This year I read three stories of strong women from the Middle East who survived great hardship. Two received the Nobel Peace Prize. I think I needed to read of their resilience. Lest we say their stories are unique to the Middle East, I would point out that there is sex trafficking in this country, domestic violence, and rape. Until we can solve our own problems here, I would avoid pointing fingers elsewhere! The first …
I find lap swimming a good exercise for me. I swam laps before I met Ken. I used to teach swimming and work as a lifeguard. I love water. With a bad knee and previous rotator cuff shoulder problems, it’s a good choice. I have been inching up the number of laps to avoid injury. And yesterday with the threat of a large storm keeping me home later in the week I pushed to 50 …
This morning I awoke to snow. It was dark later than usual, so I did chores later than usual. It was that beautiful blue winter morning light. Geese love this weather. They were waddling, chatting, flapping wings and saying it’s party time. Since it is above freezing now, there is rain. So we will not get the one foot of snow here; maybe someone elsewhere will. Oscar is glad to be outside, but he wonders …
This year I cut a tree and put it up myself about a week ago. It really is a three handed job – best if one person holds it upright and straight while the other person is prone tightening the bolts. Wednesday I had lunch with a friend and ran errands. While calling my friend to report I was home safe, I heard a plop. After hanging up the phone I discovered the tree on …
Ken and I have used many spices. There are my New England spices, my French Canadian spices, Scandinavian and Ken’s German, Scandinavian, and of course after we lived in Japan there are Asian condiments as well. Each year during a small window after the growing season, but before he made pots, Ken went through the kitchen and pantry. Then he would travel to the co-op and Penzey’s for holiday needs like figs for fig pudding …
I have been laughing and telling people how Ken was a pack rat – not that I am not one – and how just now, over a year after his death I was down to the last five rolls of toilet paper he had bought. It did not fit in the closet, but was piled on the upper floor by a shelf. As the Japanese would say, a toilet paper yama (mountain). Yesterday at the …
I wanted a tree this year. So I walked south of the house with a sled with bow saw, loppers, measuring tape, and rope. I found a tree with few branches on one side (it could go by the wall), cut it, pulled it with the rope, loaded it on the sled, pulled it up to the house, measured it, and cut to length and lopped extra branches. It came in the house and into …
About a month ago I was at Depth of Field in Minneapolis. One side of the store is a futon shop, and the other is a fiber shop. I was there for a futon frame and then a futon cover. After making those purchases I walked over to the fiber side. They told me the store was closing and the yarn was 50% off. I bought the wild colored Merino wool that remained. First I …
This time last year Ken was visiting friends in New Mexico at the advice of one of his alternative health care providers.We spoke on the phone daily and each day he told me he was weaker. While he was gone I was lining up things he could no longer do – plow the drive, get wood cut and stacked. Friends helped with all these things. I am grateful. People asked how I could “let him …
Transition. I am in transition. For over a decade prior to 2017 my holidays were spent with my in-laws. Nice people, but we have never become close. By the time I entered their world, they had their traditions and daily lives, and I was not a part of them. I always felt like I had entered someone else’s high school reunion; I rarely knew the verbal shorthand or got the inside joke. I was an …
