Coming Home to Myself

For the Birds

The heat is on—outside and sometimes in. A call to repair my swamp cooler (because water was pouring off the roof) eventually brought a repairman. He showed me a photo of a series of holes in a tube from which water was spraying. He blamed it on birds seeking water. Note to Self: Refill theContinue reading “For the Birds”

A Day in the Life . . .

I seem to have taken a long sabbatical from blogging. And, I noticed that I was eating for no-good-reason and also exercising less, ditto. It occurred to me that maybe the eating was to replace the writing I wasn’t doing, and that I need to get back into a weekly rhythm of blogging, which requiresContinue reading “A Day in the Life . . .”

On Weeding: Plants and Lives

On weeding plants. Our strange winter—mostly warm with lots of early moisture—has left Sophie with a dilemma of how to pass through the barrier to the walkway in our backyard where she goes to do her business. Actually, that particular barrier is the over-grown fall crocuses from which I harvested their saffron last year. SuchContinue reading “On Weeding: Plants and Lives”

Bouncing from book to book

I apologize for my long silence. As my therapist tells me—I’ve never been here before; never been widowed—two years today. Sometimes I bury myself in fiction (especially familiar stories) rather than ponder indecision and unanswered questions such as Where do I go from here? So, where thoughts and books are concerned, it came as aContinue reading “Bouncing from book to book”

Out of Step

I was raking leaves yesterday. Our fall leaf pickup was a month ago. That’s when I put out the apricot leaves—but my oak trees don’t pay attention to timetables. They are out of step. Along with my oaks, I too have felt out of step, especially during these last few months. I lunched with aContinue reading “Out of Step”

A Bumpy Ride through the holidays

For weeks, dreading this holiday season, I’ve watched myself escape into anything other than the present. Consequently, with these special days looming, I worried about my ability to take care of what needed to be done. In the immediate past (like two weeks), I’ve started most days with five minutes of meditation. The idea isContinue reading “A Bumpy Ride through the holidays”

Second Year Blues

I’ve always been rather low-key when dealing with holidays. For instance, in the winter, I prefer the soft warm glow of a Christmas Eve luminaria display over a month of electric glare. But I didn’t expect the whammy that this year brought—even before Thanksgiving. Last year, my loss was fresh, still front-and-center in my attention.Continue reading “Second Year Blues”

After a Long Silence

It has been a beautiful fall, with trees holding their leaves. We had several near or at freezing nights and finally, yesterday morning, a harder freeze. True to their nature, the mulberry trees began their drip drip drip of big leaves piling up beneath trees and on nearby sidewalks. Walking Sophie, I had to leadContinue reading “After a Long Silence”

DIY Deadlines

I envy people with editors and publishers and deadlines. This DIY business of writing lacks a certain kick-in-the-pants to facilitate inspiration. A writer can get too close to her writings. Somehow this week I’ve achieved a more distant view. So what went before to bring that about? First: A response from my copy-editor who returnedContinue reading “DIY Deadlines”

Remnants of a cruise—Exercise

I used to swim once a week. That was back before COVID. At some point, I always felt cold. For a time, I toyed with the idea of swimming in a nice warm therapy pool, but never acted on it. Anyway, I haven’t swum in years. The thought of it turned me cold. But exerciseContinue reading “Remnants of a cruise—Exercise”