September 6th, 2009 | Friends, Genealogy, General
Thank heavens for the television this morning. We had eaten breakfast and were still without newspapers at 8:00, midmorning by our standards. Once I completed the border on an afghan I started crocheting in 2007, I was left with nothing to do at all. On “Weekend...
August 28th, 2009 | Cooking, Kitchen and Table, General, Popular Culture
We just got back from seeing “Julie and Julia.” I howled much of the way through. At moments I made sure my Dear One did not see me crying. It was a wonderful film, not perfect perhaps in structure, but pitch-perfect in tone. I see that Mastering the Art of French...
August 9th, 2009 | General, Popular Culture, Society at Large
It’s true enough that everyone wants be a millionaire, and hope, as they say, springs eternal, which is why the Lottery thrives in times of economic despair and why game shows seduce so many of the viewing audience. I myself have stuffed a few tickets in the Christmas...
July 21st, 2009 | Genealogy, General, Shopping, Women
Saturday night my Dear One and I were up to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to celebrate brother T’s 50th birthday. It was a wonderful party and about a hundred people representing every phase of his life were there to offer felicitations. I also found it an unnerving...
July 8th, 2009 | Friends, General, Women
A few days ago I spent the better part of an afternoon at a restaurant with Usha and Gayle. Usha and Gayle live in the same town and have long been friends. I met them separately, drawn by the forces that bring mothers together. While our children created the...
July 4th, 2009 | General, Holidays, Time Passes
In years long, long past, we often celebrated the Fourth of July at the family compound in New Hampshire. Ma’s father’s family had been visiting Squam Lake since the 19th century; first they boarded at local farm houses and later rented a cottage at...
June 25th, 2009 | Gardens and Gardening, General, the world and Mother Nature
Last night, about ten o’clock, I opened the front door and invited the cat inside for the night. The weak glow of the houselights quailed in the glare of the nearby streetlamp; there seemed little to draw me outside. Theo (Theodora Maud, really, named in part...
June 13th, 2009 | Gardens and Gardening, Genealogy, General
Is there a time-release bit of gardener’s DNA in the human genome that wakes up when one reaches “a certain age”? As a child and under duress from my mother I planted zinnia seeds. I didn’t particularly care for the flowers–I think Ma had...
June 12th, 2009 | General, the world and Mother Nature
Surely, it’s just the season; surely I have too much time on my hands with no classes to teach, no papers to grade, exams to correct. Nonetheless I seem fixated on the critters who share this suburban development with us. Each night, when I am ready for bed, I...
