moving to Seattle. Then they actually have the…
I love fall. If it’s autumnal bring it on. But not when it’s 95 degrees outside. The stores here have been filled with pumpkins and cinnamon brooms for over a month, like southern California is Canada. Who wants a pumpkin spice latte when you’re bathed in your own sweat? Our weather doesn’t have the decency to change until at least October, but last night I slept with an…
My father was always in the garden, even this time of year, picking the last of his beefsteak tomatoes, or digging around and pulling out the dead plants. He loved it. I remember shortly after my kids and I moved in with him after my divorce, I asked my daughter to go out to the garden to tell him dinner was ready. He was 95 at the time.…
Christmas thoughtfulness IS friggin’ exhausting! After writing like crazy for the past three weeks to make sure all my commercials were done at work, I leaped into frantic home decorating mode, then shopping mode, then wrapping mode, then cookie mode, then elf delivery mode. And now with about 12 cookies left and people I still want to gift, this elf is beat! But I ended up baking with…
If you’ve ever wondered how you can help Veterans — there’s a way, and some dedicated people are doing it every day. I just ran into some a couple months ago. I walk my dog every night and in mid-September, I was walking past a local park and saw it all lit up at ten o clock at night. There were flags planted in the ground, and…