As if the world were normal right now ( … as if it ever were, but especially now), I will give you all manner of personal updates, and I’ll try to make them diverting. Enlightened For starters, this is my view right now. It’s the most amazing place. It’s amazing because it’s a 1-minute walk […]
Executed and Defamed
Statement from the family of Alex Pretti: “We are heartbroken but also very angry. “Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately […]
Cautious Optimism on Two Fronts
Unfortunately, neither front is nationally; that I feel more and more pessimistic about that every day. The two fronts I’m talking about are in my small, personal domain. Cautiously Optimistic about the House You know that the mechanicals of the house are in worse shape than we thought when we bought it, which reduces our […]
Grateful and Proud: Death Valley
Here’s another travel retrospective post in my Grateful and Proud series. The second fall we were on the road, which was 2021, we spent a mere week in Death Valley. I loved it there and would have returned, like, right away, but now I wonder if my ecstatic feelings were due to the fact that […]
Finally, Something to Look Forward to That Isn’t Surgery
Man, am I having a difficult winter. December was, truthfully, the worst month I’ve ever experienced, and that’s saying something. This extreme restless legs syndrome makes living hell. Some people are bed-ridden by illness; I have been bath-ridden, because, if I time it right and get the water temperature right, a bath is the only […]
This Visit Was Brought to You by the Letter T
T for Togetherness Ever since Finn went away to college and I went away to my Airstream adventures, we would get together a couple of times a year, yes. But, we never spent time together like we used to. Finn and I used to sit at the table together to eat meals, ride in the […]
Christmas Stories
Childhood Christmases I grew up in a two-story house in the Virginia woods with my mom and dad and sister and always a good Christmas. Christmas Eve we’d drive to my dad’s parent’s house where we’d eat and exchange presents with his brother’s family—the Coxes. That was a mixed bag, with neither of my parents […]
‘Twas the Night before Christmas, and all through the Apartment Building …
Let me get this out of the way: it’s been a rough December, for so many people, and for us, too. Although I bet no one’s as bummed as these neighbors whose sticky, fake blood signs stained their front door. They can’t escape from Halloween even now. Yes, we’re still in the apartment. No, we […]
Morgan Freeman Led Us to Our Christmas Tree
If you think that’s click bait, I could have said closer to the truth that Morgan Freeman—as the voice of a pre-historic spearhead—led us through the visitor’s center for a marsh before we bought our Christmas tree, but where would be the fun of that? Snowy Day Trip Last week, Tracy planned for us a […]
Sleepy Snowshoeing
My snowshoeing experiences have mirrored my mood lately: lots of (literal and figurative) ups and downs, but I keep pushing on, knowing I’m learning each time I go out, getting better at this life business each trip around sun. Whatever. No matter how I try to write that I sound like a Hallmark card in […]
