Author Archives: drice
To blog or not to blog…
I have not posted on this blog for awhile now. While I occasionally have begun to frame a piece, I have not gotten around to the writing. It seems that I get caught between the urge to get it all down and the wish to let it all go. And if I must write, … Continue reading
Of love and flyfishing
There is no hint from my distant past that would make me a fly fisherman. I never fished with my Dad and he only fished when he and a few pals made their annual trip to the Klamath River, far in Northern California, perhaps more drinking and male bonding than fishing. Once or twice I … Continue reading
In Clover fields
In the green and sandy days of ago, when the clothes were hand-me-downs and no jeans had knees, we rode (yes, helmetless) with the wind in our hair, sometimes without working brakes, through the streets and alleys and vacant lots of the west side of LA, not knowing that it would end. On the sandlot … Continue reading
ER
Because I had served as a medic (SAC 452nd Medical Aero-Vac), when I came out of the service in ’67 I was hired as an orderly at Santa Monica Hospital in the Emergency Room. At that time, SM ER served all of the west side of LA. I had no idea what I was in … Continue reading
Lessons Learned: the uncorked truth.
In the middle of my senior year in High school, 1963, my pal Tim McGee helped me score a job working for Pearson’s Brentwood, the premier wine cellar of the Westside. Located on the corner of 26th and San Vicente, just across from the Brentwood Mart, Pearson’s was not the usual liquor store. First of … Continue reading
Snake aversion
We put our golden retriever, Doc, through rattlesnake aversion therapy a couple of weeks back. Not generally a fan of that sort of thing, it is necessary if one is to hike our local hills. In the morning and evenings especially, snakes are on the move. In our HVS days, we would have years of … Continue reading
My Life as a Mad Man
Recently, Meredy and I began to watch Mad Men. I know… we live behind the curve. (We have also begun to re-watch the entire Cheers series from the beginning). When I was in high school, pretty much the time frame of this series, being an adman was what I wanted from life. At least it … Continue reading
Easy Money
In my early college years, Herb Chase, a man who was kind to me in many ways over the years, hired me to help layout ads for his paper, the Independent Journal, in Santa Monica. The paper was laid out on boards, photographed and reduced to 70% and sent to press. I liked the work, … Continue reading
Lane
I was shut in an empty classroom with 3×5 cards color coded and spread across two tables. I was trying to create class schedules for the some 20 odd students that comprised The Happy Valley School in 1978. Dr. Lunt, the HVS Director, keyed into the room followed by a tall bearded fellow, a prospective … Continue reading
And then it rained…
One of the most delightful scents that I know is that of chaparral after a rain. It is no surprise to anyone that California has been going through a drought…something that happens every decade or so. (While the average annual rainfall for Ojai is supposed to be 16 inches that just means that some … Continue reading