Last night, about ten o'clock, I opened the front door and invited the cat inside…
Dialysis 1: Home Sweet Hemo
It once seemed inconceivable that we—or anyone–would operate a dialysis center in a spare bedroom. If a medical treatment must consume most of your attention and half your week, then bringing it home makes a certain amount of sense. When the Kidneys Give Out For...
Damning Greatness with Faint Attention
The exhibition Wayne Thiebaud 100: Painting, Prints and Drawings, is simply glorious. I saw it at the Brandywine River Museum of Art, the fifth and final venue of a five-museum tour. Wayne Thiebaud is one of my most favorite American artists; he died on Christmas Day...
Reading the Fine Print on Politicians
I had just gotten comfy for my months-overdue fix of “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” when the doorbell rang. It was Republican Christian Miele, come by to stump for my husband’s vote for state senator in District 34. My Dear One is still a registered Republican...
Christmas Letter 2021
Christmas 2021 Dearest All, The box turtles look so surprised, heads withdrawn above the hinged front of the plastron, topaz eyes wide and startled. They are invisible until I yank weeds or scatter fallen leaves; then the carapace, rounded and daubed with orange, is...
Our Own Private Maryland Money Pit
It was so thrilling in January. The worn, stained carpeting in the family room and the tired vinyl in the kitchen had been replaced with warm oak from one side to the other. Suddenly the space seemed brighter, lighter, bigger. Even the addition of a large area rug and...
The Inferno That Destroys Democracy
I read newspapers, always have. Always one every day; oftentimes two or more. When I was a child living in Cleveland OH, the choice was between the The Press and The Plain Dealer. My left-wing parents subscribed the The Plain Dealer. At my maternal grandparents’ home...
Dying For What One Believes?
It is Sunday, July 19, 2021, as I write. I read the COVID statistics published in The Baltimore Sun every day, have been since they began printing that little gray box in the paper. I noticed today, with shock, that the death toll had jumped by four in Harford County,...
Monuments, Memorials And Me
The Mall was quiet earlyish that Sunday morning as I hoped it might be. Little traffic, few tourists, plenty of parking. The weather report had not been encouraging but rain held off, clouds suppressing the sun that would have made the humid air intolerable. Abraham...