exquisite flowers, not from our garden Early this morning I stood outside near the badminton net in our back yard, clutching a dog poop bag in my hand and waiting for Scout to do his doings. Something on the ground caught my eye; further examination revealed a half-eaten green tomato, abandoned. Dammit. Hope you enjoyed … Continue reading Journal Entry: Gardening Is Difficult, and Other Truths
Summer
Travel Story: A Vacation Lamentation
O, Plague that has stolen so much from so many, will you truly deny us our annual purgative pilgrimage? (Unmoved, Plague replies through a yawn, a pox upon your house.) Back in February we began the calculus as always, surfing for dog-friendly digs, option weighing, and atlas consulting—the old-school version with the spiral binding, a … Continue reading Travel Story: A Vacation Lamentation
Sunday Photo Essay: A Birthday Celebration
tide-me-over birthday cupcake It's annual birthday week for The Chef and me: Mine was last Monday, his is this coming Tuesday. On Monday he brought me home a single cupcake to celebrate the occasion: lemon, with lemon buttercream icing and lemon curd filling—lemony goodness, through and through. But we saved our grand celebration for yesterday, … Continue reading Sunday Photo Essay: A Birthday Celebration
Journal Entry: I Roast a Red Pepper
roasted red peppers …without burning down the house. The Chef was on an errand and I wanted to make Salade Niçoise, which calls for roasted red peppers. So I leaned on this little video by Chef Shelley Young at The Chopping Block, et, voilà! My first effort was not too bad, although my peppers were … Continue reading Journal Entry: I Roast a Red Pepper
Beware of Goat (And So Much More)
our sign is up Would that Van-Goat-the-Statuary were all any of us needed to beware of at this moment. One of my bffs down South once told me a story that will stay with me forever. It happened way back in the day when she was still in college in her twenties, and working part-time … Continue reading Beware of Goat (And So Much More)
Sunday Photo Essay: Mushrooms Are Good and Other Truths
a good mushroom When I was growing up you could not have paid me enough money to eat a mushroom; this never dissuaded my mom from trying. She made beef stroganoff as part of the dinner entrée rotation, and evidently the recipe called for slimy little canned mushrooms. The sensorial outrage going on inside my … Continue reading Sunday Photo Essay: Mushrooms Are Good and Other Truths
Music Story: A Guitar Worth Playing…
a guitar worth playing …is worth playing badly. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it. And anyway, the pandemic does not care. In prep school I met and become fast friends with one Stephanie (Pipkin) Jackson, who was something of a musical savant, already accomplished at classical guitar at the tender age of 13; … Continue reading Music Story: A Guitar Worth Playing…
Dog Story: We Try Dock Diving
There’s a little piece of conventional wisdom that goes something like, know your limits. If you’re a parent, then you know this truth applies also to your child’s or children’s limits: Everybody wins when you understand what you can reasonably expect of your kiddo—and what you can’t. Turns out the same thing’s true for doggies. … Continue reading Dog Story: We Try Dock Diving
Journal Entry: We Have Cicadas!
And the photographic evidence is right up ^ there. Last Saturday morning Scoutie and I struck out on our usual city run, which takes us down a couple of tree-line pathways that wind along the Walloomsac River in a sort of parklike setting—same river in fact that delineates the southern boundary of our property—before we … Continue reading Journal Entry: We Have Cicadas!
Vacation Postscript: It’s Still Summer, Dammit
But you’d never know it from the ‘seasonal’ departments in all the big box retailers. I defy you to visit one and find that thing you had your eye on for your backyard deck or patio a couple weeks ago, but decided to think on it: ‘Tis gone, gone, gone now, and in its place—Crayola … Continue reading Vacation Postscript: It’s Still Summer, Dammit
