Goodbye, February

Goodbye, February. It is hard to believe that February is the shortest month when it seems like an endless slog of darkness, illness and cold. However, as it finally draws to a close, I think I have the discovered a cosmic February balance. Each of the “bad” things, the dramas, hassles and irritants have been …

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Joan

This is the story of Joan, also know as Hannie. Joan was my husband’s mother. I never met her and there are few people alive who remember her. She is one of Lo’s great grandmothers and, for that reason among many, deserves to be remembered. Unlike Lo’s great-great grandmother Dorothy who I remember vividly, I …

Vacation secrets, revealed

Sunshine, 80 degrees, a wide expanse of empty white beach, and the omnipresent rolling of the waves are the antidote to the restlessness and bone-chill that sets in by mid February in New England. A road trip was in order - including 4 perfect days in Savannah, visits with family and friends, and the centerpiece …

Complex world/simple pleasures

Not that anyone has complained, but I have been feeling guilty about abandoning this blog for over a month. Maybe not enough is going on in my life to write about. Maybe too much is going on to write about. In either case, even though or perhaps because the world seems terrible of late, I …

Summer’s End

I barely had time to put away the beach chairs and I am suddenly making soup and wearing slippers. I realize this happens every year, but this recent week of cool weather is more abrupt this year and I am feeling more nostalgic. I think I know why. We spent last week at the beach …

Housekeeping

Cleaning my mother's house. Cleaning my own house. This week, these parallel activities have me musing about the nature of housework.  I am a good-enough-for-government-work cleaner. The basics get done, and a little less frequently, I delve deeper, noticing and eradicating the toothpaste splash on the bathroom wall and the cobwebs clinging to the bulls-eye …

City Life

I was 21 years old when my husband and I got married and we have spent our lives together in this small New Hampshire city. It's a good city and a good life, you could even say both have improved over time. But inside me is a tiny longing and fascination for something I did …

Papa

One of the many nice things about having a grandchild is that she “belongs” to you. And Lo, with her winning personality and charming smile, reinforces that attachment. I am sure that each of us in her care team, family and network of friends feels it. And you know that I am obsessed with her. …

Returning to Childhood

The older I get, the more I think about my childhood. I am not regressing per se although the inevitable slide toward frailty, forgetfulness, incontinence and death does sound like a good blog topic. What I am referring to is discovering that who I am now is essentially the same person I was as a …

The Retiree’s Guide to Surviving the Winter

I would never malign my good fortune in being retired. And winter indeed has its blessings. Not the least if which is the extended holiday season with activities ranging from crashing my former department’s cookie swap to decorating my mother's tree. Our season culminated delightfully with a New Years Eve family reunion in Vermont: 20 …