Good Tool? Bad Tool?

1988 Portrait, Damaged in 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Restored by Dad, 2012. Never Forget Your (Grass)roots “I’ve been using Photoshop,” my dad told me last year, “to restore damaged photos.” “Oh?” I commented blandly, expecting him to tell me that something had leaked onto a box of photos in his garage. “Yes,” he said. “It’s a […]


How the Strawberries Led Me to Surrender

The Perfect Roadster Red. It’s In There Somewhere. The War for the RedsAfter church last Sunday we went to the grocery store. We bought strawberries and tomatoes, along with many other good things to eat, but it was the strawberries (together with the tomatoes), that led me to give up, again, and hand things over to […]


The Reunion: Finale

My Brother, Cousin Marcia, Cousin Hugh. Ca. 1969 [Part One of this story is here. Part Two of this story is here.] We Reserve the Right to Refuse ServiceWe’ve parked the car and are walking across the restaurant’s parking lot when suddenly I wonder if bringing my cousin here for lunch wasn’t a horrible idea. What […]


The Image is from Inside

Frosty Winter Morning. Photo by Bob Coller.   My friend Bob graciously granted me permission to share this amazing photograph with you. The Incredible Sweetness of Being, Part Four  My friend’s photo made me shiver, though I sat snug, this February, in my Southern California home. The bare trees pleading, the empty tables honed with frost, […]


The Image is from Inside

Frosty Winter Morning. Photo by Bob Coller.   My friend Bob graciously granted me permission to share this amazing photograph with you. The Incredible Sweetness of Being, Part Four  My friend’s photo made me shiver, though I sat snug, this February, in my Southern California home. The bare trees pleading, the empty tables honed with frost, […]