Not Everybody Eats Pie

Our New Thanksgiving, bookended by gospel music...




and trade show magic...

...produced sights, sounds and impressions -- family story fodder.

The Auto Show? 3 boys PLUS Dad. Mom with new camera. Oddly perfect.

Biggest "re-traditioning" lesson? Not everybody eats pie.

At least, not in the traditional holiday-at-home way. True in the suburbs, it's easiest to verify in the city.

People were everywhere -- playing, eating, volunteering, working. Perhaps, for some, a Thanksgiving time-out. So what. At that moment they were cast in San Francisco's Thanksgiving scene. So were we.

Expect repeat performances.

2 Days to a New Thanksgiving

Turkey Surprise is no longer just a Friday leftover.
While I've been focused on New, my husband has been studying Safeway's Thanksgiving brochure the way students scour Cliff Notes.

TIP C -- Foil mittens.

Planned, prepped, and even roasted -- we're ready for our first New Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving

Thursday: Serve turkey at Glide Memorial followed by a family walk through the Tommy's Joynt food line and a SF afternoon.

Tonight: Man vs. turkey.

Tomorrow: Dinner in the dining room with everyday dishes when Campo's gym lights go out, somewhere around 9:30 p.m.

Life lessons? Many.

Shirts, signs and cheap solutions

The hidden costs of varsity sports just begins with the apparel form. But I drew the line at expensive posters.

I spied the answer on my player's bedroom floor -- potential for colorful, cute, AND cheap.


The key was keeping the final design to tabloid size. Kinko's starts those sized color copies at less than $2. One inch bigger jumps you to the big color copier. Then you have to get out the calculator -- and your bigger bills. Pricing is per square foot.

Total cost? 4 for under $10.

Each a winner.

Beat those odds.

Musical Gym Rats

It always feels like we see the same people in the gym all the time. Not the same KIND of people. The EXACT SAME people. Basketball people. Doesn’t matter if we’re at Campolindo, Tice Valley, Diablo Valley Community College, Reno or San Diego.

Last night as we left DVC, though, a crowd of bus-weary Southern California high school kids with sleeping bags poured into the gym. Today, WBA 2008 band championships begin.



So, there it is. We’re not all the same. Some gym rats play instruments. Apparently, they come out at night.

The Promise, a movie

Craig Cooper's 1980's Peace Corps memory lodged in my heart, then morphed in my brain as trailer for would-be feature film titled, The Promise.

Do the chores. I won't pay you now. But if you stay in school and finish high school... I'll pay for college or help you build a house.

Two willing Bahn teens. One earnest college grad.

Zero war contingency.

Years pass. Decades of silence.

Liberian, googling. Surprised engineer. Third-world taxi. Wherever the script begins, it'll lead to three men, reconnected. $5,000. New homes. Satisfaction.

The Promise, fulfilled. Finally.

Knowing Pains -- Stories for all

I bought Knowing Pains, an essay anthology marketed as "by and for" women in their 40's, because of Maria Hjelm's essay about the loss of her mother, Just a Blip.

Hearing it reminded me of my mother's raw pain at the recent loss of her mother.

Love. Loss. Sex. Self-awareness. Friendships. These experiences transcend age.

Swap stories with women of varied generations and you'll see -- we are more alike than different.

Don't let the cover-hype age you out.

These are new voices worth hearing.

Helping support breast cancer education? An added bonus.

Digital Leaps

The hardest part of replacing my stolen point and shoot camera was circling Best Buy's digital camera island, deciphering pros and cons, needs versus wants. How much should -- could -- I spend beyond insurance proceeds to get camera technology I want (I mean... need) compared to the money USAA said would replace 4-year-old technology?



The Canon G10 was a leap of faith. Great features will work even better once I upgrade my computer. That's going to wait.

Welcome to IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A NEW DIGITAL CAMERA in a TOUGH ECONOMY.

Carolina on my mind

Remember when I Photoshopped Stanford football game moments into Carolina memories? Well, the REAL THING arrived in my inbox yesterday.



A stadium blanket of Carolina blue against a canvas of matching sky, Bell Tower, and autumn trees. Perfect. Just like I remember.
Still... the picture falls short. It's hiding the #1 reason I would have flown in for the game. She's behind the camera.

Windy. College roommate. Bridesmaid. One son's Godmother. Friend for nearly 30 years.

To think it started in 403 Cobb Dorm, the result of a random Department of Housing lottery.

Monitor Survival

It happened overnight. I hit SEND, then went to bed. By morning, my in-box held the key.



Do you think April Austin, The Christian Science Monitor's then Homefront Editor, knew her email had opened the door -- my first published clip, a toe-dip into the world of national journalism, circa 2000? Back when print editions were king.

The century-old Monitor has just announced a strategic shift. Their future? Primarily on-line. Their daily paper? Gone mid-2009.

A defining moment, a bold attempt to hold on. To survive.

Brave, it might work. I hope so.

Putting it out there

"I really love homemade cards," I hinted not so subtly to my family earlier this week.

And it worked -- my 12-year-old went all out.

But when it came my turn to craft a card, I balked. I couldn't imagine what I could make -- or buy -- that would say what I wanted to say to our family's friend whose cancer has returned.

Instead, I reached for stationary.

No scissors. No glue stick. No markers.

Not a single sticker.

It was heart to pen to paper, just the truth:

Love and a prayer.

Bookmark Show and Tell

I’ve never been one to “own” lots of music -- LP’s or cassettes or CDs. Even my iPod holds mostly podcasts.

I prefer to let radio stations surprise me.

Now, though, I have a growing music collection "Bookmarked" on my iMAC. Low-budget YouTube.com videos. Original songs not yet on the radio, but – who knows – might be some day. I certainly wish the artists luck.

Anyway, here's my current favorite - Reina DelCid's Come Back Over.




Friendship. Love. Regret. Second chances. What's not to like?

So... what's caught your ear on Youtube? Anything worth bookmarking?

** twilight ** and the real teen trackers

Even if vampires aren't your thing, I defy you to ignore twilight, Hollywood's adaptation of Stephanie Meyer's New York Times Bestseller, scheduled for Thanksgiving week release amid already escalating hype.

I'm late on the scene of this 2005 teen read. I finished Twilight on Halloween, moments before 6 high school co-eds returned from trick-or-treating with my middle son. The girls nearly swooned at the book's cover.

"Don't you just looooove Edward Cullen?"

Vampires have nothing on marketers. Teenaged girls, though --- there's an economic force impossible to ignore.

But go ahead -- try.