Ever have a day like that? This was the descriptor that Ansley, my new social media friend and ally, posted after encountering my dear, old, mostly blind, cat Socks on the day she (Socks, that is) had decided that this day was as good as any to take a walk all the way across the […]
A retrospective on running
In 1976 I spent what my mother termed a “young fortune” (i.e., $17.00) on a pair of Nike running shoes, and thus was born a 40-year, on-again-off-again, “It’s complicated” relationship between me and this activity. I gave it up numerous times, but always went back until about five years ago when my left foot and […]
October
Author’s note: I have been looking for this bit for a while now! Evidently, I wrote it in the late nineties because I couldn’t find it on any of my computers, and the printed copy that I eventually discovered is in dot matrix. Here it is, verbatim, except for one parenthetical insert in the last […]
The changing of the (feline) guard
It has certainly been no secret that I have two cats, one very old and one very young. The old one, Socks, came to us as a half-grown starveling during the summer of 2001, and is the last survivor of the heyday of our pets: three large dogs and two cats. These days she is […]
Timing is everything
I have often extolled the wonders of wild edibles in Alaska, including the plethora of berries that come out in the spring and summer, the sea asparagus that covers the beaches in June, and novelties such as Hudson Bay tea, delicious and nutritious in moderation. I had forgotten, however, that central Virginia has its share […]
Meet Bernadette, and also Mrs. Moreton
Having recently returned to Southeast Alaska after three weeks in Virginia, I was pleased to see (from a distance, of course) a lovely Alaskan house spider who, with her gracious permission, I have decided to call Bernadette. I’m sure her husband is around somewhere and that he won’t mind being called Bernie. Maybe I should […]
With apologies to Nora Ephron, I feel bad about my neck too
In recent years I have suffered mildly from a scratchy throat, and a feeling of recurring glumpiness that comes with any attempt to swallow. This bit of health-related aggravation is known in medical circles as a “globus sensation,” and apparently there is nothing whatever to be done about it except to avoid certain foods and […]
A tale of two roses
The story of a rose: In the summer of 1983 I signed up to read to blind folks in Anchorage. I met a lovely old lady named Omega, who lived in a trailer south of town, and did not actually want anyone to read to her. What she wanted was company, so for several years […]
Road ridicule
I am in seventh grade, and I am riding the school bus down Route 60 in Powhatan County, Virginia. This road, aka the James A. Anderson Highway, is a long, straight, four-lane highway. We are trundling along, and I am huddled inside my enormous coat, with my skinny legs tucked as far under me as […]
What happened to you, tree?
Every tree that survives its adolescence is a silent storyteller. Some of the stories are overt. I understand, for example, that scientists can take core samples from ancient trees and use them to understand climate fluctuations over the centuries. They can do this in part by analyzing the presence or absence of certain types of […]