For two years Douglas Hergert has been writing a thousand-word anecdotal human-interest column for the Rossmoor News. Rossmoor, an adult community located about 30 minutes east by car from San Francisco, has a population of perhaps 10,000 residents. The community is economically and generationally diverse, but urbane, intelligent, and active, with a high percentage of retired professionals and artists. The Rossmoor setting is a park-like campus complete with redwood groves, lush landscaping, and abundant wildlife, including geese, wild turkeys, and many other resident species. Life at Rossmoor is characterized by the community's amenities, including two golf courses, three swimming facilities (one indoors), a gym, a library, a movie theater, multiple clubhouses, a restaurant and bar, tennis courts, and a newspaper. The Rossmoor News is published weekly by a paid professional staff, and distributed to every resident. The paper is 60-plus pages long, and allocates space for editorial columns and features, some politically oriented, others more general. In his own column, Hergert has written about topics that happen to catch his interest: books, movies, food, travel, nature, current events, places, human-interest anecdotes, or memories from his own life experiences. The tone of his column is generally light, sometimes humorous, with the aim to amuse and inform. This book is a collection of three dozen pieces originally published in the Rossmoor News. Although the writing Hergert does for the News may sometimes convey a distinctly local context, this collection contains a diverse variety of general-interest stories. In these pages you'll read about: the transition from Paris to Rossmoor; the mystery of coq-au-vin; pizza dough as physical therapy; a tale of Christmas in Paris; reflections on bird watching and memory; life and chicken stew in West Africa; Afghanistan in less troubled times; the Ten Commandments and a curious meeting; a travel journal along the California coast; book reviews and movie reviews; life with prosopagnosia (in the title story, "Do I know you?"); how to live with Montaigne; how to make blueberry pancakes; how to use zucchini and arugula in a pasta dish; and how to stuff a turkey. Even if you don't live at Rossmoor, even if you're younger than 55 - and even if you've never taken a ride in a golf cart - you'll find a bounty of compelling, amusing, and revealing reading in this collection of personal stories.
Bring Out the Accordions is Douglas Hergert's third collection of essays, originally written for the Rossmoor retirement community of Walnut Creek, California. In these pages you'll read about people, books, food, and memories.
Can't Get It in France -- More Stories from the Rossmoor News is Douglas Hergert's second collection of essays, originally written for the Rossmoor retirement community of Walnut Creek, California. In these pages you'll read about people, books, food, and memories, including: a culinary experience that people come from France to enjoy; a contemporary look at Shakespeare; the American life of an African son; an appreciation of the humorist Calvin Trillin; the buzz about San Francisco neighborhoods; and two favorite holiday essays, reprinted here from an earlier volume. You'll also find profiles of Rossmoor residents, with anecdotal reviews of their work, their opinions and interests, and their lives. With a population of ten thousand senior citizens, Rossmoor abounds in compelling stories.
In 1974, Douglas Hergert landed in Kabul, Afghanistan, to begin what would become a five-year, two-country tour in the Peace Corps. He lived and worked for two years in Afghanistan – when the country was still a peaceful and beautiful place to visit. Then he transferred to Sénégal, in West Africa. During his Peace Corps years, Hergert had great adventures, which, now many years later, he shares with humor and warm attention to detail:• Living in a mud house in rural Afghanistan• Attending a village Afghan wedding• Learning to barter in Pashto in the bazaars of Afghanistan• Eating in a kabaab shop in Kandahar, the only foreigner present• Experiencing an earthquake in southern Afghanistan• Teaching at the University of Dakar• Getting married at the Cathedral of Dakar• Shopping for a Thanksgiving turkey in Kaolack, Sénégal• Mastering the art of Sénégalese cuisine• Living with the mysteries of cross-linguistic meaning• Nurturing an African son
Longtime San Francisco novelist Laurence Roy has arrived at the end of his writing career. During a period of thirty-five years, he's published dozens of novels - well received, highly regarded, warmly reviewed - though they have not led to great fame or fortune. He is a disciplined professional, devoted to his authorial routine. Writer's block is not part of his vocabulary. But at age sixty, he has abruptly realized that he's had enough of writing. All the same, he has one last novel left, and he has decided - with a sense of uncertainty, ambivalence, puzzlement - to spend six months writing in Paris. Although he cannot guess exactly what this new environment might do for him, he says goodbye to his wife and family, flies to Paris, and moves into a Left Bank apartment that a friend has lent him. As he settles into the neighborhood, he meditates on the long intellectual and creative history of Paris. At the same time he finds himself examining his own existence: his work, his age, his family, his life. What is it about Paris that always seems to lead visiting Americans to think and behave in new ways? He is mystified by this phenomenon, but he comes to treasure the new experience. As his youthful French language skills return to him, he explores the mysterious power of Paris, which somehow draws him forward in ways that he could not have foreseen. Will he finish his novel? Will he come to terms with his family, his professional life, the burdens of advancing age? In the voices of several narrators, Larry's story moves forward and backward in time, set in several international milieus - but Paris is always at the center. Do unpredictable adventures lie ahead? Only Paris knows.
Under the Redwoods is Hergert's fourth collection of essays, originally written for the Rossmoor News. It contains a selection of "Ad Lib" columns, followed by Hergert's 2014 book reviews. In these pages you'll read about: a misplaced medieval treasure, sadly languishing far from home; bakery goods developed by the Los Angeles Unified School District; a determined rediscovery of merguez sausages; a San Francisco church forever associated with Whoopi Goldberg; the best place to buy an almond torte; an extraordinary new seaside hiking trail south of San Francisco; a treasured grove of redwoods; and the history of the Allen wrench. First edition, with index.
This millennium edition visually steps readers through what they need to know to get started with this new version of consumer Windows. Readers quickly and easily can learn how to customize their desktops, learn basic software skills, use the Internet, and navigate system tools.
Addressing the new features of the newest version of Windows, and leading the reader step-by-step with full-color illustrations, How to Use Windows 95 is the perfect book for any new user of Windows.
This new release of 1-2-3 includes new formatting, help, and scripting features--"object-oriented" improvements that are the wave of the future in spreadsheets. With comprehensive coverage for the business user at any level of experience, this guide serves the needs of DOS users unfamiliar with Windows as well as upgraders and more advanced users.
This combined tutorial and reference shows you how to use the most important features of Word for Windows, then provides practical support for day-to-day tasks. Part I supplies tutorial coverage of all the basics, from creating and printing your first document to adding WordArt, pictures, tables, and charts. Part II is an alphabetical reference to the commands you'll use every day.
Mastering Turbo Pascal 5 is a fast and efficient programming environment, designed for developing, testing, compiling, and debugging programs, and for creating stand-alone applications that can be performed directly from DOS. For a wide range of experience levels.
This comprehensive book/disk set enables beginning programmers to get started quickly. Packed with sample programs, examples, and exercises, the disk expertly accompanies the text that offers a clear, hands-on introduction to mastering the Turbo Pascal development tools.
This classic handbook presents comprehensive, stand alone tutorial chapters on all the key features of Visual Basic "X". Each chapter contains an introduction and overview, a screen shot of the program, program listings with call outs, program commentary and special "icon" features for Tool Tips, Internals, Design Issues, Common Mistakes, and Testing Tips. Disk includes sample code.
A concise yet comprehensive pocket reference for Excel users who need on-the-spot problem solving, a quick overview of new features, or a brief way to check little-used commands. All major features and functions are covered.
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