A $1 find from an estate sale. My eye caught the name of Shirley Jackson (of "The Lottery" and The Haunting of Hill House fame). But this did not seem to be in the same vein...

It's novel-length, but clearly is stitched together from short stories originally "published individually in women's magazines such as Good Housekeeping, Woman's Day, ( Read more... )

Last weekend, I flew out to Florida for my cousin's wedding. Whirlwind tour, had a great time.

Photos from the trip.

Grandma's celebration of life was last weekend. With all of the craziness of the house selling and buying, I couldn't make it there, but at least I could play another small part in the overall process. Although her urn was interred alongside Grandpa at the veterans' cemetery, a bit of her had a different fate. She had asked to have ashes spread ( Read more... )

My grandmother passed away a couple days ago, some six months or so after grandpa, her husband of 70+ years, preceded herShe was a warm, kind person, who nevertheless got her way most of the time ( Read more... )

Dad came and visited with us earlier this week. Among the chitchat and socializing, he produced an heirloom. Grandpa, who passed away last year, had given it to Dad at some point, and now Dad was giving it to me.


( Read more... )

I travelled out to Florida for the ceremonies. LAX to Nashville to Orlando. I think I spent more time waiting in line for my rental car than for the flight from Nashville. The wait was exacerbated Planes, Trains, and Automobiles-style. First someone comes back to complain about the bill. One of the three clerks disappears. Another person ( Read more... )

My grandfather passed away, quietly, earlier today. I find myself with too much and too little to say ( Read more... )

Let's see how brief I can make this...
( not very, as it turns out )

Dr. Pookie and I took a whirlwind tour, hitting up San Jose (where we had a great time with relatives), San Francisco, a train to Reno, and then back to LA.

You can see the whole smorgasbord of photos (about 250 photos and a few little videos) here.

My bestof selection is here, apparently in a random orderThe relatives portion of the trip may not ( Read more... )

Remember the dingus I found for mom?

Tears welled up in her eyes. Am I a bad son?

If you wanna see a bit more of the dingus, I've made public my flickr photos of the interior pages, so you can see what sort of swanky menu to serve for a president's birthday, if it should ever become your lot to host one ( Read more... )