When I was younger and busier, as Christmas became more and more commercial, as retail crushed harder upon us and Christmas became the the marker of the economy, as downtown begat malls begat catalogues begat the internet, begat the cassette-CD-MP3-blaring soft-core soul whine of so-called music, it became easy to be increasingly annoyed by the hype and nonsense that confused Christmas.
From an early age, I gave my daughter expert coaching in ice-cream cone management. I knew iced cream would be an important part of her future, so I approached this as a valuable skill to be handed down and practiced. You circle the cone, working the meeting of cone and ice cream…
Charles was unlikely to know, let alone, fancy a short Jewish girl from the Chicago suburbs who had never been on a horse. True, I had studied theatre in England. But I was no longer a virgin-
I’m barely taller than my half-sized cello. School lessons and orchestra begin in a week. It’s not so heavy, really, but it’s kind of hard to carry, especially since I live at the end of the school boundary. I walk it a mile to school and then back again. When the wind blows a lot I have to stop walking and throw my weight over the top to hold it down.
“It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.” John Adams, in a letter to Abigail, July 3, 1776. John Adams was off by two days—he thought the holiday ought to [...]
To the Trees Geography offered me five choices. I picked canopy. Apples, dust and guano challenged my arrival, but skin leathered and I rose. I passed familiar robins and crows. Shy new neighbors hopped away, surprised to see skin.It’s such a loud neighborhood, especially in the mornings. As dirt caked, broke and caked again, I [...]
People in Texas didn’t speak in terms of the four or five cows that brother Norbert would have brokered in Westphalia. Here, people had thousands of head of cattle. They took enormous risks and pulled oil right out of the ground. But the biggest difference was safety, security, warmth, acceptance—knowing that your hardest times were behind you and you’d made it through somehow.
After the guinea pigs featured in Special Delivery there were more critters–of course. This is the journey through reptiles and that most unbelievable pet–the rat. Can you imagine inviting rats into your house–ON PURPOSE?
Yes, I turned the radio on and now I resent the urgent voices directing my brain to competitive stories. Did you think that trash would fill my cup—which both runneth over and cries at the long drought of emptiness? No, I don’t want to hear a state-wide discussion on a fascinating topic, or an international [...]