Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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Here's another one of those little gems, a story called "Shipwreck" with a great message: A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert-like island. The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agreed that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island. The first thing they prayed...
Some years ago I was friends and bandmates with a brother and sister team who were great punsters. No one could talk with either one of them without experiencing – sometimes several times per conversation – what might be considered "audio double-takes." I was impressed at the time with how the two could make their minds and mouths work so fast, and while I can't remember the specifics of their witty word plays, I do remember how often I laughed and how I enjoyed conversing with them. And how...
I love going to the movies, but I'm not sure I could tell you what my favorite part of the experience is – it could be the story being told on the screen, or it could be the tub of popcorn in my lap. I really like the kind of movie theater popcorn you can only get in a theater – no matter how they package the stuff at the grocery store and try to pass it off as being the same thing, it just ain't – and I even like the butter flavoring they put on it. I suppose if I got right down to it, I'd h...
The other day I was feeling pretty frustrated and blue and somewhat angry about the world situation in general, so I turned off the news and decided to take myself out to breakfast. That was very satisfying but I still felt the need to do something positive, something good for myself, to get my head right again. I decided to visit CALM – the California Living Museum in Bakersfield. I kinda chuckled as I thought to myself "I needed to calm down!"... and CALM seemed perfectly suited for that p...
From time to time I like to share funny or encouraging or inspiring pieces that I get from friends or family. I like seeing sharing all sorts of good-news types of stories and, for myself, I also subscribe to a few different uplifting websites that send out great messages to keep me inspired. I've subscribed to "HeroicStories, Restoring Faith in Humanity One Story at a Time" (www.HerociStories.org) for a few years, and a couple of weeks ago as I was perusing my inbox, I saw one from them titled...
My father passed shortly after Father's Day in June of 2000. I miss him still, and think of him often. For Father's Day this year, I would once again like to honor him and thank him. Thanks, dad, for making my childhood a time of laughter and learning, a time of adventure and travel and new experiences, and a time to collect so very many rich memories that I have treasured for a lifetime. Though it's been 19 years since I last got to talk to you or see you, some of those memories still seem...
Time to share another one of those little stories that shows up every now and then on my computer screen. I especially loved this one the minute I read it and knew I had to pass it on. It's sort of a fable about carrots, eggs and coffee ... well, you'll see. Read on: A young woman went to her father and shared with him her life and heart, how things had been so difficult for her lately and how she found herself tempted to give up. She was emotionally tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed...
I had a total knee replacement in February and once again I am reminded that it takes a village to care for the single living-alone senior citizen (i.e. me) who has to have major surgery. I would really like to publicly thank the many villagers in my life who helped me and made my experience as good as it could be. My surgery was Feb. 11, early on a Monday morning, so I opted to go down to Bakersfield the day before which, if you remember, was a full-on blizzard-y day. My planned ride didn't thi...
Mother's Day is right around the corner, which reminds me once again of how I lucked out as far as mothers go. Mine was really something special. I write this column about looking on the bright side of things because I inherited that tendency from my mother. She was the most consistently optimistic, upbeat person I've ever known, and I'm glad to try to be like her in that respect especially. Life wasn't always easy for my mother but I don't remember her ever dwelling on the negative. She found t...
Wonderful little stories keep coming my way and I just keep wanting to share them with you. Here's one sent to me by a reader via email, a story with no author credited but with a very fine message: Being a friend to someone (is the best gift) One day when I was a freshman in high school I saw a kid from my class walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying every book he owned and I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must...
As the granddaughter of Josephine Larimer, who was, coincidently, born Josephine O'Neil on March 17, 1898 – and who loved a good ol' Irish birthday celebration for the whole month of March -- I just cannot let an important holiday like St. Patrick's Day go by without a mention. OK, maybe it isn't the same as say, Christmas or the fourth of July, but all over the world people are Irish for at least the day on March 17 and celebrate with all things Irish, including shamrocks, leprechauns, parades,...
Picture this: Saturday morning, after a wild week at work, you and your sweetie shoveled snow (again); that afternoon you cleaned house and later in the evening you met up with a couple of other families for game night. Sunday was church and a movie with the family. Sunday evening you made dinner for a visiting friend. Monday work lasted late. Tuesday you had a conference with your kid's teacher and then watched his basketball game. Wednesday you had choir practice. Now it's Thursday afternoon...
As I'm sitting here trying to write my column for this issue of The Loop, and instead fretting about my upcoming surgery and all the stuff I haven't gotten done in preparation for being laid up for a few days, I keep thinking, "I wish I was more like my dogs." I currently have two dogs, Benny and Bailey, and they, along with my cat Anni, are my fun and festive furry family. I love those little critters, and I love how they each have such distinct personalities. And I love how much I can learn...
