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
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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!!
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
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
Coping with Covid-19
March 28, 2020 Years ago I bought a little blue ceramic fountain. It sits on a side table I sprayed with gold paint when I lived in England, and now lives in a glassed-in porch here in Raleigh, North Carolina. I come here each morning as soon as I wake up, light some candles, plug in… Continue reading Coping with Covid-19
Quarantine, March 21, 2020
We’re living in a different world now. It’s a quieter world. The Canada geese who winter here in North Carolina bleat their hoarse songs with no competition from the thick throb of truck engines. The tiny Carolina wrens slice the silence calling for mates and the occasional passing car offends the hush of a world whose… Continue reading Quarantine, March 21, 2020
The Grapevine
Greasy air oozes out when we open the door to the truck stop cafe. Cigarette smoke, grilled hamburgers, burnt hash browns, and perked coffee replaces the frosty air outside. Men in plaid wool shirts hunch over thick white ceramic plates of food, heavy jackets draped over chair backs. Ashtrays hold smoking butts. A few… Continue reading The Grapevine
Happy Pills
Something amazing happened last Valentine’s Day. I was listening to music a friend sent me- and I started to cry. Real sobs from the gut, unstoppable. And I hadn’t cried like that in a long time. That feeling artists sing about, the yearning, the total immersion in the beloved, is so ephemeral, and ultimately, too capacious… Continue reading Happy Pills