For when I happen across a parallel between life in my two favorite places
When I first heard the term “Basketball Jones,”* I figured it could mean one of two things: either it was a fanciful name for a guy who likes to play, or it was a descriptive phrase for a great yearning to play basketball around the clock. Since I didn’t know which, I took the only […]
My cat is well named, just as any self-respecting cat should be. First let us explore the origin of his original name. Abner Snopes was a character in a dreadful story* that, to this day, I remain proud of having been forced to read in high school. The original Abner set fire to some barns […]
I do enjoy telling stories of my misspent youth, and one of my favorite topics is getting beaten up by blackberry brambles. These briars are no joke. Picking blackberries in the Virginia summer was a sweaty affair, made more so by the clothing we were obliged to wear: long sleeves and pants, hats and gloves, […]
If ever there was a plant to “take a notion,” as the old folks in my family used to say, it’s a watermelon. In exploring this issue, allow me to present two modest case studies: Exhibit A: During my most recent teaching gig, a third grader came back to class after lunch with a single […]
“Sucker hole” is the inelegant term that Southeast Alaska fisherman use to describe a temporary lull in a life- or investment-threatening storm. In this case, the “sucker” would see the blue sky, load up his creaky old troller to the limit with bait and gear, head out to the fishing grounds and fill his holds […]
Blogger’s note: this is a post from an earlier time! I took it down on accident, so here it is back again! “Hey, that’s my dress from fifth grade!” Scene: my sisters and I are looking over one of the many crazy quilts that our mother made during her life. Her method was simple. First, […]
Imagine, what a snowball effect a few thoughts on baking cookies can have! I wrote in a previous post about a cookbook my sister Laura gave me in 1979, and the wonderful sugar cookie recipe contained therein. Betty, a longtime neighbor, family friend, cousin-by-marriage, and reader of this blog, expressed interest in the recipe that […]
In December of 1979 my sister Laura gave me a cookbook. We had been sharing an apartment in Anchorage Alaska while she worked for a veterinary office and I drifted from pillar to post in the world of waitressing. After six months she was preparing to go back to Powhatan, and I was moving into […]
The houseflies in Southeast Alaska are, like their cousins the world over, unpardonably rude, but at least they have the wherewithal to stay airborne. Conversely, the houseflies in rural Virginia are too lazy even for that scrap of decorum: they land on you whenever you hold still for even a moment. I know that all […]
I am once. . . twice. . . three times a. . . senior. Did you think I was going to say lady? The first go round of my seniorhood was of course in high school, in the fall of 1977. In my high school, as in every high school before and since, there was […]