Family
Talking to the Animals
When the girls were around six months old (or maybe a bit younger), one of Tim’s fellow graduate students bought them an extra large Pooh Bear. By extra large, I simply mean he outranked them by quite a bit. (Pooh never outweighed them, but he certainly stood taller, since on his back paws, Pooh stands…
Read MoreLessons I Hope They Learned
The girls leave for college today. As in, they might never step foot permanently into this house again. (Sniff.) This day would have occurred last year around this time, but thanks to COVID-19, Zoe and Talia chose (and had no choice at first) to work remotely for their entire first year. As much as I’m…
Read MoreThat Season
It’s that season again: twice a day soccer practices. One at six in the morning, the other in the evening. Which means its the season of morning disruptions. My morning disruption. Aaron is old enough to get himself to practice now, but having another human being up early puts me in a mood. A funk,…
Read MoreSpeaking of Dog Days of Summer…
Let me preface this post by saying, MY DOG IS ALIVE AND WELL. Imagine this: your dog has died in your home, and you do nothing about it for several hours. What sort of callous and uncaring person does that? Apparently, I do. Because one morning last week, as I crept past the dog lying…
Read MoreDays Like This
Days like this— after a surgical procedure routine for the surgeon but not for you when your belly is swollen and sore and you’re moving slowly slower than you have in years— are good days to speak to your mom. What other person will let you vent the exact way you need to? What other…
Read MoreCat-astrophe
“When you’re ready to put Arnold on a diet,” the vet says, “call me. It can be a process, but it can work.” Arnold is the second of our cats to need some help in terms of dietary needs. The first, Ferdinand, ended up with diabetes, something we couldn’t control. I still remember the toil…
Read MoreAll I Want for Christmas . . .
This year hasn’t been easy for anyone. (That’s probably a gross understatement, of course.) And I think the stress of this year, whether overt or subtle, has gotten to me in ways I didn’t expect. Because today, as I sit at my computer and think about all the things I might want, or need, the…
Read MoreRecipe Sharer
I recently proofread a cookbook, which was an experience in and of itself. Making sure all the measurements corresponded, that the hours and minutes and servings were consistent—a perfectionist’s nightmare, actually. On the other hand, the task appealed to that organizational side of mine so much, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. (And I’m…
Read MoreSacrifices
We’ve all had to make sacrifices this year (that might be a very big understatement for some of us). But for the most part, I’ve been lucky. And even though we have six people at home for much of the day (Tim goes into work because he has his own office in which he can…
Read MoreNew Favorites
This past summer, we had a bag of overripe plums to get rid of. In my quest to use up all the food we buy, I scoured the internet and found an amazing plum crumble recipe. I copied it down and made it (several times over, and with modifications, of course), and I’m glad I…
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