While I was fussing about what to write for my Sunday blog with no tangible result, the Saturday New York Times Crossword provided inspiration. Constructors: Adam Aaronson and Ricky Cruz Saturdays are the most challenging puzzles; long answers, obscurities, puns … Continue reading
The fashion for murals in American cities is fairly recent. I don’t remember many when I was a girl. If you want brilliant color that will stand up to wind and weather you probably need modern technology. The Pacific Northwest … Continue reading
Hello, everyone and hooray for those of us who survived the Great Pacific Northwest Bake-off. We need some humor here, after this frightening few days, which sadly left our region with several deaths from the heat. Hey, climate change is … Continue reading
Now that we’re fully vaccinated, we’ve been slowly easing our toes back into the stream of Socializing With Other People. It’s been weird! And great! And weird! Last Friday night, we had a couple over for dinner. They are some … Continue reading
When you’ve stuck at home for over a year, memories of social interactions can take on wistful dimension, the “If only I’d known!” In that spirit, a friend recently asked, What was your most memorable meal? I had to think … Continue reading
We committed social gathering yesterday. 6 people, four fully vaccinated, 2 partially, all of a generation fully cognizant of the risks and generally sensible people, but with the frustration, grief and monotony of the past 14 months getting the better … Continue reading
I just committed unnecessary travel during Covid. Interesting that the word “Covid” has become a noun in itself—one doesn’t need to add “era” or “pandemic” to it any more. It’s Covid and everyone knows what that means. An adjective or … Continue reading
I was rereading Benedetta Craveri‘s biography, Madame du Deffand and her World, and when I hit the chapter about her St. Joseph’s convent salon, the parallels between the eighteenth century French salons and the evolving blogosphere gave me this mental image of one … Continue reading
Up here in Massachusetts, we haven’t had much in the way of winter for the last couple of years. I mean we’ve had winter. There are days of below zero cold. The ground freezes. The heating bill goes up—we’re always … Continue reading
I love snow! So fluffy and pretty, so magical, so peaceful, so…inconvenient. Well, not usually. Usually we’re pretty self-sufficient out here. You have to be, to want to live on an island with only an unreliable (and fairly expensive) ferry … Continue reading
