Last weekend, my daughter and son-in-law held their annual/sometimes semi-annual garage sale. Several of us participate, friends and family alike, and at some point alcohol gets involved. We can never predict what will sell, and we’re pretty laid back (some might say lousy) hagglers. But we always have a good time, rain or shine, and … Continue reading “Will Garage Sale for Salmon”
Have you ever put on your spring jacket after a long winter and found a $5 bill in the pocket? Or looked in the glove box for a pair of sunglasses and found a Hershey Kiss? That’s Past Us taking care of Present Us. We don’t plan those little surprises; they just work out that … Continue reading Sometimes We’re Our Own Guardian Angels
It was the week that nothing I planned got done, and instead, I earned a degree in Phone Scams 101. Since Tuesday, I’ve been on the phone with bankers and doctors and computer experts and a plethora of other people to help get back the $9,500 phone scammers stole from my brother, a vulnerable adult … Continue reading A Wake-Up (Scam) Call
Chelsea Handler has made me gasp in disbelief (“OMG, did she just SAY that out loud?”) and laugh until I cry. But never has anything she’s written or said made me cry cry, as in, real tears of sorrow. On Monday, Handler was on the NPR show Here and Now promoting her new book, Life … Continue reading Chelsea Handler Made Me…Cry?
How this happened, I don’t know, but I’d never heard of “thin places” before this morning. (And I’m not talking about skinny.) I was listening to Nikki Mirghafori’s weekly Happy Hour guided meditation. The topic was thin places. As she was explaining what it is, I started to tear up, realizing that I was in … Continue reading Thin Places
“When the prison gates slam behind an inmate, he does not lose his human quality; his mind does not become closed to ideas; his intellect does not cease to feed on a free and open interchange of opinions.” Thurgood Marshall, Supreme Court Justice, 1974 I led an eight-week poetry workshop at our county jail a … Continue reading Reading and Writing in Prison
Have you ever thought about someone you haven’t seen in ages, and then a few days later you see them somewhere, like the grocery store? This morning I listened to (checked Twitter) a dharma talk that I didn’t realize would address an issue I’ve been dealing with the last several days. (Checked email. Googled “dharma … Continue reading Clinging and Distraction
Forgive me if that obnoxiously grating song becomes your earwig today. It has been going through my head all day as I work on this new year blog. What do I want? What do I really, really want in 2019? Every year, I want the lofty and obvious: I want world peace; I want an … Continue reading “I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want…”
Around 2 a.m. this morning, Zuzu the Wonder Dog needed to go outside. Most nights, in a sleepy stupor, I open the door, she does her thing, and she trots back in. This morning, though, before I opened the door, I saw standing under the neighbor’s yard light the silhouette of a large buck. He … Continue reading Don’t Let the Anger Eat You. Please.
Recently, the husband of a dear friend was killed when a tree limb fell on him while he was working in his yard. A freak and random accident, it has left my friend stunned and so very, very sad. I’ve written many times in this blog about grief, and how it bounces in and out … Continue reading Grief Really Shouldn’t End. Here’s Why.
