January 14th, 2013 | General, Pets, the world and Mother Nature, Travel, United States
Manatees hang in the water at the Tampa Electric Company (TECO) in Apollo Beach, seemingly born by the currents of oblivion as little fish nibble at their skin and sharks school protectively around them. At a distance they are nothing but brown bumps, little islands....
January 12th, 2013 | Friends, General, Popular Culture, Travel, United States, visual arts
Our rental for this Florida vacation is a Kia Optima, a perfectly nice car, but not what I planned on. Dollar was offering a deal where I might get either a compact or an upgrade. Turns out that the upgrade was a Grand Caravan and there were no compacts. Backed into...
January 11th, 2013 | Friends, General, Memory, Travel, United States, visual arts
We updated the the Garmin Nuvi and lost Serena. Serena’s charming English diction tended to break down with the letter “r” but that was kinda fun, you know, the “what on earth did she just say?” giggle. With the update, the voice changed to something of slightly...
December 29th, 2012 | Cooking, Kitchen and Table, General, Holidays, Memory
I got so excited I just had to post of Facebook: “It’s snowing!!!! It’s Christmas Eve and it’s snowing!!!!!” Yes, way too many exclamation marks. I remember one year quite some time ago, I think probably 1965 or 1966. We were at the grandparents’ home, 161 Main Street...
December 20th, 2012 | Cooking, Kitchen and Table, General, Holidays, Memory, Shopping, Time Passes
What, no peppermint stick ice cream? Is there something wrong with this place stuck just under the Mason-Dixon Line? My Dear One has been searching high and low and with no luck. There is none at Klein’s/Shop-Rite, none at Mars, none at Weis or Wal-Mart. We even tried...
December 12th, 2012 | Cooking, Kitchen and Table, Friends, Genealogy, General, Holidays, Memory, Time Passes, Travel
In the waning months of my “Year of Present Living” we finally got to Lithuania. Both of us acquired a whole bunch of new cousins in 2012, as well. That’s what happens when you shake those family trees with vigor and a little manic enthusiasm. Our dinner table,...
October 31st, 2012 | General, the world and Mother Nature
Prolonged periods without electricity are rather like air travel with long layovers—I get a lot of reading done. I finished the last few pages of Andrew Graham-Dixon’s superior biography, Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane. Every Third Thought by John Barth—a book...
September 3rd, 2012 | Genealogy, General, Memory, Time Passes, Travel, United States
It wasn’t the wedding my heart yearns for. That wedding must wait until my Tattooed Boy is wrapped in love by some young woman who loves him and his family the way he will no doubt love her and hers. No, this was the nuptials of Young James and His Katie, friends...
August 29th, 2012 | Genealogy, Memory, Time Passes, Travel, United States
In genealogy, I have found, it is always easier to see a connection than prove one, to imagine a family than establish one, to design a tree rather than allow it to grow. When we attempted to track down my Dear One’s Lithuanian progenitors, for instance, an...
August 28th, 2012 | Genealogy, General, Memory, Time Passes, Travel, United States
“Dontchaknow”punctuated her every third or fourth sentence. Granny was fabulous. She was easily moved to laughter, her eyes sparkling and her face a constellation of wrinkles. She made brownies and applesauce. She took us out to lunch at some restaurant between...