Suprise Me

Watergate. The word is redolent with history, even more so now with an imperiled special prosecutor, a sitting president trying to malign real news sources, looking more corrupt by the day. We are reminded of Santayana’s quote…those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. We seem poised at another Watergate moment; just… Read More

Background: In 2006, while on a sailboat charter vacation in the BVI, my wife’s best friend (since childhood), Bonnie, drowned during a snorkeling expedition. My wife and the friend’s boyfriend performed CPR on her friend for 45 minutes before the local medical authority arrived and declared she was dead. This was obviously an extremely traumatic… Read More

Her name is Rockie, but don’t take her for granite. One of her jokes. Her given name is Rokama. According to several sources I consulted, in Hebrew the name means “comforted.” Or beloved. Or one who has received mercy. Or possibly: compassion. They all fit. If I had to name some of the influential women… Read More

There are flashes of behaviors and preferences, most of them quirky, that I have which are just like my mother's. Read More

As the story goes, the property on Valencia Street was zoned for retail. But the new tenants wanted to open a tutoring center. Naturally, the solution was to start stocking up on pirate stuff. The Pirate Supply Store at 826 Valencia is really a front for a place where kids in San Francisco can get… Read More

Mardi Gras 2020 — The last night out Read More

Yes, I know, “Yesterday” isn’t on “Rubber Soul”, but this is the only original Beatles album I own. My mother didn’t approve of me listening to that sort of music, so I had to sneak it, by plugging my ear phones into my transistor radio. How could you not love the infectious upbeat, cute guys… Read More

  We learned long ago that going out on New Year’s Eve was just something we didn’t want to do. Everything was overpriced and you always ran the risk of drunk drivers on the road. So we stayed in with friends and cooked. When David was a baby, I had a few couples over and… Read More

I never knew my grandparents. They died long before I was born. My father died before he could describe them to me. Given the circumstances surrounding his time with them, I doubt that he could have told me much. Therefore, my fact-or-fiction report springs from primary source materials including pictures, letters, and newspaper articles and… Read More

The One Who Got Away Like all red-bloodied,  pubescent American girls of the 50s I certainly did my share of dating. In junior high school we started to pair off and with little information and probably more mis-information about the birds and the bees,  we experimented.   (My cowardly parents,  rather than having that embarrassing… Read More