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Whaddaya Mean 50 Years Ago????

I survived my 50th High School reunion The other night my husband and I attended the 50th reunion of our High School graduating class. This is completely ridiculous because we could not have graduated half a century ago. Absolutely not. We had gone to our local high school in the shadow of the Vietnam War. We were among the last of the Baby Boomers, and our musical tastes reflected that. From…

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Back to School Nostalgia

I wish I was greeting a new class The nights are getting cool. A few leaves around the edge of the yard have already turned red. Summer is winding down, and fall is coming on. The new school year is just ahead. Kids everywhere are worrying about which friends will be in their classes. They are hoping that their new teacher will be “nice”. Parents are buying children new clothes, hoping the…

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Wait....Jorts Are "Coming Back"?

Who knew they went away? OK, wait. In the first place, nobody ever told me that jeans shorts are called “jorts.” What the hell? When did that happen? In the second place, at no point in the last two decades did I ever figure out that “jorts” were out of fashion. I did not get the memo. I was sitting in my living room yesterday, in this year of our Lord 2024, sipping some coffee and feeling…

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Is My Bucket List Lame?

Do I really need a bucket list anyway? A lot of people my age talk about “checking one off the bucket list.” Vacations to exotic places, adventurous hikes or bike trips, jumping out of airplanes. It seems that every recent retiree has big, exciting plans for the next part of life. I’m not one of them. A part of me is just plain tired of striving to achieve. As a child, life was all about…

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Happy Anniversary to Me!

Two years since my coconut cracking I’m sitting here in my living room with the fan going overhead and a nice cold cosmo in my hand. I just finished setting some bread dough to rise, dinner is simmering, and I finished knitting a scarf. All is right with the world, and boy, howdy, do I feel it. Two years ago tonight I was kind of a wreck. I was eating dinner late because I had to eat nothing…

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Renewing My Faith in America

A day right out of a Rockwell painting Today was a difficult day for a lot of Americans. Last night’s debate between the two pitiful characters running for President left millions of us thinking, “Really??! This is the BEST we could do?” A lot of us woke up this morning thinking that we’ve hit rock bottom. That our country is doomed and that we will all end up shooting at each other. I wasn’t…

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Raising Siblings Without Warfare

We did it, but we didn’t think we would Do you remember when your kids were little, and they fought ALL the time? Weren’t there moments when one said something like, “He was looking at me!” and expected you to intervene? Don’t you remember days when you had to cut one goldfish cracker into three pieces so the snacks would be “fair”? I do. I remember feeling like I was being held hostage by a…

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Is It Weird That I Want an MRI Machine at Home?

Maybe. Or maybe not MRI – Magnetic resonance tomography imaging scan device in blue color. Like most people living these days, I am often anxious. I worry all the time. Will the world catch fire, will it succumb to hurricanes and tornadoes? Will we have enough food to go on? I worry that there will be another pandemic, one that we can’t survive. I fear that a cyberattack might take out our…

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People Are So Funny

So unintentionally funny Sometimes life is absolutely hilarious. Especially when it seems like it is nothing more than a series of sorrows and heartaches. For the past few weeks, I have been feeling anxious and sad. I am increasingly worried about the climate, even as I enjoy the abundance of blooms this spring has brought us. I am worried about the upcoming election because we live in a red…

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Tap Dancing on a Balance Beam

Lessons in brain surgery I’ve spent the better part of two years trying to explain to people how it feels to be a brain-damaged old lady. You see, a little more than two years ago I woke up mostly deaf in one ear. We had flown that day and were visiting friends in Florida when it happened. So I thought it was just the old pressure-in-your-ear routine. But when I got home and went to the…

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Please Join Us For National Movie Night

June 27, 2024, No debate! Let’s watch a movie. While I was listening to the news today, I had a wonderful idea. The anchors on my newscast were announcing that Biden and Trump have agreed to a debate. They were very excited, although I’m not sure why. Every election has debates.  Nevertheless, the news people were super enthused that the two men will debate on June 27.  It will, naturally, be…

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Dear Kids

It’s time to call the Home Dear children of ours, We think the time has come. We always said that we’d move out of our house when we couldn’t take care of it anymore. We promised each other that we wouldn’t stay here when the stairs became a threat, or when the very idea of mowing the grass would send us into a panic. To be honest, we kind of assumed that we’d be OK until we go OLD. You know,…

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Sure, I Live in the Woods, But I Never Expected THIS

Horror comes to the wilderness of Massachusetts. It is good to live out there with nature. It is healthy. It is environmentally friendly. It makes us cool aging hippies and simultaneously, cool modern grandparents. We forage for dandelions and garlic mustard in the spring. We celebrate the occasional bears and coyotes who come to visit. We are happy naturalist types with a native pollinator…

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Glimmer #35 April Snowstorm Pros and Cons

Really. There are some good parts. Oh, dear, Mama Nature. What have you been drinking? Here we are on April 4th, watching the snow and ice pile up on the branches. The wind is roaring and trees and limbs are down all over town.  All of this after our pathetic excuse for a winter. Sure, we wanted a nice snowstorm in December. But Christmas was warm and green. Spring has come on very early, with…

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Glimmer #34 Remembering Dad

April 3, 1927 I wonder what life was like 97 years ago on this day? I know that it was a Sunday. I know that Cesar Chavez had been born three weeks earlier and that Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis had held a three-day hearing on the “Black Sox” baseball scandal in January.  I know that Sacco and Vanzetti, victims of anti-Italian and anti-immigrant sentiment, were scheduled to be…

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Glimmer #33 Shells

A happy obsession When I was in the fifth grade, well over 50 years ago, my parents took me and my siblings to the Museum of Science in Boston. I don’t remember too many specifics, except a see-through woman and man with their insides lit up. I remember that my Dad was excited by all of it because he was a man of science. But I know that after seeing the displays, we stopped at the gift shop. I…

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Glimmer #32 Happy to Leave Some Stuff Behind

I know that getting older is not a picnic. Heaven knows I complain about it enough. I hate having to let go of so many former pleasures. Hiking in the White Mountains, dancing at music festivals, spending a few days on our friends’ boat. Understanding people when they talk in a crowded room. Being able to plant 250 spring bulbs on a sunny October day. I am sad that I won’t have many too more…