A young cousin Helen paid me a supreme compliment this past January as I laid…
Hugh Hayden: Home Work
I am good—pretty good—at keeping my hands in my pockets or clasped behind my back while in an art museum. Rules keep the art safe. Even so, between my poor eyesight and exuberance in the presence of objects of wonder, I have driven a number of guards on two continents...
Trump Redux: It’s Worse When You Know How Terrible It Was Before
I spent November 5, 2024, working at my local polling place. Had just enough time to shower and dress, walk Ping, have a swallow of tea, and walk around the corner to Samuel Adams Elementary School before the clock chimed six. There’s a lot to prepare: putting up...
Family Stories 1: Witches, Part Two
Pilgrim Witches I might have thought that was all the witchcraft there was in the tree, until January 2024 when I was wandering in Old South Church off Copley Square in Boston. The church has installed a series of panels along the back of the nave that describes the...
Family Stories 1: Witches, Part One
I’ve been called a witch often enough. Most of the time, I think what meant the word that started with a “b,” although the word makes no difference to me or my sense of self-esteem. It certainly made a difference my 7th great-grand-dad, Samuel Wardwell (1643-1692),...
Changing Lives 16: Social Life With Dogs
People with dogs in the family lead fairly regular lives. Even more than the need to get to work and school on time, to show up at medical appointments, and get dinner underway at a decent hour, we are governed by the routines of pet bladders and bowels. Even the most...
Changing Lives 15: Changing Supermarkets
The nearest supermarket to me is the Shaw’s on Border Street in East Boston. I figured it’d be fine; I relied on a Shaw’s when I lived in Merrimack, New Hampshire, in the 1990s. And there was a certain convenience that the same shopping area included a Kappy’s and a...
Changing Lives 14: Walking Everywhere
Brophy Park up at the corner is Grand Central Station between six-thirty and seven-thirty in the morning and eight and nine in the evening. Prime time for dog walkies. That’s our schedule too. In general I try to make each walk a little different, and that’s easy...
Changing Lives 13: Ping
One of my criteria in looking for a condo in Boston was that they building be “pet friendly.” I didn’t have a pet, but I might want one. Now I do have a pet, and her name is “Ping.” The Story About Ping Yes, she is the namesake of Ping in The Story About Ping by...