In this episode, Jean Jackman traces a joyful birthday of local adventures with her husband, hiking flower-bright canyons and planning future travels. Maggy Gorrill turns a rogue cockroach into a witty, heartfelt look at vermin and the vulnerability of building a new life on the West Coast. And David Blake shares three hilarious animal escapades—from a naked bird rescue to a cat-launched midnight attack, plus the fire-saving dog—that reveal how creatures shape our lives in the most unexpected ways.
In this episode, Hal George discovers unexpected grace in the quiet work of a cemetery office. Kathi Hickey follows a trail of uncanny rainbows while carrying out a promise to a dear friend. Jean Jackson recalls how a local protest suddenly put her on the Rachel Maddow Show. And Justine Murray reflects on Kyiv, holding both her memories of the city she once knew and the losses Ukraine has endured since the 2022 invasion.
Jim Purdy takes us on a flavorful journey through Central Texas barbecue, from his first taste of smoky Austin brisket to a lifelong quest to recapture that perfect bite. David Blake turns a summer evening in Normandy into a fiery, hilarious Tex-Mex adventure, complete with hot sauce mishaps and a family-inspired country ballad. And Ann Russell immerses us in the final summer at Fish Camp, capturing leaping salmon, tireless net hauling, and the bittersweet rhythms of a life spent on the river.
A fearless East Coaster's California dream shatters when a giant American cockroach—flipped on its back—invades her sunlit great room, unleashing Wikipedia-fueled horror and homesick tears for the vermin-free life left behind.
A 70-something activist's drum-and-kazoo protest in Davis, CA, lands her on national TV—sandwiched between Romney's defiant impeachment vote and Schiff's plea—proving small acts echo in democracy's darkest hour.
A physicist’s lifelong love affair with Central Texas brisket becomes a wandering quest through America’s barbecue belt, ending in California, where salmon and sashimi finally replace his holy grail of smoked beef.
At 4 a.m., a retired performer, once powered by nine-hour nights, now cycles through rituals, meditations, and doomscrolling before trying a therapist-prescribed “brain dump” journal—her hopeful new path back to sleep.
David Blake takes us on a wild midnight adventure from posh Woodside to the tattoo parlor frequented by Hells Angels. Maggy Gorrill shares a 4 a.m. brain dump of insomnia and menopause. Hal George remembers a single thank you note that shaped his career, growth, and love, and Maggy Gorrill joins us a second time to reflect on mentoring a shy student abroad and the lasting power of a dance lesson.
In 1972, amid war, Watergate, and wild family dynamics, I learned the most enduring lesson of that era: never leave pot brownies where the babysitter can find them.
Late life love, seniors who fall in love, experience the same passion and fascination as younger people who are in love. Seniors don’t always marry; they don’t always have sex; but they find themselves more intimately connected than ever before. What do we have to learn from people who’ve learned what really matters?
David Blake entertains us with the babysitter who somehow finds the ‘special’ brownies, while Dan Rott’s service station uniform seems to change size. Xiaomei Chen’s story begins when her mother was a girl at the beginning of the cultural revolution in China.
