Clyde is driving me nuts. He’s a fat black spider hanging out in my favorite recliner chair. And he’s smart and devious. Snakes and mice and bats and bees hang out on our property. I’m okay with them. We have developed an informal truce over the years. They mind their …
Jack Newsom, our alpha dog, always acts like he has important places to go. He prances right by me, ears up and forward, eyes focused, as he heads confidently across the creek and up the hill. He seems to say, “Don’t bother me now, Don. I have important work to …
At times, I think of myself as an old book. My cover is a bit tattered. Each chapter is a decade. Totally non-fiction, with photos to prove it. People are thinking about sticking it on the top shelf, forgotten and out of reach (particularly for the young folks). Hey, wait. …
My psychologist daughter told me about a secret trick she employs. Each time she meets a new acquaintance, she immediately looks for one thing, no matter how small, she can appreciate before she may get influenced by any negative observations. Why not give this one a shot, I …
My old friend Mark Twain showed up again last night at the foot of my bed. I don’t mind. He can be witty at times. But not this time. Mark was all lathered up about author Percival Everett stealing the story of “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” to publish his own …
Billy Bragg was our long-haired black German Shepherd alpha dog for quite stretch over a decade ago. He was best known for gently biting the noses of humans he loved most. At times, when he was overly rambunctious, my nose resembled a ripe tomato. We had several crews of …
I just got over several weeks of not feeling chipper: no energy, frequent visits to my bathroom, lots of sneezing and blowing my nose, no appetite (not even for chocolate ice cream), being sleepy and sleepless at the same time (did I mention the frequent trips to my …
What strong utterance did your mom blurt out at you when you weren’t being the perfect child she had dreamed of raising? (Come on now, your mother must have lost it every now and then.) My mother, Irene, valued gumption over any other positive trait. Just sitting or standing …
Lucy, a good friend, tells me she wants everyone to like her. She gets downhearted if she suspects someone doesn’t warm up to her affable way. I tell Lucy I fix a wonderful chicken vegetable soup based on suggestions I’ve received from many people over the years. I …
Simple tasks that were second nature to me for decades have now become challenges. Putting my socks on in the morning is one of them. Either my legs got longer or my arms shorter, but now there are often a few inches separating my foot from the outstretched sock shaking in …
