For Father’s Day I wrote a story about “man caves” for the Bay Area News Group. Did your father have a man cave? Does the man in your house? My dad had a small home office carved out of the back porch that was lined with book shelves filled with scriptures, Reader’s Digest Book-of-the-Month picks, [...]
Flipping through the June issue of Vanity Fair on my way out to D.C. last week I noted that when actress Christine Baranski was asked what she considered the lowest depth of misery she said “Being stuck indefinitely in an airport when I’m desperate to get home.” Amen, sista! Take yesterday. After an action-packed few [...]
Not much of a sports fan, I can barely distinguish the Final Four from the Fourth Quarter. Case in point. . . This week while having my teeth cleaned I heard a round of applause just outside the exam room door. The dental staff is usually pretty supportive of my flossing technique, but I’ve never [...]
It was chilly here this morning. The car thermometer said 43 degrees (I know, I know–but it’s California) as I drove my daughter to catch the shuttle to her summer internship. Cold enough to think about enjoying a hot cup of tea and I remembered I’d never shared my “Me Tea” find. As a charter [...]
I spent much of Saturday walking on holy ground. First in the East Bay hills, next in another faith’s church, and finally, in a basketball gym. Sacred spaces all. I was up in the hills for a memorial service was held on a private ranch overlooking Contra Costa county. A dozen of us gathered to [...]
The summer movie season began officially for me last weekend when we took in The Great Gatsby at The Grand Lake Theater in Oakland. Built in 1926, just a year after Gatsby was first published, the Grand Lake boasts marvelous Art Deco interiors and some awfully sweet concessionaires. The story fell flat for me but the [...]
Today is my baby boy’s 22nd birthday. Like all three of my children, he ignored his due date and lingered with me for awhile. Though my midwife Peggy (aka the Babycatcher) knew this was a pattern with me and mine, she thought the baby was getting too big and decided she better hurry things along. “Happy [...]
The night that Boston police were shooting it up with the Tsarnaev brothers, I was at our favorite restaurant Camino celebrating vegetables. Renowned cookbook author Deborah Madison was in town and Camino was hosting a dinner for Madison with a menu inspired by the recipes from her new cookbook Vegetable Literacy. I’d like to tell [...]
I’m just back from a long weekend in Miami where I enjoyed the surf and sun and wondered what this world is coming to. Everywhere I looked people were ignoring the lovely sites around them and glued to their smartphones. Perhaps they’re just better at multi-tasking than me, but it seems that if you can’t [...]
My Boston kids are on lockdown and I’m locked on to news sites again. What a crazy, distressing week this has been. I’ve been so grateful for peaceable things this week, including several walks through Mountain View cemetery where I saw how the quality of light can change everything. Like the way this stone angel’s [...]
