Seen also in The Cambrian A thousand or more northern elephant seals sprawled across the beach when I arrived for my volunteer docent duty yesterday. These intrepid seals travelled about 2500 miles to this beach to lose their dead skin and old fur. They must haul out and remain on land for four weeks in order to molt. We call this shedding of the dead epidermis and old fur a catastrophic molt. I posted myself at the very south end of the Piedras Blancas […]
Serendipity introduced me to my first husband at age 17. A week after our meeting he promised that we would marry some day. I laughed out loud. At age 27 I was his widow with two children. I lacked a life-plan. And on that late summer day when my children’s father unexpectedly died, helter-skelter reintroduced itself. I involuntarily joined the Hapless Young Widows Club (HYWC). HYWC isn’t a chartered nonprofit organization. But HYWC does chart a rugged path of misjudgment and denial, and […]
“Good morning, Dennis,” I greeted the Russian scientist as he sipped the hot coffee we readied for the morning workshop session. (I attended as a volunteer to help the facilitator, The California Gray Whale Coalition, tend to the business of running a workshop smoothly.)
“My grandson called me this morning and wanted me to ask you a question. He wants to know, why do polar bears like to live in the snow?”
It was a warm September 1954 morning when Spouse boarded the bus from his suburban Los Angeles home for his first day […]
Spouse’s face lit up when I answered, “Sex” to his question, “What are you going to write about today? He added a […]
Author’s Note: Here’s the link to the podcast on Animal Radio http://animalradio.com/top.php The interview begins at 00:33:20 Before the day’s commotion begins I like to rise ahead of the sun and either soak under the stars in the hot tub or spend quiet moments in a chair in mindful contemplation. Don’t get too impressed with this early riser routine of mine. It’s a reluctant pleasure. Today’s late winter morning, in the 5 a.m. neighborhood, and the day after some serious gardening, […]
Neighbors actually talk to each other in my neighborhood. Here’s a recent conversation that I overheard between spouse and another retired man as he walked his dog. “Gorgeous day today, isn’t it?” spouse greeted dog-walking neighbor. “It sure is. It’s the kind of day that makes me glad to be retired, even without my late wife,” he noted. He lengthened his pooch’s flexi-leash. “I’ve learned to enjoy life without my wife—she died 12 years ago. But I’ve gotta friend—he just turned 70—and all he […]
I’m still catching my breath after a vigorous walk with a woman who became my friend after seeking me out because, she explained, “I like your energy levels.” I remain flattered. I remain so because this woman, of the same generation as I, harbors so much energy that she could power up the lights on Main Street. Another friend, soon to celebrate her 70th birthday, actively seeks a new career as a lifestyle model (code for a senior citizen model). She […]
I’m a part-time vegetarian. That means I’m an omnivore but heavy on the herbivore side. In other words, my heart prefers non-meat foods, but my carnivorous soul requires consuming something with legs. It’s kind of gross when I think about it. It felt even more unpleasant when around last Thanksgiving President Obama legalized horse meat for human consumption. And the bill that legalized horse meat–soon to be featured at your local grocery store–was something both Democrats and Republicans agreed upon! Like the linked news […]
Author’s note: This is a continuation of a series of blogs about the experience of watching my daughter, Chef Dakota Weiss, make her way through Bravo TV’s Top Chef Texas, currently airing on Wednesday nights. Over 250 Los Angeles chefs and restaurant industry professionals swarmed the W, Westwood (where Dakota is executive chef) this week for a red carpet roll out of Dine LA 2012. What’s this to do with my daughter-on-Top-Chef series? Read on. News cameras rolled and media photographers clicked […]
