Fear of Flying In 1973, in the middle of my college years, Erica Jong wrote a groundbreaking novel about a professional woman who wanted to not be pigeonholed by male-dominated standards and especially wanted to be free to explore and express her own version of female sexuality. All I really remember about the book from the reading Fear of Flying as I did when we were all reading that sort of thing, was something she…
A Confederacy of Southerners This is a party weekend at Casa Moonstruck. Kim’s nephew Will is marrying Ashley in early October. They got engaged on our family trip to Ireland two years ago on a lonely beach on the Ring of Kerry. It was cause for celebration since Will is a sweet guy and Ashley is someone the whole family likes and feels is a fine match for Will. WIll is 42 and Ashley is…
Air in the New Normal Thirty years ago when I used to travel to Mexico City on business, I can remember the difference between the normal days and the days when the air miraculously cleared and you would see the lovely distant mountains that surround the D.F. (As it is called). I don’t know the percentages of normal smoggy days and crisp, clear, high-visibility days, but I bet there were not more than one in…
It is August After All Today is August 26th. I rarely get so specific with my story timing because in a perfect world (for me), I get 3-4 stories out ahead of myself and can coast for a few days with blog stories filed and set up for timed release. Since you will read this story tomorrow, August 27th, you now know that I am only just one day ahead of the maw of the…
Best of Friends Today is a funny day for me. It’s funny for several reasons and business-as-usual for other reasons. The day was scheduled to be about waking up to breakfast with our friends Gary & Oswaldo, who came down for a visit from L.A. yesterday and stayed overnight, followed by attending an orientation event at University of San Diego for new teaching faculty and then heading up the coast to Dana Point for an…
A Twenty Year Time Capsule I stumbled across this story I wrote twenty years ago in rapt self-reflection. I find it interesting and worth sharing exactly because it was written in 2001, when the world was a very different place…at least from my vantage point. I have added [bracketed updated notations] as appropriate. I stand here at age 47 as a man in trouble. I believe my greatest assets are my ability to be candidly…
It’s Raining, It’s Pouring Here we are in the middle of August and I’m putting on extra clothes for warmth. That’s right, its turned suddenly downright chilly on the hilltop at 62 degrees. It will be in the 90’s again next week, so I’m just going to enjoy it. Naturally, this was the day I planned for a team of laborers under the direction of Handy Brad to lay out the DG paths and spread…
Perspective I’m looking out at this new house across the ravine from my hilltop. It’s white and stands out in contrast to the surrounding chaparral of greens and beige rocks. I have watched this house being built for more than the last two years. It took so long for two reasons. It’s being built by the future inhabitant and he unfortunately had an OTJ accident that caused the project to get delayed by some eight…
By the Sea I’ve never been all that mesmerized by the ocean the way some people are. I’ve always thought of people as either seashore or mountain people when it comes to where they position themselves in August. When I was a rookie in banking lo those forty-five years ago, one of the factoids I gathered up that first hot down summer in the city for me, was that when you reached the exalted position…
Made in the Shade I am half Slovak and half Italian in origin. Since I was raised by my mother and like to think that I am following more in her footsteps than those of my father, I always feel more Slovak than Italian. That said, I did live in Rome, Italy for three years of high school, a very formative period in anyone’s life and I do more-or-less speak Italian. I am very comfortable…