Vivian Roubal
Vivian Roubal's Latest Posts
At Home With Vivian: It’s raining
It’s raining, it’s pouring, The old man is snoring, He went to bed and he bumped his head So, he couldn’t get up in the morning! I can still hear my mother singing this ditty whenever it rained hard. As a teenager, I sang it with my swimming students to encourage them to splash and […]
At Home With Vivian: Tommy’s in the attic
I came at the tail end of a long line of cousins. I am lucky to have had so much family surrounding me as a child. Being one of 45 first cousins has also been a boon to my story telling career. Two stories in particular have been on my mind lately. My older sister […]
At Home With Vivian: A crafty idea
Every so often I get the urge to clean up and reorganize my basement. It’s my craft room and I have a lot of good stuff in there. The urge to purge usually comes when I can’t walk more than three feet inside the basement door. Last week I discovered that I couldn’t even get […]
At Home With Vivian: Stacks of fun
“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.” ― Jorge Luis Borges I’m feeling very pleased with myself. On Saturday, for just ten dollars, I scored two big brown paper bags full to bursting with cookbooks, audiobooks, paperbacks, and DVDs. If you’ve ever been to one of the quarterly Friends of […]
At Home With Vivian: Pick one!
My older sister Brenda was visiting last weekend from Washington State. We shopped on Main Street, rode the Vallejo Ferry to San Francisco, and enjoyed the Harvest Festival Craft Fair in Pleasanton. Brenda had never heard of “Trunk or Treat” so, on Sunday after church, we walked through the Farmer’s Market and checked out the […]
At Home With Vivian: Wheeler dealer
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist I always thought that I would own a small business someday just like my father. Dad worked as a hairdresser for forty years. Most of the time he worked alone. Once, he built a thirteen operator shop and managed it for seven years. That turned out to be more […]
At Home With Vivian: Boys State
What do Neil Armstrong, Jon Bon Jovi, Bill Clinton, Tom Brokaw, and Michael Jordan have in common? Hint: Alhambra seniors Carson Edwards, Brenson Raygoza, and Delano Roderick have it too. They were all delegates to American Legion Boys State. I spent Saturday evening, October 5th, enjoying a lovely meal at the Veterans Memorial Building in […]
At Home With Vivian: 50 years of homes
I am one of those walkers you might see out and about early in the morning. I’ve made friends with many dogs out walking their owners. I wave at the regulars at Starbucks and Barrelista on Main Street as I pass by. I live near downtown Martinez so I meander through the old neighborhoods. I […]
At Home With Vivian: Unexpected entertainment
Last Sunday at St. Catherine’s was a lot more fun than usual. While Deacon Albert’s sermon was as interesting and thought provoking as usual, the entertainment in the pews was unexpectedly delightful. I was surrounded by little people. A little boy, about six years old, sat directly in front of me. His mother, and an […]
At Home With Vivian: I love a parade
Homecoming parade in the mid 1990s. We had a little rain and a dip in temperature this week. Autumn is starting to show its colors -blue and gold. Go Bulldogs! I was talking to my young neighbor, Leah, the other day. She informed me that she’s been having fun after school helping to build the […]