First Friday in March will be a special thank you to Dawn Callahan and Steve Headrick for all that they done to make Tehachapi Treasure Trove the success it is. They will be leaving us sometime in the next few months and their services and smiles will surely be missed by all of us. Dawn and Steve joined Susanna Monette and Mel White as owner/partners of the Treasure Trove in May of 2014, however, Dawn had been a displaying jewelry artist in the store since the early days of the shop, while...
In one of the movie versions of "Robin Hood," our hero is told by a friend that he will know when he is really in love because he will be willing to die for the woman. Sure enough, later on in the story Robin tells Marian, "I would die for you." Knowing someone is willing to die for you can be an ego boost, sure, but knowing someone is willing to put down the toilet seat for you every day can mean every bit as much. Love is putting food on the table, but it's also a little note stuck in your...
Something about new beginnings and firsts have always delighted and fascinated me. Which is one of many reasons I always look forward to the New Year, every year. Jan. 1 signals a great time to start over, if one so desires. And who doesn't? That's what resolutions are all about, aren't they? I've personally never been very good with New Year's resolutions. Well, I was always pretty good at making them, even writing them down some years, but I was never very good about keeping them. No matter wh...
Just in case you need a little levity as you celebrate the Christmas holiday, here are a few Christmas giggles... and a few groaners: A small cute little boy regularly went to Sunday school where he learned stories from the Bible. One Sunday he heard the story of Three Wise Men guided by the Holy Star. His version of the story, which he told his parents after returning home, was as follows: "On the first Christmas, there was no Santa. So, three men had to deliver toys to baby Christ on camels. S...
As a child, thanks to my mother’s never-ending desire to learn all about other peoples and other religions, I found out that while I was totally and enthusiastically (and sometimes single-mindedly) enthralled with Christmas, there were also a number of other holidays being celebrated in that special time between Thanksgiving and the end of the year. I was, however, simply all about getting presents. As I grew older, I came to understand more about the spirit of Christmas and the meaning of t...
The other day a friend sent me an email with "questions that can't be answered" and some of them made me laugh out loud. Like the first one: Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze those dangly things there, and drink whatever comes out?" I've often wondered about things like that. We take milk from cows for granted, but someone, somewhere, had to be the first person to milk a cow, and that's the sort of thing that's never in the history books. I wish it was. I...
Every year around this time I like to write about enjoying dark and scary thoughts. It is Halloween time, after all, and I love the whole month being full of scary movies on TV and in the movie complexes, and scary stories in magazines and books, and dark tales of murder and mayhem and ghosts and goblins everywhere from around the campfire to around the kitchen table. I've always loved the rush of emotions that come with horror stories. October's overloaded tribute to Halloween is right up my...
Here's another of those little gems, a story called "Shipwreck" with a great message: A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert like island. The two survivors, not knowing what else to do, agreed that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island. The first thing they prayed for...
I was born into a Christian family and raised mostly in two non-controversial protestant denominations: Presbyterian and Methodist. Neither church was on the fringe, and I learned a lot of good stuff in those places on Sunday mornings, and Wednesday evening youth fellowships, and at Bible camp and later church camps (both in the woods and, when we were older, on college campuses). My extended family – on both my mother's and my father's side – were fundamentalist, but I was the daughter of a m...
Time to share another one of those little stories that shows up every now and then on my computer screen (by that prolific writer known as "Author Unknown"). I especially loved this one the minute I read it and knew I had to pass it on. It's sort of a fable, about carrots, eggs and coffee ... and, well, you'll see. Read on: A young woman went to her father and shared with him her life and heart, how things had been so difficult for her lately and how she found herself tempted to give up. She was...
I was stressed and tired one night. Things were crazy at the store, my car was acting funny and I'd had a fight with a friend the night before. My dogs seemed particularly demanding that evening, and the cat seemed particularly whiney and needy. I had a headache. I wanted to hide and mope and feel sorry for myself. But a friend called and said she had an extra ticket to a play I'd never heard of, and would I like to go with her? My brain quickly came up with a list of excuses, and then for some...
Anyone who knows me knows I don't really like to watch "reality" TV, with one exception: "Survivor" is my one guilty pleasure, as it has been for the past 20 years. I've tried other "reality" shows but never lasted more than an episode or two before I got bored and/or disgusted and moved on. Actually, I prefer being entertained or educated when I watch the tube, which leaves most reality shows out of the running. I love story-telling, so I'll often choose to watch episodic TV – mystery, cop s...
