September 7, 1973, was my brother’s sixteenth birthday, so yesterday he turned sixty-four. I left for my freshman year of college, three thousand miles away from home, about two weeks before my brother turned sixteen. But I bought him a birthday present before I departed—a key case, into which I […]
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More Battles with Newspapers and Post Office
When we moved into our new home in July 2019, I waged a campaign to get our newspapers and mail delivered accurately. All I wanted was for the newspapers and Post Office to provide the services my husband and I paid for—either directly in the case of the newspapers, or […]
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Random Photos: When the Cares of the World Hit Hard
As I scrolled through old photographs recently, I came across pictures of my father taken on the beach at Port Townsend, Washington, in August 2006. This was my first visit to my parents’ new home—what would be their last home—in Port Ludlow, Washington. What strikes me about these pictures is […]
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A Curmudgeonly Author’s Take on Social Media
It’s been awhile since I wrote about my likes and dislikes on social media. (But see here and here and here.) During the pandemic, social media has been the only way for an indie author to market books, so I have been forced to use it and to explore some […]
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Moving Memories From Two Years Ago
In recent weeks, my Microsoft OneDrive memory feed has reminded me of our move into our new home in late July 2019. I had this blog on hiatus for a couple of weeks in that time frame, so I didn’t post about some of our moving experiences. There was some […]
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Return to Normal: Good and Bad
Last month I wrote about reopenings. Those have continued apace, and my life is slowly returning to pre-pandemic patterns. I no longer gear up for trips to the grocery store or drugstore as if I were heading into battle. I don’t even wear a mask in most stores. I go […]
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Bird Watching
I’ve never been a bird watcher. I don’t really care about counting the number of species or specimens I see, nor to I want to travel just to look for birds. And yet, in my new home (we moved almost two years ago) and sitting on my lovely screened porch, […]
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On “Renascence” and Reopenings
In junior high and high school, my favorite poem was “Renascence,” by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Millay wrote “Renascence” when she was only nineteen years old, which might explain why I found it so appealing when I was also in my teens. Something in its emotiveness spoke to my adolescent […]
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Vaccine Envy . . . No More
I wrote in early February that I was eagerly awaiting my COVID-19 vaccine, but at the time I thought it was still a few months away. I turned sixty-five this past Monday, which made me eligible under Missouri’s rules. I always expected that my birthday would give me little preference […]
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National Random Acts of Kindness Day: Musings on Small, Daily Acts
February 17 is National Random Acts of Kindness Day. This day originated in New Zealand, although there it is celebrated on September 1. But I think random acts of kindness fit well in the depth of our Northern Hemisphere winter. As of the morning of February 17 this year, Kansas […]
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