What the heck is with the fixation on the beauty parlor? You’d think that hairdressers…
Corona Virus Diary 23: Feeling Thankful
It is Thanksgiving and it is meet that I should count my blessings. Good Things and Silver Linings Despite the explosive rates of COVID infections, the disease has not breached our defenses. Nor has my Tattooed Boy fallen victim despite his return to his workplace. An...
Corona Virus Diary 22: Counting Ballots
November 3, midafternoon Election Day. I have distracted myself with gardening, grocery shopping, a little laundry. We are all anxious, unnerved. I can almost hear the scratch of pens, and the thunk of the machines ingesting ballots, at the polls. Analyses favor the...
Corona Virus Diary 21: Four Years Gone
As my Dear One and I strolled beneath blue October skies over gilded foliage, I asked if he thought Joe Biden would win the election. He said yes with a fair amount of confidence. I think Biden will prevail, myself. That is certainly my hope. A Democratic victory...
Corona Virus Diary 20: “Whenever the People are Well Informed”
“You know Bill Gates is trying to microchip all of us,” said the guy at the body shop when I was picking up my car. I honestly thought he was yanking my chain. We had just exchanged what I thought were joking words about information revealed by using my credit card. I...
Corona Virus Diary 19: The Deck Chairs of Summer
The flagstone patio at Nannie’s and Pop’s home in Hingham underlay the most wonderful wrought-iron furniture. The wheeled back legs of the chaises-longues allowed us to shift these monstrously heavy things relatively easily. Thick cushions in a floral fabric provided...
Corona Virus Diary 18: COVID Cravings
As of 8:00 pm March 30, 2020, Governor Hogan’s “Stay At Home” order went into effect. This is a deadly public health crisis—we are no longer asking or suggesting that Marylanders stay home, we are directing them to do so. No Maryland resident should be leaving their...
Corona Virus Diary 17: Notorious Righteousness Farewell
The howl of fuck fuck fuck that tore from my heart and mouth on the morning of November 10, 2016 echoed again as I saw the headline on my cell phone. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was dead. The Best on the Bench She died on the first night of Rosh Hashanah. I...
Corona Virus Diary 16: Shards in the Eye, Ice in the Heart
One of my favorite books when I was a child—one of my cherished books still—is a collection of stories by Hans Christian Andersen. “The Snow Queen: A Tale in Seven Stories” was one of the most ghoulish and frightening, and one of my favorites. A Fairy-Tale Pandemic A...