Pope calls out Satan the Snitch
Holy hell broke loose in the Holy See on Friday as the Holy Father, Pope Benedict, threw down on a long time adversary, Beelzebub, Prince of Darkness. His challenge came as the Vatican celebrated the...
View ArticleThe Great Bee Swarm of 2010
On Sunday afternoon two weeks ago I drove home from a meeting and turned into the driveway. Then I stopped the car. Something was up. Ahead of the car, right next to the house, where the neighbor's...
View ArticleHippie Lawyer versus the Feds
It was a Sunday morning well over 25 years ago, at a small Federal prison in the Midwest/South that had better remain nameless. Right about this time of year. The air at this...place...was...
View ArticlePassionate Gardening -- The Three Worst Plants Edition
There you are, weeding your way under the roses, around the daylilies, behind the lion's ear (in Southern California, that is). The Wayside Gardens fall catalogue is on the porch behind you, your...
View ArticlePassionate Gardening -- The Sweet Spots
There are zillions of smells in a garden and few of them are shy. Steer manure, potting soil, cocoa mulch, the dog shit you just stepped in. Alaska fish fertilizer, especially if the bottle was...
View ArticleLawyer Stuff -- Cross Examination War Story
Cross examination isn't the toughest part of being a trial lawyer. My father used to say, "Your mother's cat could do a decent cross. The test of a good lawyer is a good direct examination." But a...
View ArticleMy Bernie Sanders letter to the L. A. Times
I opened my home town paper, the L.A. Times, this morning with something in mind besides the Sudoku (which is "moderate" on Saturdays anyway). I wanted to see how they covered the Sanders...
View ArticleWrite On! The Monster Within
WARNING: Literary investigators have determined that the guest host of tonight's edition of Write On! has NO PUBLISHED WORKS. Her comments may appear witty and insightful, but they are NOT...
View ArticleA Book That Changed My Life: Huckleberry Finn
I'm the fourth of six kids, born to an English major and a lawyer. Words were supremely important in our house, and my mother read to us almost every night when I was little: Scupper the Sailor...
View ArticleDead Cat Walking
He's not my cat. He's my sister's cat. She adopted him from a shelter as a tiny kitlet, and he lived with her for ten years. But when she moved into an apartment that didn't allow cats, she and my...
View ArticleGeronimo Pratt, 1947 to 2011
Geronimo Pratt has died at his home in Tanzania. I haven't found the cause of death. The Los Angeles Times has an obituary.
View ArticleDavid Copperfield and the Deathly Vices
Reading David Copperfield is like eating your way through the cuisine of, say, India, in one meal. It's like Tony Soprano's New-Jersey-embracing drive home in the credits for The Sopranos. It's...
View ArticleTake it to the Bank! Protest in Pasadena, California
So, OneWest Bank in California wants to foreclose on state employee. She fell behind in her mortgage payments when her brother, who lived with her and their disabled mother, was killed two years...
View ArticleMonday Murder Mystery: Death And The Dancing Footman
Welcome to Monday Murder Mystery where we gather each week to talk about mysteries. Discussion of all mysteries is welcome, not just those involving murder; and all genres of mysteries are welcome, be...
View ArticleHappy 98th, Charlotte Lucas!
Our oldest known Kossack has just scaled another peak in a Himalyan mountain of years, and congratulations are pouring in from across the cosmos.
View ArticleMonday Murder Mystery: Days of Swine and Porsches
Welcome to Monday Murder Mystery where we gather each week to talk about mysteries. Discussion of all mysteries is welcome, not just those involving murder; and all genres of mysteries are welcome, be...
View ArticleCharlotte Lucas, 1913 to 2012
Today I put on summer clothes and journey to a world I've never seen --Michikaze (free translation)
View ArticleWrite On! You want Character on Those Extras?
Sensible Shoes is off tonight with family and deadline obligations and asked me to pinch hit. So I'm knocking the dirt off my cleats with the bat and getting ready to dig in at the plate. The...
View ArticleWrite On! Herding Characters
What ho, writers! This is a Brand X edition. Sensible Shoes has family responsibilities tonight and asked me to fill in. I was happy to but I didn't have time to get my hair done, so please...
View ArticleWrite On! Auspicious Beginnings
This is a pinch hitter edition as SensibleShoes deals with real life.I've been thinking a lot about beginnings of novels, mainly my own deficiencies in the area. One of my college professors told me a...
View Article
More Pages to Explore .....