In the two weeks encompassing Mom’s funeral and burial, Tim and I had to deal with quite a lot of people. Many of them are the kind we’ve permanently banished from our lives. Yesterday I woke from a horrendous nightmare that I won’t relate. I was chilled to the bone, my teeth chattering, so I…
Tim’s alluvial shanty
November 23, 2023
I used to love Tim’s house. Now it has to be demolished because of flood damage. The flooding is the result of the climate, the neighbors, and the idiotic plumbers who didn’t notice that the blueprints were upside down. Mom grew up in this house, the front part and garage of which were built in…
The cat ladder
November 22, 2023
Tim and I are convinced that our cat Syd the Second was a reincarnated Syd, Tim’s original black cat. Like Syd, this new cat had giant fangs, a square muzzle, a patch of white on his chest, and he liked you to sing to him while he ate. The main reason we think Syd the…
Volume Two of the Ghosts Trilogy available
November 22, 2023
Chasing the Last Whale is now available in paperback. It’s Volume Two of the Ghosts Trilogy. An e-book will follow. Maybe several. The Ghosts Trilogy is—as far as I know—a unique literary attempt in that it consists of a memoir, a novel, and a diary that share the same themes and characters. It began with…
Dreams
November 22, 2023
I’ve taken more photos in the past year than in the previous fifteen. I used to be an avid photographer but gave it up when I lost so much of my eyesight that I couldn’t build scale models anymore. The advent of digital cameras has been a godsend. Now I step outside, capture a moment,…
Lookee here! More threats.
November 21, 2023
Got this message today. I’ve edited it slightly to conceal the person’s identity. we are both very upset at what you have done, and what you are about to do. you are playing hardball. i’m a lot better at it than you are. there is no free ride. you get back what you put out….
A great actor trapped in a bad movie
November 21, 2023
It’s so painful for me to see a great actor trapped in a bad movie. I love Jason Statham. He’s far more than an “action star.” His great gift is wordless acting, especially in response to something he sees or what someone is saying. He’s a master of expressing suppressed emotion. Stand in front of…
Ceilings want me dead
November 20, 2023
In my senior year at Lewis and Clark College, in Portland, Oregon—alma mater of Monica Lewinsky!—I moved into the second floor of an apartment complex off campus. A friendly Turk and his Iranian wife were the owners. He told us to call him Bob. Though he spoke perfectly colloquial American English, he had a thick…
Nothing bores me more
November 19, 2023
Don’t try to engage me in a discussion on the battle of the sexes. Nothing bores me more. Men and women are different; men and women are both human. The end. Someone just made the most obtuse statement I’ve ever read about my writing. Though I won’t repeat it, here’s my reaction to it. I…
Collapsed by the community
November 24, 2023
You may have noticed that I don’t allow comments on my posts. I’ve been told that an unmoderated comment section would increase my traffic dramatically. I doubt it. That applies to political blogs, but the people who like my books aren’t the type who visit blogs all day to either support or oppose the latest…
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