The Women’s Club provided role models for me Carol Bly was intimidating at the breakfast round table. “Common ground,” she opined “doesn’t exist. I hate when anyone talks about common ground.” She pronounced common ground a lost cause in the … Read More
I’ve given up maintenance for more time. The decision to retire someplace without snow and ice was made when I was flat on my back on the sidewalk in Minnesota. The black ice was invisible, and I had stepped off … Read More
Dahlias provide color from August until frost A delight of retiring to Oregon, which I didn’t know before I moved, is the plenitude of flower farmers. Many farmers open their fields in the blooming season, to bring in customers and … Read More
What if you were alive now at 80? Your skin was turned inside out. Raw is the adjective used for you. Raw emotions. Raw voice. Raw talent. But you were starting to learn to control your voice, so it could last many … Read More
The Sun, Moana, the Greeks, the Celts, and me. The sun inset with a spiral floated on the banner behind the altar in front of the sanctuary of the United Church of Christ. I was struck by the spiritual image, … Read More
My granddaughter is three and a half and loves playing with my Barbies. I have the original Titian bubble-head doll, and my younger sister contributed Midge and Malibu Barbie. I bought a current, more reasonably shaped Barbie to add to … Read More
Why happiness is the sum of our lives at the end One of the lessons I remember from my Intro to Philosophy class lo these fifty years hence is that Aristotle thought happiness cannot be fully known until old age. When … Read More
“I Stand Here Ironing” is Olsen’s classic; Virginia Woolf was a heroine We didn’t always have women’s studies. I remember clearly the independent study I took with a part-time professor of English, a faculty wife who had an advanced degree … Read More
The disloyalty of a haircut by another stylist I have been loyal to hairstylists over the years because of our relationship, not the haircut. I was reminded of this silly allegiance when my stylist of the last several years was … Read More
“I heard you were one of the characters in On the Road,” I said to Bill, one day in his apartment. “I don’t talk about it!” he growled. Bill was the executive director of a skid-row service center where I … Read More