January 26th, 2010 | General
I am generally uneasy when things go too smoothly. Clarity of vision and ease of execution merely lull one into a dream state. Stumbling, however, keeps one awake and alert. Take the rings, for instance. After a flurry of shopping-like activity, we chose a ring that...
January 24th, 2010 | General, Shopping
Just after the stroke of midnight, in the first moments of New Year’s Day, my Dear One proposed marriage. It was quiet there on our couch and I was full of Spanish bubbly and we were watching fireworks explode on television over the Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Of...
January 10th, 2010 | General, Travel, United States
It’s only hours until we depart Florida and we’ll be as cold when we leave as we will be when we get home. Not to complain, of course. We came here to have a week of comparative warmth and that it what we got. It was much worse in Maryland. How cold is it in Florida?...
December 27th, 2009 | Cooking, Kitchen and Table, General, Holidays
As I sat at my desk, gray dawn to gray twilight, the snow fell and swirled as sooty juncos swarmed the birdseed dumped on a protected table top. Barely inside the window that frames my view into the woods, I could see Garden Froggy, golden eyes bulging, disappearing...
November 16th, 2009 | Genealogy, General, Society at Large
The subject line of Emily’s e-mail was “James and the Giant Fall.” The funny headline all but trumpeted the reassuring news contained in the note. James is the sixth of my mother’s grandchildren. A gangly, bearded boy, he is a lover of wild places and high elevations....
November 9th, 2009 | Gardens and Gardening, General, Pets
Theo was not pleased. She parked herself in the doorway to the office, as though following instructions about seeking safety during an earthquake. Her tail locked around her legs and her yellow eyes gleamed disapproval. I wasn’t quite sure what the noise was. It...
October 17th, 2009 | Education, Friends, General, visual arts
I am still singing our tunes. A week ago it was our 40th reunion at Emma Willard. Thirty-five members of the class of 1969 ate and drank together, hugged and squealed, wandered old haunts alone and with others. Two rehearsals prepared us no longer so vocal choristers...
September 25th, 2009 | Gardens and Gardening, Genealogy, General
There are two snowy clematis on the fence that guards the edge of the retaining wall, twin blossoms turning their faces toward the sky. They caught me somewhat by surprise. In the spring I was thrilled by their glossy leaves and cluster of blooms waving at me. It...
September 17th, 2009 | General, Shopping
They forced out my Dark Side. Again. I did not get up this rainy September morning on the wrong side of the bed. I did not glance in the bathroom mirror and wave hello to Scary Ellen. Not at all. I rose quietly so as not to disturb the rest of my Dear One. I scuffed...
September 11th, 2009 | General, Popular Culture, Shopping
Physical decay is inevitable. Poor hearing is diminished by the constant whine of tinnitus. Myopia gets more myopic. Bulges expand and gravity pulls them downward. I’ve been test-driving my new “desk specs” and they improve my posture—I no longer hunch...
