General

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 [...]

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 [...]

Sometimes you have to lose a lot, just so you can learn to be grateful. That’s the lesson I learned, not long ago….
Things hadn’t been all that terrific on the farm, but then abruptly my luck seemed to change. I felt elated. Soon, this ol’ farm gal was going to be riding around in a [...]