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Author, Artist, Storyteller
LIFE'S SECOND ACTS
a blog by Marilyn Woods
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Marilyn Gardner Woods
Nov 24, 20231 min
Survived another one!
NO I didn't bake the pies. Didn't snap the green beans. Did NOT tear the sourdough loaf into chunks for the stuffing. Certainly didn't...
172 views2 comments
Marilyn Gardner Woods
Nov 8, 20231 min
AGAIN!
I was certain when I handed the roasting pan to my daughter and turned over my father’s pearl-handled carving set to my son a dozen years...
125 views3 comments
Marilyn Gardner Woods
Oct 5, 20234 min
One Day and counting...
I first wrote the piece below sixteen months ago just after Sophie, my third granddaughter, and Daniel, her tall, dark, and handsome...
171 views3 comments
Marilyn Gardner Woods
Oct 1, 20233 min
"...the last act of secular prayer"
Sophie, the bride-to-be and avid reader, has no time for books lately – she’s getting married next Saturday. We’re all in a tizzy!...
153 views1 comment
Marilyn Gardner Woods
Sep 26, 20231 min
D-Day minus ten
Hummmmm. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr. A medium-pitched hum without variation in tone buzzes throughout the complex. The home and park-like setting...
138 views2 comments
Marilyn Gardner Woods
May 17, 20233 min
Game Days...
Just as 2023 began, I added the New York Times “Spelling Bee,” to my morning routine. It’s a puzzle in which players try to make words...
109 views4 comments
Marilyn Gardner Woods
Dec 20, 20224 min
Really last minute shopping...
The invitation for the dreaded gift exchange stated unisex and at the bottom in barely perceptible font size, up to $100 limit. Yes, I am...
122 views2 comments
Marilyn Gardner Woods
Nov 16, 20223 min
A Wild Turkey happening...
When the front door of my daughter’s home in Valley Center opened, I froze. The sight of her face—a blackish-purple swollen...
191 views2 comments
Marilyn Gardner Woods
Oct 17, 20223 min
HALLOWEEN IN THE LAND OF OZ
From the top shelf in the auto department of Ace Hardware, I pulled a shiny aluminum funnel, the kind for they use at Serrato’s Auto in...
140 views3 comments
Marilyn Gardner Woods
Sep 8, 20222 min
Let 'em eat fish...
I have been called a persnickety eater. Certainly, I'm an unadventurous diner. Not likely to dive into unfamiliar dishes. Especially...
151 views3 comments
Marilyn Gardner Woods
Oct 22, 20212 min
If you love the game of baseball...
The Twin Bill published today, the first day of the 2021 World Series. So many great baseball stories! Especially moving, the poignant...
193 views2 comments
Marilyn Gardner Woods
Oct 8, 20213 min
Green ice cream
“Green.” My toddler, wearing pint-sized Tony Llama cowboy boots, uttered this one-word reply to “What kind of ice cream would you like?”...
267 views4 comments
Marilyn Gardner Woods
Aug 8, 20214 min
Like the bay...
Her name is Chesapeake. Named for the Chesapeake Bay where her parents fell in love. She is the adorable red head, the fifth of my five...
327 views6 comments
Marilyn Gardner Woods
Jun 15, 20213 min
Belated and beloved...
My birthday this year was a bit of blur nestled in the midst of Mother’s Day, three family birthday celebrations, one Master of Arts...
243 views4 comments
Marilyn Gardner Woods
Dec 19, 20205 min
Be a child...
In the recently imposed stay-in-house restriction my region of California is under, I stumbled onto a work of art of mine from a long...
385 views3 comments
Marilyn Gardner Woods
Nov 28, 20203 min
Thanksgiving leftover...
Easily the oddest Thanksgiving ever. The family unit carved up like a turkey. In Arizona, they put up their Christmas tree and had cereal...
217 views3 comments
Marilyn Gardner Woods
Nov 22, 20206 min
My dining room. Inspired by Billy Collins, Poet Laureate.
It’s a small quaint room, my dining room, where meals are rarely eaten. The feast is on the wall, a gallery of art. A peony flower floats...
258 views3 comments
Marilyn Gardner Woods
Oct 12, 20203 min
Halloween warning for DIYers...
Chesterton, Ohio in 1968. Mom came from Texas to visit just about this time of year. A beautiful autumn in the Midwest. My small tots...
187 views4 comments
Marilyn Gardner Woods
Oct 4, 20205 min
October 2020
October 2020 is here—an October like none other in my lifetime. Octobers of my past flutter through my mind like falling leaves. I’ll...
199 views4 comments
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