May 23rd, 2012 | General, Memory, the world and Mother Nature, Travel
Whhappp! Pthbbth! Ssssppppttthhhhtttt! That last comes with a liberal spray of spit. I thought the bugs in spring-time New Hampshire were bad. That was nothing. It’s also obvious to me why so much amber is filled with insects. The mosquitos way down south in...
May 22nd, 2012 | General, Memory, Politics, Popular Culture, Travel, visual arts
Yesterday as we walked through Grūtas Park, my Dear One halted and said, “Hear that? The cuckoo?” I listened and heard twitters and warbles and caws, but no cuckoo. “It’s just like a clock—can’t you hear it?” No, I couldn’t. But later on, back at Romove Homestead, I...
May 20th, 2012 | General, Memory, the world and Mother Nature, Travel
As we approached Lithuania’s border with Poland and Belarus in the south, the tall pines exuded a primeval air despite their relative youth, and twisting roads offered glimpses of lakes and streams. In this countryside, gravity secures huge nests, some seeming to...
May 19th, 2012 | Cooking, Kitchen and Table, Friends, General, Pets, Shopping, Travel
It’s gonna be a hot time in Kaunas this weekend. Two days of fun commence Saturday and on Friday workers were constructing stages and setting up sound systems from Kaunas Castle to the Botanical Garden and even on the banks of the Nemunas River. By late afternoon when...
May 18th, 2012 | General, Popular Culture, Shopping, Travel
Before we travel, of course, we contact credit-card companies and our bank lest they get perturbed at withdrawals and expenditures in far-flung places. At least we do that now ever since Bank of America slapped a freeze on my money when I tried to make a withdrawal at...
May 16th, 2012 | Gardens and Gardening, General, Travel
Note to self: pay attention when walking, especially when on steps and curbstones. At the main post office in Kaunas, the last step ends with an extra bump, an inch-and-a-half drop to the paving stones. Didn’t see it. Fell on my face. Thank heavens the camera is okay....
April 30th, 2012 | Cooking, Kitchen and Table, General, Health, Politics, Popular Culture, Society at Large, the world and Mother Nature
The New York Times sponsored a contest: “Defending your Dinner: An Open Contest for Hungry Ethicists.” I’m a sucker for contests, raffles and such, even though I never win. This effort met with predictable results. Because I was curious about when...
April 14th, 2012 | Gardens and Gardening, General, Memory, Time Passes
Our dogwood has finally bloomed. She withstood the travails of flood, drought and blizzard, and constant cropping by deer, and this spring she blossomed, like some insecure girl crossing that seemingly impassable divide between challenged childhood and blessed...
April 3rd, 2012 | Education, Gardens and Gardening
When we signed on the dotted line and acquired the key to our new home in 2005—a new house in a new development—the rock-studded clay and steep slopes of our lot offered a tabula rasa. The woods beyond, a non-tidal wetland protected by the state Department of Natural...
March 25th, 2012 | Education, Politics, Society at Large, the world and Mother Nature, Women
A few years back I found myself on camera with Regis Philbin on the quiz show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” A few days prior to that encounter, a factoid learned when I was sixteen drifted into my brain during a trivia-cramming-induced stupor. The information that...
