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I undress and stretch out on crisp,  white sheets tucked into a blond wood bed frame.  The light is low, soothing,  the room sparsely decorated. Stone- ware pottery  stands on a shelf, a monotone print in grays and  whites hangs on the wall.   Dr Fei begins with my head, pressing gently, then harder,   finding places… Continue reading Out with the old —

It is a sunny day, at last.  It has been raining and cloudy since May, but now summer seems to have arrived.   The High Street is bustling with shoppers in short sleeves, buskers singing and playing guitars whose cases, sprinkled with starter coins, lie open in front of them.  It’s like a spring fete,  people … Continue reading Trying Anything

I’ve been neglecting this blog, lately –  lots of visitors have been here, especially Jono and family from Uruguay, some heallth issues, and generally my spirit has not been available.  I have been nervous about this angiogram, though I know it isn’t really a big deal.  But wait a minute.  How can a wire going… Continue reading Angiogram –

Furious baking is going on in my kitchen since I returned from France. It’s my way of putting down roots. When I’ve cleaned the kitchen and baked some bread, I am home again. I made two loaves of rye bread a week ago which were heavy enough to break skulls, yet chewy in the middle.… Continue reading Rye Bread

Submitted by Jim Mauch>> Jim, >> You were right about the Kikuyu tribe being the main instigators of >> the Mau Mau Rebellion in the 1950’s in Kenya. Now, I remember >> kidding Harry Saterfield about it when he returned from Kenya. >> I was thinking of another rebellion way back in history in South  Africa. Thanks for the confirmation, Dick.… Continue reading Academics Discuss History: Ignorance is Bliss?

English-speaking friends of mine sometimes ask why the French are so picky about the gender when speaking.  Why does it matter, it just makes it more difficult to learn the language.  Voici la reponse!!1 Le français est une langue réputée pour la richesse de son vocabulaire , pleine de nuances et de subtilités…….   Exemple… Continue reading Masculine/Feminine – It Does Matter in French

Nevada City lies in the Sierra Foothills, about 100 miles west of the north shore of Lake Tahoe, and an hour’s drive east of Sacramento.  It was settled in the mid=1800’s during California’s Gold Rush, and vestiges of mining are everywhere.  If you know where to look you will find old mining sites and tracks… Continue reading Nevada City, California

I am thinking of making the airport wheel chair experience permanent.  My initial reluctance to look like an invalid has been replaced with a crafty glee in by-passing security lines, check-in lines, filing sheep-like into- the- plane lines, and trudging all over the airport.   The little electric carts are just fine, and I’ve met some… Continue reading More North Carolina

The night after my arrival in North Carolina I went up to bed covered in red, yellow, green, and purple stars.  A tiny red heart was pasted on my cheek.  Gabriella placed them there as rewards, and they are valued  emblems.  When I take off my sweater I am careful not to dislodge them.  I… Continue reading North Carolina

Fringing the woods, the stone walls, and the lanes,Old thickets everywhere have come alive.Their new leaves reaching out in fans of fiveFrom tangles overarched by this year’s canes. They have their flowers too, it being June,And here or there in brambled dark-and-lightAre small, five-petaled blooms of chalky white,As random-clustered and as loosely strewn As the… Continue reading BLACKBERRIES FOR AMELIA