Hey, Neighbor When I started writing about selling yesterday, I did so to lead into a story about canvassing my neighborhood selling the idea of a gathering we are planning. When I write, I have a general direction I head off towards, but I purposefully allow myself the flexibility to wander wherever my thoughts take me. In the case of yesterday’s story about selling, I got to my daily word limit before I had had…
Trailer Travails Today I am getting ready for our one-year-postponed 25th Anniversary gathering of my motorcycle club. The plan is that on Friday we will drive with our friends Chris and Ann (and, of course, Betty) to Las Vegas with our motorcycles (actually, both of the bikes are mine since Chris will ride my Kawasaki and I will ride my BMW) in my motorcycle trailer. We will unload the bikes in Las Vegas and then…
Super Powers At some point in all of our lives I think its fair to assume everyone wished for one sort of super power or another. The classic one that has found its way into many dreams is the ability to fly like Superman. Many super powers are hard to imitate or pretend in any credible manner. Spider-Man’s ability to eject web string from his wrists has been reasonably imitated by various toy and costume…
The Beverly Hillbillies While son Thomas is here this week we want him to have the opportunity to see everyone he can. Therefore, we planned a day up in L.A. even though I am always intimidated to drive up into L.A. traffic. Intimidation isn’t really the right word, but I definitely don’t like L.A. traffic. And L.A. sits like a massive lump in the middle of the state. It extends east/west from the beach at…
Grey Gardens That name always rang a bell, but I don’t recall ever really knowing to what it referred. Then, today I got a typical mailer from Esquire magazine, one of my vestigial subscriptions which I am forever threatening myself to allow to expire, but am never quite ready to allow to lapse. That email was recommending to me 38 great documentaries to watch. Many of the suggestions like March of the Penguins, Free Solo,…
How Much is Too Much Now that I have done my “Year in Provence” year on this hilltop, I am faced with the ongoing issue of where to stop and enjoy versus keep improving. It is a very personal decision. Have you seen those quirky houses that someone invariable does a segment on. The sea shell house that has sea shells imbedded in concrete, stone walls and stucco walls is one I recall. The Who…
Moonlight Madness In my new life on this hilltop, I am acutely aware of moonlight for some reason. That strikes me as particularly funny because when I bought the house in 2012 and was searching for just the right name for it (something I had done for my other vacation homes that I cared most about), I came up with the name Casa Moonstruck. That name was intended to bring the Hispanic nature of the…
The Mulch of Life I’ve gotten through my life very nicely without mulch up until now. You may recall that last year I made the logical, but ill-conceived decision to hire a horticulturalist for an advisory session. The cost of the advice was about the same as two days worth of hard garden work by Joventino or his father Benito. It turned out to be worth considerably less, 30% because of the extremely hard-working nature…
Door to Door on DST We have been having an uncharacteristically cold week here in sunny San Diego. Between that and the intermittent rain over the last week, I am reminded that the nice weather we usually enjoy is truly a blessing. I guess this is how we learn to appreciate what we’ve got, or at least what we usually got. The clocks changed yesterday as we moved to Daylight Savings Time. Spring forward and…
Catatonic For some reason, I don’t like cats. When I am around them and when they want to be social, they seem fine, but I am slightly put off by all the things that others generally like about cats. Independence seems to be a big cat theme. They amuse themselves and seem to be less gregarious creatures than not and seem inclined to live more solitary lives, jumping from here to there and then casually…