June 15th, 2011 | Gardens and Gardening, General
I suspect that it may be true that chocolate milk comes from chocolate cows. It has been a miraculous few days of pleasant temperatures, light winds, and sky and clouds as brightly blue and white as Delft pottery. Last week temperatures rose on the shoulders of...
April 29th, 2011 | General, the world and Mother Nature, Time Passes
A student stayed after class this past week to ask a question. She seemed a little hesitant and I encouraged her to go ahead. “Are you watching The Borgias?” She blushed. “Now in what universe would I not be watching a costume drama with Jeremy Irons in the lead...
March 12th, 2011 | General, the world and Mother Nature
The most recent deluge and its run-off have charged the Susquehanna River and the fearsome weight of the water is muscling its way to the Chesapeake Bay. Flood stage is 23.5 feet in these parts. This morning, the river reached 27.7 feet and it is expected to crest at...
January 6th, 2011 | General
My Dear One says, “I don’t know anyone who likes riding subways except you.” He laughs. I smile. He’s right; I do like riding public transportation, at least in Boston. I told him that it makes me feel like a teenager again, and it does. The feeling is not so much a...
December 22nd, 2010 | Friends, General
I anthropomorphize. Pretty much everything, all the time. Of course, I idealize, too. Not only do I see creatures as human, but I see them as beings of the kind that I wish people were. I don’t always think about this tendency, but I have been more aware of it...
November 30th, 2010 | Cooking, Kitchen and Table, General
Culinary experiments are rarely a good thing when guests will be sitting down to eat. Most of the time. This Thanksgiving I caught myself paying undue attention to recipes and cooking tips in the days leading up to the annual Day of Gratitude. It was not that I was...
November 24th, 2010 | Genealogy, General, Holidays
I have honored Santa Argenta, the patron saint of gleaming metal, and polished silver twinkles on the table I have set for the first of our pair of Thanksgiving dinners, the modest meal I share with my Dear One and my Tattooed Boy on Thursday evening that precedes the...
November 7th, 2010 | General, Society at Large
Why has the “F” word become so indispensable to—dare I make the pun—daily intercourse? As a verb it exudes hostility. As an adverb it displaces countless positive and negative modifiers more explicit, poetic, and expressive. The “F” word seems to be in...
November 3rd, 2010 | General, Society at Large
I cast my ballot yesterday. Today I wonder how anyone could not have voted—especially considering the preponderance of morons on the rolls. Okay, I understand people who hold political views different from mine are not a priori morons. They may be misguided, perhaps a...
