When my father was in his long decline, he suffered from that bitterest of cocktails, depression with anxiety for a chaser. As part of a strategy to keep his spirits up, the family plastered his walls with posters like this: And this: These ideas definitely provided him with a distraction and helped him see that […]
Category: Musings about Language and Life
My version of “what’s it all about anyway?”
Fine motor control
My two hands have served me loyally for a great many years, but now they are making noises about a partial retirement. Since I am not a good listener, the signs have been growing ever less subtle: carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis, and this nasty tearing pain in my right primate muscle every time I knit […]
Leaving well enough alone
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” These wise words, which I had heard more than once growing up, did not occur to me as I observed my son and nephew, ages five and eight respectively, happily playing a board game according to rules they had invented. The game, called “Pen the Pig,” was an […]
The Saga of the Chocolate Almonds
Author’s note: I participate in a program that takes a holistic approach to health and weight management. In a recent conversation with my coach, she encouraged me to imagine a conversation with the chocolate almonds that I find so hard to resist. Here’s what landed on the page. Cast of characters: EVELYN: a lady of […]
The evolution of bacon and eggs
Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you. . .microwave bacon! Like so many other things, this concept came to me due to a happy accident. Here’s the scene: having found myself home alone for two weeks, on the first morning I set out to fix myself some bacon and eggs. No sooner had I fired up […]
Laughter, the strangest medicine
“Major Tom is stuck under the fence!” My father used to regale us kids with stories of his adventures with his cousin Jim, and this is one of my favorites: the two boys were acquainted with an old gentleman of the retired military sort, who often came to tea and had nothing whatever to do […]
Stay warm
I have a special affinity for fingerless gloves. One time, a pair of such gloves in olive-drab, paired with a shapeless, dark gray thrift-store coat, almost got me evicted from a downtown Anchorage hotel on suspicion of being a homeless person. But I digress. My real topic of interest today is the endless war between […]
Goodbye, old friend
Some folks keep their loved ones’ ashes on the mantel for generations, while others resort to taxidermy when a beloved pet departs this earthly plane. As for me, I believe in rapid burial for my organic friends, but I must confess I have had the left-behinds of my long-defunct sewing machine sitting on a shelf […]
The kindness of strangers
In December of 2017 I went to Virginia for several weeks to help take care of my father. If I had known that he would die in mid-January, I (hope I) would have stayed for the duration, but I wound up leaving right before Christmas, and returning to Powhatan when I got the news. For […]
In praise of quiet tenacity
My dog Bandit was, in the vernacular of my people, “a caution.” I imagine that this term is related to the phrase “a cautionary tale,” which means, “listen while I tell you what this person did, and then go do something, anything, except that.” And truly, dear Bandit did many things that I would not […]