Friends and Family

In preparation for Christmas, we dug out the previous years’ Christmas gift and Christmas card lists. I also went through the address book, noting any changes due to family situation, moves and death. The listings remind me of those who are gone and raise all kinds of memories from earlier days. It’s interesting to be […]

Happy Holidays

It’s the season of holidays — Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s — and it always feels too busy and, well, sometimes not so merry. The pressure’s on to entertain family and friends, and obtain appropriate and awesome costumes, holiday cards and gifts. Even though I’m retired, I am conscious of my routines being disrupted, and […]

Go Carbon-less

“For decades, scientists have tried to figure out ways to reverse climate change by pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and storing it underground. They’ve tried using trees, giant machines that suck CO2 out of the sky, complicated ocean methods that involve growing and burying huge quantities of kelp.”                                                 ~ Shannon Osaka The prime climate change demon […]

The Sound of Music

“In a lifetime of living in this body, I have known no more powerful a homecoming than music — nothing roots us more firmly into the house of being, nothing levitates us more buoyantly to that transcendent place beyond marrow and mind.”                                                 ~ Maria Popova                                I remember being at our grandmother’s house, banished outside […]

Winter’s Coming

It’s getting very cold here — twenties at night and only low 40’s in the day — and we just got about ten inches of snow. I must admit that, mentally, I’m not prepared for winter this year. Maybe it’s my age or too much sitting or just left over inertia from the COVID days, […]