And a special shoutout to subscribers Writing on a blog started in earnest in January 2022 for me. I discovered Medium, a blog site, and moved relevant blogs to this site on Common Sage. I have been gifted with new … Read More
“Quotidian” is a word I haven’t used before. It derives from Latin and refers to dailiness, mundane. Kathleen Norris, a spiritual writer, has a book called The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and Women’s Work. The title reminds me of dish … Read More
I took my stamp collection to a wizened man in my city, who dealt in collectibles – postage stamps, coins, silver. I was moving across country, and since I would pay movers by the pound, I was de-accessioning pounds of … Read More
In dark December the eldest Swedish daughterDresses in white, lights the candles,Glides from room to room with coffee,Cardamom buns, the lilting songAn old tradition from an old countryCandles lighting dark.But the story, reduced to pink-cheeked girls,Breakfast in darkened rooms, Does … Read More
I will become a grandma in another 4 to 6 weeks, so I have been looking at items the new parents might use. It’s a different world out there. I won’t tell you I walked five miles to work while … Read More
By 1977, Jackie Onassis and others had led a successful campaign to preserve Grand Central Station, and the Commodore Hotel, next to Grand Central, was over fifty years old and losing money. New York City was in the depths of … Read More
Anne Morrow Lindbergh published Gift from the Sea in 1955. It was on my mother’s nightstand, and like many women of that era, I think she treasured the book. I was surprised to see it described as a proto-feminist book, … Read More
When I lived in upstate New York, a friend bought a nineteenth century home, not uncommon in that area, and discovered a stash of empty Lydia Pinkham’s tonic bottles in the attic. For those of you not familiar with Lydia … Read More
When will the Baby Boomers move off-stage? The daily political discourse right now is an assault, and I am not attributing that assault to age, but maybe this generation has had its run. What would be the impact if tomorrow … Read More