Tom Patterson

They Picked Us!

We’ve always said they picked us before they arrived. We’ve always felt that our kids picked us before we met them. Both of our daughters are adopted and this is the story of our first becoming parents. After one late miscarriage and many surgeries for an illness, we had decided to adopt. Cathy wanted kids and at the timeContinue reading “They Picked Us!”

Canaries in My Coal Mine

Prologue Back in the days before Electronic Early Warning Systems, coal miners would take a canary in a cage, down with them into the mines. If the canary stopped singing and fell over dead, they knew it meant “Warning-get Out Now!”. I use this as a metaphor. We each live in our own coal mineContinue reading “Canaries in My Coal Mine”

About Tom

My dad bought me my first camera, when I was nine. We were in Jackson Hole Wyoming, in our little 15 foot Shasta travel trailer on summer vacation. Our destination – Yellowstone National Park! He bought two of them, one for me and one for my little brother, Pat. He paid for the little BrownieContinue reading “About Tom”

Santa Rosa

Santa Rosa is an hour north of San Francisco, on Highway 101. My older brother, Hank, and his family moved from the San Fernando Valley to take a teaching position at Santa Rosa Junior High School. 12 years older than me, he, his wife and three kids quickly fell in love with Sonoma County. Then threeContinue reading “Santa Rosa”

As some of you probably know, I spent about 20 years in the bar and restaurant business.

I’ve been going through stuff that I have accumulated over my lifetime. I’ve had trouble throwing out anything. Fortunately my wife has wanted to keep a nice house so the bulk of my stuff was relegated to the garage when I had one. Then a 40 foot storage container and then another one as weContinue reading “As some of you probably know, I spent about 20 years in the bar and restaurant business.”

Summer’s almost gone Winter’s coming on!

I started writing this two months ago. That morning I left my house about 10:30 A.M. on my way to Lowe’s. Our mobile home park is located right by the freeway sound barrier wall so you barely notice the white noise created by the sound of traffic. The shopping center with the Lowe’s is just a short distance acrossContinue reading “Summer’s almost gone Winter’s coming on!”

The Rotary Club And How I Got To Peru

I joined the Rotary Club because I had heard good things about the organization. My kids’ orthodontist, Larry Henig, was a member and he said he would sponsor me. I had just become a salesman at Discovery Office Systems. I thought it would be a good way to meet people in my community and giveContinue reading “The Rotary Club And How I Got To Peru”

Another life changing event

It was fall of 1986, I was working as a limo driver and had a photography business on the side. I had several weddings scheduled for the season so I thought I was in pretty good shape. Then disaster struck. I was blowing up balloons with a canister of nitrogen. One of them blew upContinue reading “Another life changing event”

My Journalism Career!

I had just finished my freshman year at St. Mary’s College and had taken summer school classes every year of high school. Since I attended Catholic high school – summer school was a cool way to get credits for things that weren’t available at St. Genevieve’s High School. I took typing class two years and got pretty good at it. One year IContinue reading “My Journalism Career!”

The King Needs Weatherman!

I didn’t write this But it’s a good story with a good message. Once upon a time, there was a king who wanted to go fishing. He called the royal weather forecaster and inquired about the weather forecast for the next few hours. The weatherman assured him that there was no chance of rain inContinue reading “The King Needs Weatherman!”