Category Archives: WTF

Ann Patchett’s COMMONWEALTH (In Percentages)

Posted on September 15, 2016 by PB Rippey

Because Maria Semple stated (in an article I read a few days ago) that she is planning to read Ann Patchett’s new novel, ‘Commonwealth’, I (who had no idea Ann Patchett had a new novel coming out, ‘Bel Canto’ still on my … Continue reading →

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Psychic

Posted on January 5, 2016 by PB Rippey

Somehow I now live in a neighborhood where the man next door is perfectly okay with hanging a sign from his rented eaves. PSYCHIC SERVICES, the sign declares–bold white on not-so-bold, pretty or eye-catching puce–followed by a phone number. When … Continue reading →

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Screens

Posted on November 15, 2014 by PB Rippey

Staring at  my writing, I heard what I thought was our younger cat pulverizing the bedroom window’s screen, as he does when he’d like to be let inside, despite the little Hobbiton upside-down-U’s we had cut in pertinent doors, just for … Continue reading →

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Relief (Death’s Placards Edition)

Posted on October 17, 2014 by PB Rippey

There are fairly positive placards to be discovered–usually somewhere behind closed eyes–when Death (not waltzes in, there was no waltzing in my dad’s case) knocks down continents to claim, abscond-with, pose in a peasant blouse splotched in redwood forest mulch … Continue reading →

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Mornings Become Them (Birds Edition)

Posted on June 20, 2014 by PB Rippey

615am–I get out of bed to let the dog outside and get back in bed forgetting to let the dog back in and he barks and I shoot out of bed not wanting the dog to wake the first grader … Continue reading →

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I-5 Pretty

Posted on April 24, 2014 by PB Rippey

In a previous post I regaled our drive from Los Angeles to parts further Northeast known as Tracy, Stockton and Sacramento. Namely, that interminable length from the end of the grapevine to whatever that KABOOM exit is that has Corral in … Continue reading →

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Spring Break Snoozing (Wide Awake Edition)

Posted on April 18, 2014 by PB Rippey

During this luscious week of no school for the Kindergartner, we snooze well. Except when we are awakened from chasm-sleep somewhere between 2a.m. and maybe 4:30a.m.—after the bars have closed, but before the rooster across the alley busts its lungs—after we’ve … Continue reading →

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Falling (Whinnying Edition)

Posted on March 14, 2014 by PB Rippey

Leapt down the vastly spaced steps to the stalls, rounded the corner, Indy saddled up and ready to go, I talked to him, rubbed his cheek as I led him to the ring, a man opened the gate for me, … Continue reading →

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Double Rainbow (Rainy Day Edition)

Posted on February 7, 2014 by PB Rippey

Not long ago a man left a nasty little comment in my comments section calling my blog piece sophomoric and trite and something else I can’t remember and why this person was so unevolved as to blog-roam and drop his … Continue reading →

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Walking to Floats (SoCal Edition)

Posted on January 3, 2014 by PB Rippey

Rose Parade Floats Viewing, January 2nd: I walked my son several blocks down a typically—for Pasadena—vast and nicely swept boulevard to another major boulevard (wider than the Rio Grande and as sungleamy in our December heatwave) mobbed by people like us … Continue reading →

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Gobbling Towards Vegetarianism

Posted on November 6, 2013 by PB Rippey

It became November. Day Two, I said: OMG THE TURKEY! Because this year, we’re hosting the beloved horde. I navigated to the Whole Foods website. During the Diestel ordering process I was asked to choose: Hen or Tom. My bedroom … Continue reading →

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3 Cubs & Dodgers

Posted on September 30, 2013 by PB Rippey

Father/Son Dodgers Game!, the elementary school flyer stated, producing an amendment a week later: Due to unprecedented interest in attendance by moms, grandmothers, grandfathers and 3rd cousins twice removed, Father/Son is expanded to Family Dodgers Game! So we all went to … Continue reading →

