Is there a time-release bit of gardener's DNA in the human genome that wakes up…
Pumpkin
I noticed the post on Facebook suggesting that you remove the bottom of the pumpkin and not the top. While I didn’t pay attention to the details, I grasped that the seeds and guts would be easier to clean and that the candle or other illumination would be more firmly...
Dialysis 3: Warm Enough
Many people struggle to stay warm. They flee to Florida and Arizona, to Spain, pretty much anywhere the summer springs eternal. When they cannot do that, they jack up the thermostat. When my sister returned to Massachusetts on break from Arizona State University,...
The Art Of Their Craft
The tree guys—Clayton’s Tree Service–came by as scheduled. One dead green ash, one dying green ash, two non-fruiting persimmons and a cedar needed removal; the Japanese maple in the upper terrace garden needed a prune, pending my decision about eliminating it....
We Are All History
At the news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, my mind went so many places. One of those places was my grandparents’ butler’s pantry. On one shelf, among odd sets, had been the set of coronation cups. “Who had them now?” I wondered and emailed my siblings and cousins...
Dialysis 2: How Can I Screw Up?
Honestly, qualified medical professionals and the Fresenius Medical Care/NxStage Medical, Inc. have extraordinary faith that someone like me is not going to precipitate a medical crisis. I’m a full partner in this home hemo thing. I received six weeks of...
Other Hidden Histories
Sometimes a book seems like it was written just for you. A review of Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family (2020) by Robert Kolker caught my eye. Perhaps it was in The New York Times, maybe The New Yorker magazine. The book seemed like something my...
Of Time and Family 5: Sweet Dreams and Dominoes
Kate contacted me out of the blue. Her email said, I have just been given an old box with a label on the top with “Laura A. Wavle, 11 Story Street, Cambridge, Mass”. I’m wondering if you have anymore information about her and whether she lived her life in MA, or did...
Lidl Let Us Down
Long ago, during an excursion to France, my Dear One and I discovered pâtes de fruit, lovely little fruit jellies in the most marvelous flavors. Not just strawberry and apricot, raspberry and pear, but coing (quince) and our most favorite, black currant. These...