Covid Pasttimes

My mother used to say “She’s not a gusher…” to describe me when I opened a gift and was not raving outwardly about it. Then she’d laugh nervously as she always did when she was describing me. Of course I didn’t have a name for me then, (flat affect, autism, dysthymia) there’s many names I’d […]

You Never See It Coming

September sneaked up on me. I just had a few mini vacations: Vermont, NY, Massachusetts. And I got to walk on the beach this past summer. Now I understand that this is the last Autumn my Maple will drop leaves. It’s marked for murder. Every day the treecutters are closer and closer. September and February […]

BETWEEN THE GREYS

Somewhere on the planet as I type this; gurgling, burbling geothermic hotspots spurt predictably (like certain presidential candidates) and just like Old Faithful, Pixar presents us with another animated film. Inside Out is about feelings; so I was putting this one off. Eventually I did give it a watch. Turns out it’s literal, it runs […]

Christmas and Stuff

I’ve always lived 2 and a 1/2 hours from Massachusetts; even as a child. I was born there but my parents were living in Connecticut at the time of my birth. When I was growing up, there weren’t as many safety laws in place. When my adoption in Mass. was finalized, I was about 3 […]

Unconditionally Loving Dogs and Cats

When I stop and really think, I’ve had an animal every single day of my life. The first one I recall is good old Pistol. He was a black but graying mixed breed who was bigger than me. My parents say he resented me coming into the house; he was there first. I recall dropping […]

Broken Peace(s) and Coping with Life When Vultures Are Circling Your House

Something I owe to the soil that grew- More to the life that fed- But most to Allah, who gave me two Separate sides to my head. I would go without shirts or shoes, Friends, tobacco, or bread Sooner than for an instant lose Either side of my head. –Rudyard Kipling (Above: A picture I […]

I have 48 years, I will do much more

A few years ago, my daughter came inside the house carrying something. She put the thing in my hand. It was grey, solid, an almost perfectly round rock, which fit in my palm. She’d found a keen rock-ball. Across the street from me are natural caves. There’s a mountain with a flag on top, and […]