What does that mean? That’s the List that the Lady of the House makes to give to her husband or significant other (or Handyman like me) as Chores Around the House TO DO ASAP. These in a lighter category can include: 1. Fix front gate latch. 2. Adjust the height of the exercise bike. 3. […]
The A Cappella Handyman: Column No. 536
Column No. 536 How can time fly so quick, you say, when we’re having so much fun? If my calendar serves me right this is approximately Column No. 536, starting at Christmas of 2008 with only a few months of Sabbatical thrown in for Rest & Recreation. Where to next, we say? Depends upon the […]
The A Cappella Handyman: Story Spinning
From the suburbs of Walnut Creek to junior college, UC Berkeley, grad school, to the corporate world. Not a bad evolution. When that formal Odyssey drew to a close, 28 years later in 1994, exiting from San Francisco, I began the next gravel or unpaved road of reality: employers who promised benefits but didn’t deliver, […]
The A Cappella Handyman: Remembering 1390
1390 Brookside Drive was the first home we ever knew after WWII. A small, post-war development called Victory Gardens just off Davis Street in San Leandro, California. Two bedrooms, one bath, stucco-faced that Dad with the help of Uncle Kaj added an upstairs bedroom to. It had the San Leandro Creek behind it and a […]
The A Cappella Handyman: New Black Fedora
New Black Fedora I went online ’cause I couldn’t find a New Black Fedora at my local hardware store. With a feather in its side, I felt new pride, and headed for the Dress Rehearsal. I read my lines, did real fine, never took off my hat, come Column Time it seems just fine, to […]
The A Cappella Handyman: Writer’s Tuesday
Writer’s Tuesday Suppose I did this for a living, could I keep up the pace? Or would I shrink into a mis-shaped curl, laptop open on my chest, supported by my knees, feet down upon my recliner, footrest up, tethered to the juice in the wall by the white wire lifeline keeping my batteries up? […]
The A Cappella Handyman: To Write
To Write To write is to grasp at the greatest of fantasies and to hold them firmly in the hand. To dream the greatest of dreams and to capture them in words. To seize upon the most illusive of thoughts, to harness them for a moment, and then in time, let them too run free. […]
The A Cappella Handyman: Concert in My Head
Down at the waterfront’s “Naked Oyster,” the dinner hours are over. The clink of glasses at the bar can still be heard as patrons move to the small stage area and the house lights begin to dim and focus on the night’s entertainment. Over the PA system comes the singular announcement: “Ladies and Gentlemen of […]
The A Cappella Handyman: Paying it Forward
Paying it Forward Went out to see a customer this morning, from what she explained on the phone, maybe I could do her work, or maybe I shouldn’t. Turned out I referred her to two new sources, both younger than me, that will do her work just fine. We talked for the next hour on […]
The A Cappella Handyman: Chapbooks 1, 2 & 3
1973. I needed to do this first one, BAD! I had some 40 poems I wanted to share with the world and it was a new adventure for me. I’d only been writing since 1970 while listening nights to Neil Diamond while freelancing from home as an illustrator after doing the same at SERL days […]