Back when I believed in reincarnation, I announced to anyone who’d listen that I wanted to come back as an Italian. “A tile and grout man, I really don’t care, as long as I have an Italian grandmother.” In other words, I wanted to reincarnate for the food. That’s why when I saw that […]

   I have three existential fears: snakes, premature burial and standing in lines. For anything, for any reason. When I saw those lines in front of stores that had nothing to sell in the days of the old Soviet Union, my stomach would be in knots just from watching the footage. Closer to home, I […]

While my incurious nature has gotten me off the hook from having to drag myself through some of the most renowned and beloved tourist attractions in the world, the one exception is any site related to my favorite authors I’ve read or movies I’ve seen. Thus, in Paris, have I sat in the Brasserie Lipp […]

   No sooner I say I’m going to refrain from something, I go ahead and do it anyway. All I can say is, I sit and stare blankly into space until an idea occurs to me. If I choose to ignore that idea, then I get nothing, and go back to staring into space until […]

   I’ve never experienced writer’s block, per se. For me, staring at a blank sheet of paper or a clear computer screen with a blinking cursor for hours, occasionally wiping drool from the corner of my mouth is simply what I call my writing process. Eventually, something winds up being written, and if Carol doesn’t […]

  Carol got me a pasta maker for Christmas. I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not at all like giving your wife a vacuum cleaner or a clothes washer. I wanted one. During the year, I had expressed an interest in making homemade pasta for the fun of it. I had also expressed an […]

   It rained today in Southern California. It rarely rains here, but when it does, it usually manages to throw a monkey wrench in outdoor plans, especially for Carol’s family. Just in the short time we’ve been together, rain has disrupted a wedding and a birthday celebration. But covid has done worse, so rain this […]

   So here’s how someone who didn’t feel the Christmas spirit handled these pandemic holidays.    Carol popped up in bed at 7:30 Christmas Eve morning, and began whisking batter and heating grease for snowflake cookies. It didn’t go well. What should have been perfect, light, golden flaked confections actually peeled off the cooking iron […]

   I asked Carol if she was feeling the Christmas spirit this year, and she just shook her head. I really didn’t have to ask, though. She’s already had to miss all her grandchildren’s holiday shows, because there weren’t any. She’s not going to see her beautifully wrapped gifts torn apart by small, impatient hands. […]

   2020 may go down as a year best forgotten. On the other hand, if it’s true we do tend to learn best from our own mistakes, then this year might be the one to take full stock of, as it’s a treasure trove of fubars, bad decisions and poor choices. As in your own […]