Signs are everywhere - street signs, traffic signs, business signs. There are streets named after flowers, trees and states; and of course, there's Main Street - even though the townspeople have moved to the suburbs. The traffic signs that were red are now yellow because yellow is easier to see - unless you're explaining to a policeman why you

I found myself having to catch a bus last week, the second week of the children's school summer holiday. I was instructed to take my son to his Grandma's house and with my wife having the car it left me with no choice but to do something that I hadn't done for over twenty years - take the bus. The 188 from Weymouth to Poole. I was to get on fr

Some people stop to smell the roses. I stop to watch the world go by. When I see boys wearing over-sized clothing and girls dressing up in Brittany Spears' outfits, I smile. Now I know how my mother felt when I teased my hair, wore blue eye shadow and dated boys with sideburns and greased- back hair. Brides have their hair and make-up professio

"Jobs Americans Won't Do" has been in the news a lot lately; and I admit it - there are jobs I won't do. I won't be a high-rise window washer. My fear of height overrides my desire to peek in windows. To the other extreme, I won't be an oceanographer - the kind who explores the deeps in a little submarine. I'm claustrophobic. Even if I were

I'm determined to be a good sport. I just can't decide at what sport I'd be good. Although my parents were golfers, I didn't inherit their talent. Addressing the ball, shifting my weight when I swung the club, keeping my head down - basically, I couldn't keep my eye on the ball. My grandmother kept me on horseback every summer - until a bee

The plasma screen of life is out of focus. My husband and I were late getting to a party. Although the host had given us directions, we got lost. Grab my heart and fall to the floor, John pulled into a gas station and asked for directions. What is this world coming to when a doctor with nicotine stains on his fingers gives me advice about my he

If you're like me, you spend hours surfing the internet looking for weird stuff that you've never seen or read about before. During my extensive research one evening, as I scoured cyberspace to find some new and unusual crap to entertain myself with, I finally found what I was looking for. At about 2:00 A.M. on a Thursday night, I couldn't rela

There's that time of year - which can be any time of year - I want to drop everything, have someone take over my responsibilities and feel as free as the wind. During childhood this is known as the running-away-to-join-the-circus syndrome. During adulthood it's known as fantasy - fantasy that's fed by the get-away ads for Southwest Airlines.

If you've ever been interested in making money on the internet, then at some point you've probably visited your favorite search engine and typed in one of the following phrases: "Make Money" - "Work From Home" - "Get Rich Online." And, you've encountered some deliciously interesting results. My personal favorites are the websites that have a c

"Don't put that in your mouth". "Don't touch". Our lives begin with rules and the amount of rules grows as we grow. As soon as I could walk, I heard, "Don't run in the house". On one occasion, however, my mother ran. Actually, she was chasing my sisters and me with a water pistol; and it was my mother who fell and gashed her leg on the coffee t

How do you know when you're grown up? Is it when people stop asking you what you want to be? One of the first things I wanted to be was an only child - no hand-me-down's, no sharing, no comparing, no competition.Then I realized if I didn't have siblings, I wouldn't have anyone to share the blame. From the age of ten I wanted to be a writer. I wr

Somewhere around the summer between my 5th and 6ths grade years at EV Cain Elementary School a girl named Rhonda moved from Grass Valley to Auburn, and there was something about her that fascinated me. I saw her sometimes during the summer, going to the show with other girls, or shopping downtown with her Mother. She was intriguing to me for some r

Where did all the people go? When I go up and down the supermarket aisles, I see pictures of Paul Newman and Wolfgang Puck on almost everything. I've come to the conclusion both these men are missing and soon their pictures will be on milk cartons. Supermarket cashiers are missing too. They've been replaced by self-checkout lanes. I'm suppo

Think recycling and you think aluminum, glass and paper. That's just the beginning. I recycle gifts - quality gifts that I think a relative, friend or child's teacher would appreciate - something I would have bought for them myself if someone hadn't given it to me first. Honest! I also recycle boxes - interesting boxes. Mrs. Field's cookies

New York, New York - if I can drive it there, I'll drive it anywhere - even LA. When I was given the finger by a New York cab driver, I saw it as a one-finger salute for successfully cutting in front of him to make a right turn. Living in LA, however, has diminished my driving skills. We don't drive on the freeways. We progressively park closer