Stories to Dine Out On - 006 - Charles Garside

 A very interesting (if I do say so myself) interview with journalist and newspaper editor Charles Garside.

STDOO- 005 Gail Graham

 I talk to Gail Graham, a portrait painter from London, this week.

You can visit her website here:

www.gailgraham.co.uk

Gail Graham

Latest Podcast Episode - Ralph Meyering Jr.

 This week, I talk to actor/writer Ralph Meyering Jr. He talks about his grandmother visiting him from beyond to help with his career and to get him to do some important work for her.

I'm podcasting, again.

 If you have known me for a long time, you'll remember when I tried to do a crafting podcast, maybe 10 years ago or so. I only did a couple of episodes before I got bored. Well, I'm at it again. I'm trying out 2 podcasting ideas, working to get the technical aspects taken care of.  The first podcast is called Stories to Dine Out On. I get people to tell me the stories they like to tell at dinner parties.

Here's episode 1:

And episode 2:

Fire! Fire!

 My house could have burned down yesterday. It didn't, but it could have. My cats could have been cooked inside. I could have been cooked inside. 

I was sitting doing some work on an audiobook edit when I heard some noises out on my front porch. I've got cats, and a handyman/gardener (Nacho) who potters around my yard, so hearing noises doesn't mean anything and I ignore them as long as they aren't vomiting cat or peeing-not-in-the-litter-box cat. I kept working. A few minutes later, the noise sounded more like an explosion and I finally looked up from my laptop. 

There is a moment when you see your front porch engulfed in flames that you doubt what you are really seeing. My front porch can't possibly be on fire. There is nothing out there to burn. Did someone throw a Molotov cocktail over my fence? Is Nacho having a barbeque? After a brief moment of disbelief, I moved Hot Lips off of my lap (she didn't notice anything was wrong), jumped up and ran outside, through my back/kitchen door. 

I had my phone with me and called 611 as I hurried, barefoot, to the garden hose on that side of the house. Yes, 611. Oops. I managed to dial 911 correctly while turning on the hose and getting to the porch. I was on hold with 911 while spraying back the flames, uncertain of what was burning, why it was burning, and if water was going to work. I ran right past my kitchen fire extinguisher, but didn't want to put the hose down to go back inside to get it. I just had to hope water would do it. There was a firetruck just a few minutes away, I was reassured.

A woman (was it my neighbor? I was too adrenaline-filled to notice) stopped by my gate to say she heard the explosion. I think I just said "Fire! The fire department is on the way!" and she left. I should have said, "The fire department is on the way. Can you stay out on the street to direct them here?" My house is on a corner and people almost universally fail to figure out where the walk-in gate is, instead parking on the cross street near my driveway. The firemen wouldn't be able to see me if they stopped by the gate on the wrong street. 

I just kept spraying the water, aiming it at smoke as the smoke appeared. The flames died down quickly, but not the smoke. Two large fire engines arrived. One parked on the wrong street near my parking gate. The other stopped in front of my house and the firemen just looked around, confused. The flames were gone, most of the smoke was gone, but I still needed help. I'm not a fire-fighting professional.

I waved my arms around while continuing to hose off the porch. They saw me and came over. One man took the hose away from me and I backed off to let them do their jobs. They grabbed rakes and started pulling the charred remains of vases, flowerpots, a trash can and other items away from beside the porch. 

Did I know how this happened? No. I just looked up from my work and saw flames. Was the burning stuff mine? Did I know what it was? No. It wasn't mine. It belonged to Nacho. I called him and he came running over. He was just at the other end of the block at the gas station. He had heard the explosion. 

 Nacho pushed his way through the crowd of firemen and got in the way. They asked him to back up.

After just a few minutes, the firemen declared that everything was fine. I had put the fire out and they didn't think I needed to worry about it reigniting. A boss-like fireman left briefly and returned with a tablet to make a report about the fire. I could get the report if I need to make an insurance claim. 

There wasn't a lot of damage. I don't think I'll make a claim. 

The fire started around 1:23 pm and I was outside with the hose by 1:31 pm. Usually, I'm not home at this time. I go get a drink at Panera around then, or go to TJ Maxx, or go to Albertsons. Some days I go visit friends or go to lunch. I was recording the audiobook on Tuesday and Thursday this week, not at home. But I was selling my car yesterday (Friday) and didn't know what time the new owner was coming to get it. I had decided to just buckle down and work, although the idea of putting a sign on the door that said, "Call me, I can be back in ten minutes" did cross my mind. If I hadn't been waiting for her, my house might have burned down. Is it good luck that I was here to stop the fire, or bad luck that there was a fire in the first place?

I smelled like smoke the rest of the day. I could have changed clothes and showered, but I didn't want to move away from the front room and window view, worried that the fire would start again. I kept checking my Ring camera all night, making sure everything was calm outside. I checked my Ring camera all day today when I finally went to the grocery store after deciding to not go there yesterday. Despite the surge of adrenaline, I managed to sleep last night. And I didn't dream about fires.

The Voice Lesson

 This is the latest episode of Lola is here. Our good friend Katherine Lench Meyering, who voices the Phantom Bride, Melanie Ravenswood at Disneyland Paris, guest stars as Lola's voice teacher in this episode.

Lola is Back!

We are more than half-way done releasing new episodes of the Lola LaRue Variety Show over on YouTube. We wrote an original song for each of the 5 episodes this series. It was a lot of work, but we are both really happy with how the episodes, so far, have turned out.

Here's one of the songs from the first new episode of the series. Diana agreed to let my love of The Pirates of Penzance and of Tom Lehrer serve as inspiration for this one.