December 15th, 2022 | Family, Friends, Genealogy, General, Holidays
Best news first. my Dear One’s grandson Miles proposed to Holly, apparently in a New York City photo booth, and she said yes! While last year’s missive announced the nuptials of my nephew Dan (a brother’s middle son) and Lish out in Minnesota, this year I am...
September 27th, 2022 | Family, Friends, General, Politics, Popular Culture, Society at Large, Time Passes
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...
September 12th, 2022 | Family, General, Health
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...
August 5th, 2022 | Family, Genealogy, General, Health, Memory
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...
August 3rd, 2022 | Family, Genealogy, General, Memory, Time Passes
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...
June 24th, 2022 | Family, General, Politics, Society at Large, Women
On November 10, 2016 the news announced that Donald Trump would be the 45th president of the United States. I lay in bed howling, “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…” My Dear One tried to comfort me, saying that it would be all right. I knew it wouldn’t be all right. Today was...