Tuesday, September 3, 7:46 a.m. Weird weather. Squally one minute, sunny the next. Gray sky, blue sky. The wind flings palm fronds down on the driveway. I slip into Jim’s office, plop on the bed and pull a couple of pillows under my neck. Even under normal circumstances, there’s only one chair in the room. […]
Line Dancing on Thursday Afternoons
Once upon a time long, long ago my parents danced. This rare event took place in our home in the room downstairs that we called the playroom. This concrete-block room, cool in the summer, cold in the winter, was the site of a multitude of activities, some play-related, some not. For at least part of […]
Another Worst-Case Scenario (in my mind)
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to hold up on the runway for about 20 minutes. Weather has moved into the Albany area…” So, hold up we did on the runway in Orlando in our commodious Jet Blue seats, Jim on the aisle and me on the window, luxuriating in the empty middle seat between […]
Thoughts On Turning 65 and Fifty Things That Aren’t My Fault
My friend, Nedra, texts, “So what are the BIG plans for your birthday?” There are no BIG plans, at least right now. I don’t want a cake this year. The thoughtful husband usually buys a lovely cake, and while quite delicious, chocolate topped with vanilla icing, sprinkled with tons of coconut, it is not vegan […]
After the Rainbow Bridge: Mending a Broken Heart When Pets Die
It is a little after 3:00 p.m. and Cayce just ran up the stairs to the third floor at a surprisingly fast clip for a chubby boy, after standing in the middle of the living room bellowing his guttural two-part meow. He’s been doing this strange meowing several times a day since Cody left us […]
Cat-Love and Getting Ready to Grieve: Valentine’s Day 2019
Wednesday, 2:30 p.m. Cayce, our plump middle cat, rolls his big body back and forth on the throw rug in front of his favorite spot in the house—the open doorway between the living room and the second-floor porch (this is a cat that likes to keep his options open.) Despite being “very sick,” (the cancer specialist’s […]
Art at FIT, French Kiss, and The Final Straw
A raw day. Cold, windy, soaking rains on the way. Got a warm cat and a good book to read but there’s an interesting show opening today at the Ruth Funk Textile Museum, a big, tan block designed to withstand gale force winds, smack in the middle of the campus at the Florida Institute of […]
Fear, Surrender & One Sick Cat
Tuesday, December 18, 2018 Okay, so my original idea for this final blog post of the year was to write about a couple of really stupid things that I did this year. But then Cody, our oldest, one-eyed cat (his cancerous left eye enucleated in August) barfed. So what you may ask? Don’t cats barf […]
Thanksgiving Gratitude: A Colonoscopy is Better than Cancer
Jim and I were supposed to have follow-up colonoscopies in 2010 and 2012, respectively. However, we decided to ignore this recommendation, to practice conscious denial, if you will, partly because of the explosive elimination involved (what Jim calls, “peeing through your butt,”) but also because of the odious prep solution, a hideous concoction tasting like […]
In Memory of Aunt Celie and the Howl of the American Wolf
Note to Readers: Spoiler alert. You may want to skip the last paragraph if you are going to read American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West. I don’t know exactly when it will happen, but I do know from past experience losing loved ones that this sharp, acute, spiky grief will […]