Category Archives: Family/Friends

Stories related to my family and friends; some of whom are no longer…

Tea Break (Gimme Some Lovin’)

Yesterday afternoon we drove 90 miles to a surprise party Brunch for a friend’s 65th Birthday. Despite it being well over 100 degrees in Modesto, we old folk boogied and danced the early hours of the afternoon. (Most of us don’t do … Continue reading

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Kaukahi Kayaks

When I lived in Hawaii I loved the sea. Not being good at surfing, I took up kayaking in about 1981, when my wife Barbara and I met Ann Fielding, a marine biologist well known in Hawaii for her books … Continue reading

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Dissed Off

Dissed is a lovely word, originally Jamaican slang, but I play with it a little here. I have been dissed a lot recently. Let me display the ways:

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Downsized

Downsized means smaller, shrunken, poorer. Maggie has downsized this week. She was sheared from her normal full-size mass of unruly maggie-shagginess to a new svelte style: cool, velvet-coated, sleek. She shed Age too- she looks 3 years old, not 13.

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Myfanwy

  This is a love story.        Myfanwy was my mother. Myfanwy (Muh-van-whi) is a Welsh girl’s name, from annwyl (“”beloved” or “sweet little one”). Myfanwy is also the title of a hauntingly lovely Welsh folk song; which, as sung by Welsh … Continue reading

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Bicycle Boy – Rediscovering Jill

There was a difference in class between the streets in our neighborhood of Acton, in West London. Our street had a grand name, King Edward’s Gardens, with nice enough houses tightly crammed together, owned largely by middle-class to working-class families. … Continue reading

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Praise – Carl Grau

When I married Julie in 1991 I married her family, too: sister Ann, nieces Kim and Laura, father Carl, our Dad. Carl and I admired each other; we had a lot in common. I related to his adventures, his wanderlust … Continue reading

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Julie

In early 1989 I accepted a short assignment to start up a difficult earthwork project in San Francisco. I am still here: the short job turned out to be a long-term nightmare (but that is another story). And, I was … Continue reading

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