The Inspiring Jane
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I can’t imagine there is even a handful of women of a certain age on this planet who, this morning, don’t feel diminished by the loss of their sister, Jane Goodall. Ach! When I was of traveling ability I so…
Read MoreIn the Kitchen, at the Table
A Happy Accident
We’ve been overwhelmed, Bill and I, deluged with family visiting (marvelous)…added to the usual stippling of doctor’s appointments…then of course the cleaning ladies weren’t able to come so in the kitchen my pick-it-up-use-it-then-set-it-down-in-the-wrong-place created impossible chaos. Last night my darling…
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Crazy to Sing!
Early in the tenth grade at University High School, one day at lunch in the patio, a cluster of us from Emerson Junior High were spooning up our yogurt when someone said, “You know, we should also form a Tri-Y.”…
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A Cinematographer to Keep an Eye on
We are over the moon exultant at the news of cinematographer Christopher Ripley’s achievement in the Venice Film Festival. Chris is boon companion of our granddaughter, James Francis Whelan IV. Last year, young Chris spent months in the Kalahari Desert–pure…
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Comfort In Case You’ve Just Suffered A Big Disappointment, Too~
Department of Misery Loves Company…Mayhap… ~By Sylvia Thompson, A Cook Who’s Been Working in A Kitchen 82 Years… So a special bunch was coming for supper—three of Bill’s grandsons plus two extra gents, one from Paris! A wowzer occasion. Had…
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Checking In ~ End of Summer 2025
Yesterday I wrote my children asking if they remembered where they were forty years ago on that day… We all were en route to Galveston, Texas, to celebrate the first wedding in our family—eldest daughter to the treasure she…
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My Nights with Harry Bosch
Husband Bill—Professor Emeritus of Eighteenth Century English Literature, American Literature, and Film Studies—loves detective stories. The author of What is Film Noir?* is a particular devotee of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler—Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe transcribe wonderfully to the…
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Have You Tasted Sublime Fresh Spinach Lately?
Decades ago (in my previous lifetime) I was privileged to have dinner in London at Manzi’s. Known for fine seafood, a lovely dish of fish was what I ordered… Did the waiter ask, “Fresh spinach with that, Madam?” I’ve no…
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Time to Wake up!
Old Sleeping Beauty here, rousing from her slumbers… Looking around and about…shaking her head at her DUMBNESS in taking so long to open her eyes. I didn’t wake up on my own. Jim Dodge—the great one, America’s Baker—did it. Saturday,…
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The Sad Inevitable Jolt ~ When?
Last Wednesday, after our early gym time then a special massage appointment for me (addressing a rascally hip), since we were close by, Bill and I decided to treat ourselves to Eggs Benedict at the Silver Spur in Capitola. That’s…
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