The cats and I were busier than usual this past weekend. I, because I had real office-job-work to do all weekend, plus intermittent snow-shoveling. They, because it was the Great Backyard Bird Count and they had to brush up their ornithology. (Good thing I keep a handsome leatherette Audubon guide …
The pandemic has made so many things different this year, and usually unpleasantly so. Just ask any parent trying to invent “school” at home. There’s the hassle of connecting their suddenly stay-at-home children to a remote learning environment where the teacher is as inexperienced in Zooming as the students themselves. …
My dear mama has been a yellow-dog-Democrat since forever. If you’re unfamiliar with the phrase, it means “I’ll vote for a yellow dog before I’ll vote for a Republican.” I don’t blame her one bit for holding this rather harsh view. As a person, a Republican elected official may be …
My American friends don’t — by and large — use the phrase, but in Britain, no birthday goes unmarked without at least a half-dozen folks wishing you “Many happy returns of the day.” This may even include the postman or building receptionist if they’ve seen you often enough to know …
One of the more enjoyable aspects of cataloging every book and CD and DVD (and eventually LP album) that came out of my parents’ house is discovering some odd-ball treasure you would never have expected them to own. Some oddities in the collection are expected. I’ve already remarked elsewhere on …
Let me begin by admitting I can’t knit to save myself. If I were faced with a sinking sailboat and the requirement I knit myself a line to reach the dock, I would likely have to raise hand to forehead and go quietly down with the ship. I’m only fractionally …
