Decades ago I bought a book by this title. It’s packed away somewhere among hundreds of books in my storage unit. I could have used it when my husband was inexplicably felled by a stroke. He didn’t have all those bad things wrong with him that foretell a major medical incident. It almost seemed like … Read more

You’ve seen this story line over and over. Woman (or man) wakes up next to a stranger, a ring on the finger, and can’t remember anything except the party, the lights, the music, the booze. “How did I get here, in this room, in this bed?” Guy scratches head. “Hell if I know.” Then she … Read more

Most people stock up on candy, carve pumpkins, and put up a few fake spider webs as Halloween approaches. Not me. I’m out house hunting with a spouse whose main priority (I just discovered) is far different from mine. My list is pretty normal: open kitchen, lots of cupboard space, separate shower and soaking tub, … Read more

It’s black cat season. I’ve owned lots of black cats (or they’ve owned me), but one of my favorites was a community cat, a guy whose name was Biff. Many years ago I worked for a small town in Southern California. I was assigned to the Public Works Department, aka “the swamp.” Why, you say, … Read more

A history professor once told me, “go back to your roots, write about your local community, find fascinating stories in your family’s past.” In those days I was more interested in women’s rights and wrote my senior thesis about early pioneers in the women’s movement. But when I began working as a reporter and feature … Read more