Vic

My new hubby took me on a road-trip to Central California .  Soon, the weather turned ugly on us…The roads went slick.  It was I who suggested that we stop and buy new tires at Walmart.
Bad idea.
Our car was high on the Walmart Express rack, and I was in the photo department, scanning our wedding [...]

Country folks say that a full moon can make you act goofy.
But the Ancient Greeks had a more optimistic outlook on life:  ”A full moon means a happy marriage,” they said.
Well.     Michael and I got married during a full moon. We weren’t superstitious, though.   Not in the least.
At our Wedding Luncheon, we were given fortune [...]

I’m not sure what caused such madness. Maybe it was the full moon, or perhaps it was the rendezvous between Jupiter and Venus in the heavens…
Whatever the case, Michael and I suddenly decided to get married during the hectic Holiday Season.
We’d keep it simple, though. A small ceremony in Eureka, California. A [...]

 My first outing  with Michael was a date extraordinaire.  I’ve never had one like it…..
 
We met at Trinidad Beach…a long stretch of cliffs and caverns.  Crashing surf.    I gazed about me, transfixed.  It was so glorious…so heaven-on-earth…The most romantic spot I’d ever seen…
 
Better yet—-I was with the most romantic man on earth.
 
Michael O’Neal was everything a [...]

Smoke billowed from the mountains as I drove down 299 on my way out of California. It looked like Hell on earth.
      Wildfire season was here, but I was escaping the smoky inferno by heading East to the Midwest. I needed to do some regrouping, as well.
      I’d been living in California for two months—-trying [...]

Northern California is a lovely place—no doubt about it…Towering Redwoods…an incredible coastline…historical towns. There’s really no place like it on earth. Most of the natives are friendly—even overly-helpful.
But some of the folks? Oh my! They are really wacky.
It’s a true culture-clash, here in NorCal. Folks with purple hair, nose-rings, tongue-studs, dred-locks and full-body tattoos versus [...]

Last month, I loaded up my little Saturn and headed west all alone — like some kind of pioneer woman. Well, I wasn’t exactly alone.
I had the Angel of the Lord with me, and three stuffed monkeys.
I’m not sure where my Guardian Angel rode during that long trip, but the monkeys sat in the [...]

…Christmas 1854…
It’s hard to imagine how difficult times must’ve been—desperate times of blizzards and frostbitten fingers. Water freezing in the wash basin every night. The Specter of Hardship lurked on every doorstep, mean-eyed and hungry. It was a primitive existence.
Survival wasn’t just a goal. It was an all-time career.
I stood on a hillside, gazing down [...]

While the rest of the world seems to be falling apart—economically and otherwise—I myself have been living in a world of wonder…a Pacific paradise, of sorts.

 
How did it all happen?  Well, I’m not even sure, myself.

 
It started last spring. I came to Northern California seeking a soulmate, only to discover that my internet-romance left much to be desired. I tried [...]

It’s dark and eerie in the barnyard at 4:50 a.m.
The unblinking stars watch me from above, and a golden crescent of moon squints on the horizon…but it does nothing to dispel the gloom shrouding the barnyard. There can be no more dismal start to a day, yet this is the hour when the muddy wheels [...]