CARNIVORE TO VEGETARIAN – AND BACK AGAIN? From the midwestern meat and potatoes of my upbringing to Julia Child, meat or fowl has always been the main event on my table. And I haven’t limited myself to muscle meat, but enjoyed sweet breads, liver (young), tongue, tripe, black pudding, and kidneys. I was even exposed… Continue reading The Remaining Piece of the Pie
Author: Kathleen Hall
It’s still January!!
So Happy New Year! Kathleen Hall I have been relieved to see that other writers experienced a post-holiday slump, too At least two newsletters I subscribe to have written about it. However, my slump is like crossing the Sahara: thirst without finding an oasis. Ideas to write about abound, but seat to chair has eluded… Continue reading It’s still January!!
And Now it’s almost 2023
We spent Thanksgiving at the beach this year. We used to go there every two years, but that went on hold with Covid. This was our first year to recommence. It began with packing for a four day sojourn, then a three hour drive to the North Carolina coast. As a young person in Southern… Continue reading And Now it’s almost 2023
Who Are We Anyway? Part 2
Or Who Am I? WHO ARE WE ANYWAY? Or Should I say, who am I? Horrified by the divisions in the country I was born in, I began looking into my own family origins, and its place in the history of the United States. When did they get here, and from where? Whenever I asked… Continue reading Who Are We Anyway? Part 2
Who Are We Anyway?
Part One When I returned to the United States in 2013 after two decades living in France and England, I suffered disorienting culture shock. I had returned multiple times to visit family, traveling the length of California, and later, a triangle of southern California to northern California to Raleigh, North Carolina, flying when necessary, driving when… Continue reading Who Are We Anyway?
Queen Elizabeth II
An Ex-Ex-Pat’s thoughts on the woman, her reign, and her passing. Everyone knows that no one lives forever, but Queen Elizabeth seemed like a possible exception. She always appeared in public with dignity but not austerity, with warm smiles and that vertical hand-wave. And of course the pocketbook. Always perfectly coiffed and dressed, except for… Continue reading Queen Elizabeth II
September
September – As good a time as any to restart this blog. For me, it’s more like the first month of the year than January is. It’s the beginning of the school year, which I aways welcomed with eagerness and excitement. It meant new classes, new knowledge, new experiences, being with friends. And nearer to… Continue reading September
Stormy Seas
Until the last four years I didn’t realize how fortunate I was to I’ve in a country with a stable government. Blithely, I took it as a matter of course, solid ground on which to stand forever, assuming it would last forever. In that terrible moment of anguish in October of 1963 when President Kennedy… Continue reading Stormy Seas
Caprices in the time of Covid19
Normal channels for keeping boredom at bay being impractical, inaccessible , even dangerous in this strange new world, I’m thrown back onto my own resources. I did grow up in the pre-television, pre – internet era, so “Find something to do “- a phrase straight from my mother’s mouth when I complained of boredom ,… Continue reading Caprices in the time of Covid19
The Bidet
Finally, the United States may learn the value of the bidet, long a normal part of bathroom fixtures in other parts of the world. I first encountered the bidet in France. In my youthful naivety, I wasn’t sure what it was for. Call me ingenuous, or maybe repressed, but somehow its intended use staggered my… Continue reading The Bidet