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On Roald Dahl’s Birthday

Posted on September 15, 2013 by PB Rippey

Sometimes I let the agent I’m querying know who my literary heroes are. Only ‘sometimes’ as my query letters tend to change. Evolve? Products of endless, restless experimentation…On Roald Dahl’s birthday I was thinking: I always forget to put Roald … Continue reading →

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Quote For The Week: Diana Nyad (Butterscotch Cookies Edition)

Posted on September 11, 2013 by PB Rippey

Find a way. —Diana Nyad I briefly interrupt evening reading time to announce I’m zooming to Albertson’s for eggs for tomorrow’s scrambled egg jamboree and ask my spouse if he needs anything from the store. In the Daffy Duck brogue he utilizes when … Continue reading →

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Chirp

Posted on August 6, 2013 by PB Rippey

The colony of house finches thriving in the trees outside our bedroom windows begins the chirping frenzy around 530/6am and they never fail to wake me up—but I beat them to their cacophony this morning, fueled into consciousness by thoughts of Big … Continue reading →

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Angst (Cheese & Strawberries Edition)

Posted on July 3, 2013 by PB Rippey

When you man your bookshelves for hours, reading first pages because you are maddened by your own first pages and can’t recall how to begin a story or a novel without every palabra jumping out at you with a buzzer sound … Continue reading →

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Heat Talk (107 Degrees Edition)

Posted on June 30, 2013 by PB Rippey

Everyone in prone positions, some bodies perpendicular to others, some just out there on their own, spanning that one corner of living room rug, some sprawling underneath the chaise longue I try to endure as my son makes mud pies, the … Continue reading →

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Quote For The Weekend (Seriously Late Edition w/Rabbits)

Posted on May 20, 2013 by PB Rippey

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. —Anne Frank We tend to rotate which charities we give to monthly. Save The Children often tops the list. Also the Mae Tao … Continue reading →

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Voices

Posted on April 25, 2013 by PB Rippey

I stopped typing and froze in the bed office. A voice was in my house. Deep. Half whisper-in-a-frightening-tomb, half ogre-stuck-in-a-well. I set aside the laptop, rose from the bed office chair and peeked into the hall. No one. Except the … Continue reading →

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Update 2: NaMeSitDif (etc.) Projekt

Posted on April 10, 2013 by PB Rippey

Since I forgot to Na on Monday, as I promised myself, and since I didn’t Na on Tuesday due to pressing engagements (Target, the teeth people), upon leaving the stables today I stopped at a No’ridge Starbucks on my way home, hobbling delicately inside, … Continue reading →

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NaMeSiDifStarDaiWri%#*Po Week (Partial Week Edition)

Posted on April 3, 2013 by PB Rippey

Next week (because my son resumes PreK after a 2 week spring break) is National PB Sit in a Different Starbucks Daily and Write a (insert expletive) Poem Week. Well, at least monday through thursday. Actually not tuesday because that’s when I … Continue reading →

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Courage! (Neigh Edition)

Posted on March 19, 2013 by PB Rippey

I was late to retrieve the boy from school because I Face Sucked like a fiend AND watched the latest episode of “Once” on hulu AND in another open hulu tab caught up on the latest episode of “Revenge” WHILE checking … Continue reading →

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To All Rejections

Posted on March 14, 2013 by PB Rippey

To all rejections: I am building a cathedral. I am building a cathedral. I am building a cathedral. I am building a cathedral. I am building a cathedral. I am building a cathedral. I am building a cathedral. I am … Continue reading →

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And The Seat Moved

Posted on January 22, 2013 by PB Rippey

My sliced finger salved and bandaged, wiping cat gak off my bare foot, it was about then I remembered my promise to learn to ride the unicycle before my next birthday, so I went outside, snatched up my son’s helmet … Continue reading →

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Mother Nature Wins

Posted on December 19, 2012 by PB Rippey

Around here, the skies are flannel and pursed. We can wear sweaters and scarves, for once, as we bring in our trash barrels from alleys. Pulling in the second recycling barrel, enjoying the feel of my silly polka-dot rain boots I … Continue reading →

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