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Posts published by “Paul Modic”

The Day of the Ashes

Yesterday, September 9, 2020 smoke and ashes from the nearby wildfires blocked out the sun and settled on the graves and gravestones in the local cemeteries. The ash covered everything: cars, yards, decks, and the…

Taxicab Memories

I can still remember that first fare in my New York taxi: an older white-haired woman standing at Union Square on 17th Street. I cruised to a stop and picked her up but had no…

Welcome to Northern California

I first heard that word “scamming” when I wandered out to the hills of Northern California as a hitchhiking teenager. I learned it meant to do or get something by sometimes sneaky and probably illegal…

Scrabble & Running

I had two main problems in life: I was fifty pounds overweight and my next-door neighbor beat me at Scrabble every time. Actually over the years I did beat her once, by one, and we…

Barn-Building In Mendo

I had been playing with the idea of putting a guest cottage in my backyard for a few years; the zoning might not allow it but maybe I would just do it anyway and no…

José

There is drama everywhere or at least wherever I go. I don't exactly create it but my bullshit detector is on high always, can't help it, it just is. Here on Creekside Farms Road on…

The Guy

I have this Saturday ritual where I go to Redway, buy the New York Times, and then drive down to lower Redway to read some of it in the woods by the water plant. Recently…

Racism

I realized the other day that I have a racist friend. “Dude, you're a racist,” I said. “Why don't you just admit that you like Trump?” “Everyone likes Trump!” he said. “No,” I said, “most…

Creekside Farms Paradise

The bamboo is marching voraciously through the Texas heat here on Creekside Farms Road, wrapping around the party barn and heading toward the main house. There is now a sixty-foot trail through a bamboo forest…

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