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
If you've been following the serial about our house, then consider this post an intermission. Several friends have sent questions asking about the series, and I thought I'd step in and answer those, while also sharing the usual monthly tidbits and recommendations before the month of July evaporates. Tomorrow we'll return to the surprises in … Continue reading A few things: July 2020
It was more the things left unsaid than anything spoken. When we bought Jackie's house, we knew several of the neighbors on the block, had many friends in the neighborhood, and found connections at every turn. Two of my mother's close friends had grown up on this block, one a couple of houses to the … Continue reading Secrets and haunts.
"Hey, how about you come to dinner one night, and I'll bring out some good wine, and you can teach me how to make that chocolate soufflé. I'm dying to know how to make that." Here are the things I loved about my first apartment, a first-floor gem in an classic old, brick building, situated … Continue reading Prequel: A light in the attic.
It is a bright September morning, and the weather has broken (as it always does, if briefly, after Labor Day) giving a hint of fall. I'm driving slowly through an old neighborhood, tourist-style, looking from porch to porch, block to block. I see a friend working in his yard, and I call through the open … Continue reading Jackie’s house.
