Tag: At Home With Jeff
At Home With Jeff: Legion
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist The American Legion turned 100 years old this week. It started March 15-17, 1919, when 463 war-weary members of the American Expeditionary Forces gathered in Paris for a conference to debate their future and ours. As they wrote, “We, the members of the military and naval services of the […]
At Home With Jeff: Hair today
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist I had a haircut yesterday. The sounds and smells in a beauty shop took me back in time. I spent much of my childhood in beauty shops either helping my parents or just killing time. Both my parents were hairdressers. Dad grew up on a farm in Nebraska. The […]
At Home With Jeff: What is the word?
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist Vivian and I were hiking on Mt Diablo last Saturday with family visiting from out of town. The weather was perfect. Wildflowers were in bloom. As we hiked along, the kids and I started playing the game Word Family. “Words that start with the letters pt,” my daughter challenged. […]
World Book
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist Last summer, we sailed on a Mediterranean cruise to celebrate our 40th anniversary. It was a glorious three week vacation spent visiting exotic ports from Barcelona in the west to Athens in the east. Our favorite city on the cruise was Florence, Italy. Vivian and I had visited once […]
Party like it’s 1999
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist “But when I woke up this mornin’, could’ve sworn it was judgment day. The sky was all purple, there were people runnin’ everywhere. Tryin’ to run from the destruction.” From the Prince song titled “1999.” I remember Y2K very well. It’s hard to believe that was 19 years ago. […]
At Home With Jeff: Good bugs & bad bugs
By JEFF ROUBAL I have always loved bugs. As a child, I would watch them and play with them for hours. My mother believed that children should be indoors only as long as they were occupied doing something useful, otherwise they should be outside. My brothers and I spent a lot of time outdoors, much […]
At Home With Jeff: Black Friday
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist Like most other American families, the Roubals spend Thanksgiving Day cooking, cleaning, and preparing for the holiday – which we celebrate on the Friday after Thanksgiving. As it turns out, Friday is the best day for our family to gather. Our children, nieces and nephews have grown into adults. […]
At Home With Jeff: “Pockets”
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist One of my favorite games to play when our kids were little was “What is in your pockets?” We played this while waiting somewhere or killing time. We would sit on a curb and everyone would empty his or her pockets. Next, we would see what we could make […]
At Home With Jeff: Artichokes
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist My father was born and raised near Omaha. When he moved to California, Dad became somewhat of a celebrity in his hometown. His relatives and former neighbors described “LIttle Eddie” as all grown up and living a glamorous life with beaches, freeways, movie stars, and palm trees. During the […]
At Home With Jeff: Soup’s on
By JEFF ROUBAL Martinez News-Gazette Columnist While Vivian and I were camping in Kings Canyon a couple weeks ago, we made beef stew for dinner. It was the most delicious stew that I’ve had in a long time. (I suspect part of the secret seasoning may have been kerosene fumes from the camp stove.) As […]
