It’s like a David Sedaris essay, I say, talking to the tiny faces on the screen, listening to a wild tale about lost keys and madcap driving and children standing on the river bluff, cheering for newlyweds. (Because, even in a pandemic, people get married.) And the wedding was magical, the tale goes on, even … Continue reading Thanksgiving.
OK, here's the idea: Write your way out. If you're in a funk, feeling unsettled, whatever, then writing might be just the thing to help you move on. What else might writing do? Well, for one thing, it will give you perspective as time passes. An example? I wrote that first line of this post … Continue reading A few things: November 2020
I don't know about you, but I had some plans for 2020. For one, I planned to get my 2015 on and add video content to these monthly round-ups, finally taking the advice my (much younger) friend Emily offered about expanding the array of content to include some tutorials or other little clips that would, … Continue reading A few things: October 2020
The afternoon light has shifted, as it always does in between the harvest and hunter's moon. I'd forgotten what it looked like, this fall light, until suddenly it was there one day, not long ago. I walked into the kitchen, mug in hand, with the unconsciousness of habit and noticed the warm reflection on my … Continue reading An open road.
As others have written recently, happy six month anniversary of "2 weeks to flatten the curve." Still relevant, six months in: Mental health strategies for coping with the pandemic. If you don't take good care of yourself, then you won't be any good to anyone else. Is it harder and harder, day by day, to … Continue reading A few things: September 2020
OK; so, things are bad. They are actually pretty seriously bad. But there are also reality-based reasons to remain hopeful. So how about we agree to acknowledge that things aren't rosy, but we'll look for the good here, together, because it feeds the kind of hopefulness that, in turn, feeds action. Game? Great. Let's go: … Continue reading A few things: August 2020
True to the period, the walls in the master bedroom were originally covered in wallpaper, glued directly to the plaster underneath. Instead of removing the wallpaper, Jackie (or, more likely, her mother) painted over it. At some point, Mrs. Jones (or, more likely, Jackie) added a layer of gold grasscloth to one wall in the … Continue reading Artifacts.
The first kitchen I remember is the one on Agnes Place, the house, built in 1912, where we lived from my toddler years until I started first grade. I remember five very specific things about this kitchen. The first memory is visual: The window above the sink looked out onto the back yard, where we … Continue reading The solace of my mother’s kitchen: Part 1
