First trip post-vaccine protection: Palm Springs in April. Can’t wait! The girlfriend and I will hit the town. The husband disdains hot places, although P.S. in spring, nestled in its desert valley, can be chilly at night and tepid during … Continue reading
This morning the husband and I discussed the President. A meme has resurfaced—thanks to the garbage-laden Internet of Mark Zuckerberg—of President Trump, The Orange Mango, User of Makeup Dusted with Gold, Imperial Rambler, Narcissist of Our Age. Two years ago, … Continue reading
The local radio station is playing in rotation a song called “Gold Rush”. While the band, Death Cab for Cutie, explains it’s about a romantic break-up, it’s clearly a eulogy for what is being lost in the current development tsunami … Continue reading
A while ago I realized that I needed a hobby that wasn’t, you know, futzing around on a keyboard. So I took up knitting. Great hobby, right? Keep my hands occupied while I watch tv or something, and have something … Continue reading
Eldest daughter of an eccentric art collector, Arianne Richards has become the caretaker of the family’s empty coffers and her irrepressible siblings. Discovering a hidden painting, she is determined to sell it to obtain the funds to send her ill mother into the country. But why does her aristocratic cousin’s suitor, the handsome and wealthy Lord Galen Locke, show so much interest in her humble person? And why does he so badly want the mysterious painting?
Continue readingI’ve gone through periods when I did not know if I’d ever get another writable idea. Since most writers are magpies, crows, and jays, and as such we collect shiny bits and pieces and tuck them away in our mental … Continue reading
by Brenda W. Clough One of the most superb features of living in the Washington DC area is the museums. The Smithsonian Institution is one of the great centers of learning of our time, and admission is free! It’s always … Continue reading
The Boy From the Burren The First Book of the Painter by Sheila Gilluly I woke to the deep dark of middle night. Around me the other boys’ sleeping breath was a shushing like that of … Continue reading
Rotten Row by Chaz Brenchley Sometimes you wait a long time, at a ’Chute. The network’s busy all over: at any node people are always arriving, leaving, passing through. And whatever the pressure, they can still only process one discard … Continue reading
by Ursula K. Le Guin The Award System. A while ago I was invited to choose, from a list of winners of a certain literary prize, “the three best works of American fiction of the last sixty years.” The three … Continue reading
