If you’ve ever been invited to a surprise party you know the stress of having to get there by a certain time. If you’ve ever hosted a surprise party you’ve done plenty of nail-biting worrying if guests will arrive before the guest of honor and keep their mouths shut. Plus there’s the danger the ruse to get the person to the party will backfire. Like: “But I don’t want to go out. I want to stay in!” Recently I attended a surprise birthday breakfast at the birthday girl’s home. It was a smashing success. The more I think about it, the more brilliant it strikes me. This concept needs to spread.
SURPRISE!
February 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment
FADED PHOTOGRAPHS
January 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
In going through another purge/organization of my home, I found this photo. I have no idea who this woman is. I do know the photo was taken in Kansas City, Missouri, around 1900. I’ve seen her face in a few other pictures but there’s nothing written on the back to identify her. Look at that hat! She would have fit right in at the Royal Wedding.
I’m lamenting the limitations of the digital age. How much of a description can you put in a file name? What happens when technology changes and you can’t access old photos anymore? They’re gone.
MY FUR CHILD
January 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment
I’m in the midst of working on a new book and won’t be blogging much for awhile. Here’s the photo I see every time I turn on my computer: my beloved, darling Tucker. We found each other in December 2006 at the Guilford County (NC) Animal Shelter. Sometimes when he meows he sounds like a pigeon and when he snores it’s like an elf wheezing. He rarely conks out on my keyboard but when he does I know it’s time to take a break.
HOLIDAY REMINISCENCES AND REGRETS
December 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Mama Jo-1940s
An adapted excerpt from the chapter “Watching a Photograph Slowly Fade” from When I Married My Mother
“Are we putting up a Christmas tree this year?” Mama Jo asked when our third Thanksgiving as roommates rolled around.
I groaned and was sorry I did.
I GOT A $EXY BACK (Yea-uh)
October 7, 2011 By 1 Comment
After viewing an MRI of my lower back, I prayed New York neurosurgeon Dr. Ezriel Kornel wouldn’t utter the dreaded word “surgery.” He said, “You have a cyst in the ligaments around your L4 that has to come out.” I visualized a laparoscopic number with a tiny scar and I’d be back home the same day. Then he said, “I recommend fusing the L4 with spondylolosthesis (slipped vertebra) with the L5 to stabilize the area, remove the disc, replace it with OptiMesh that turns into bone and insert permanent titanium hardware of two screws, a rod and a clamp.”
BETWEEN THE COVERS WITH JOHN WATERS
August 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I’ve just finished John Water’s latest funhouse of memories and musings, Role Models. There’s a spray of pink slips of paper sprouting from the top of it now – markers of captivating passages. I know, I know. With an e-reader you can highlight, search for keywords and deodorize a room at the same time. I’d rather run my hand over the nicely textured cover and use pieces of paper, thank you. That is, until someone gives me an e-reader (the one that shows colors, please).
QUICKIE Q&A: SONYA SONES
August 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment
@SonyaSones California
writer, photographer, bicycler, dancer, author of THE HUNCHBACK OF NEIMAN MARCUS and WHAT MY MOTHER DOESN’T KNOW, a Top Ten Most Banned Book of The Decade!
There’s so much to say about Sonya, do check out her site. One of my all time favorite book titles belongs to her: ONE OF THOSE HIDEOUS BOOKS WHERE THE MOTHER DIES. That was before I actually wrote such a book! And I still love it.
QUICKIE Q&A: SHARYN WOLF
August 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Sharyn Wolf is the author of Love Shrinks: a memoir of a marriage counselor’s divorce - a fearless look at her own dysfunctional former marriage. A New York licensed psychotherapist and relationship expert, she’s been on over 400 radio and TV shows (including 8 appearances on Oprah). Her books include This Old Spouse, How to Stay Lovers for Life and Guerrilla Dating Tactics.
1. For the most part you were in a sex-less marriage for 8 years. How common is this and what advice do you have to others in a similar situation?
ON WRITING
August 10, 2011 By 1 Comment
I took the long, scenic route to getting published. Fifteen years, seven other books, and four literary agents preceded the publication of When I Married My Mother. Whatever success my writing brings me is the result of never giving up, working with great editors and agents, taking criticism extremely well, having from-the-heart stories to tell, and being crazy. I’m now convinced that “writer” and “addict” are interchangeable.
My efforts were nothing compared to what the author of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly went through. He wrote his entire extraordinary memoir by blinking his left eye—the only part of his body that moved.
MY FANTASY FINAL ROSE
June 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Summer 2011
As the Bachelorette nears its “most dramatic final rose ceremony ever” I find myself thinking back to the Bachelor debut in 2002. Twenty-five beautiful young women vied for the heart of one alpha male. Many weeks later, he whittled it down to one. Kind of like a harem in reverse. I was horrified. I couldn’t stop watching.
If I had teenagers, I’d encourage them to watch this show. It teaches how to behave (and not behave) with your dream mate. When your love is unrequited, you’ll know how to read the signs and graciously bow out. Wait, I know a few people way past their teens who need this primer.
