November 30, 2020
I’ve talked about learning to sew for years. I want to be able to make clothes in the colors and styles I like rather than forcing myself into procrustean fashions. This pandemic and the stay-at-home orders (and my lack of work and ensuing free time) has been a boon to me, a self-learner. I’ve been Read the Rest…
May 17, 2020
Entering our third month of Sheltering-in-Place here in Seattle, I locate myself in the week by when I last showered: I showered today, I showered yesterday, I can’t remember when I showered or that’s really a funky smell. My hair has entered a new length division where it now looks reasonably good. I love hearing Read the Rest…
April 28, 2020
My garden is keeping me sane. I’ve been out there for several hours a day since the middle of March, grubbing in the dirt and blowing my nose on the inside of my t-shirt. Maybe that doesn’t sound quite sane but without the garden I feel certain I would have gained 100 pounds and would Read the Rest…
April 1, 2020
At times when I have been seriously depressed and feeling like nothing short of oblivion is going to help, I have engaged in the homely task of listing anything I could scrape from the quotidian to appreciate. In this surreal time, optimism can be in short supply. So as a public service, I offer the Read the Rest…
February 9, 2020
Still at Zennor ( see previous post) we had lunch at the Old Chapel Café. I discovered Cornish crab, which I afterwards ordered every chance I got. As we were leaving I got engrossed in seeing how an old iron ship part functioned as a doorstop. I pulled it away and watched the door swing Read the Rest…
November 18, 2019
Welcome to Port Wenn! If you are a fan of the series Doc Martin, you’ll appreciate the reference. If you aren’t, read on. We went other places, too. The day began at the cottage in Morvah with the usual tea and breakfast and me asking Sue and Wendy what they remembered from the day before Read the Rest…
May 3, 2019
Tags: piano students
I got my naturalization papers last week. I made it past the health screening in spite of having a concussion. After reading that you could be forgiven for thinking I still had one. Anyway, here’s what happened: On Thursday in an accidental maneuver too complicated and boring to describe, I knocked heads with my dear Read the Rest…
April 7, 2019
I’ve just published my first novel. I began it in 1997. I was part of a “spirituality group” that imploded from suppressed resentment, unbearable competitiveness and hurt feelings. One evening everyone popped off like a batch of homemade root beer in the basement, one at a time like a series of timed explosions. One woman Read the Rest…
February 6, 2019
I never visited my friend Louise when she lived two miles from my house. She was my singing student before we became friends. Then she moved to Oregon City and I spent five hours travel time to visit her there. I’ll get to that in a minute. First there were the books. Or rather, The Read the Rest…
January 31, 2019
My friend Karla is from Holland, land of liquorice. Black liquorice. If you consider red vines to be liquorice you can stop reading right now even though this post isn’t about liquorice at all. Karla told me they have a saying in Holland “liquorice poisoning.” That’s when you spend all evening (or days) with your Read the Rest…