Looking back on 80 years of life is sobering. For some time now, I have been trying to organize my files, label things and throw out things no one cares about. In the process I have found amazing items I thought were lost forever. I have found things that hurt my heart to see or read about. Then there are the things that bring such joy and fulfillment that it is thick in the air around me. But it can…
The voice spoke to me from outside my body but I was alone. There was no one with me. “You don’t want to live here. You need to leave and go to Charlottesville. You want to be with your children and grandchildren. Go!” I was alone in my mothers’ bedroom on a day in late February 2020. The room was dark, curtains drawn, and the blue silk wallpaper seemed to fade out to nothing. The cream-colored, French provincial, dresser I…
Are you one of those who make fun of people who talk about Free-dumb? Do you value “free speech”? Have you thought about what your life will be like when you no longer have any freedom to do as you wish? You will not be able to complain because that will be deemed “hate speech”. Can you see that the mandates are taking your freedom from you one thing at a time. And now with vaccine passports, all of your…
A nurse told me, “Your private doctor does not care about you. They just want to make money. They do NOT care what happens to you.” She was emphatic and she sounded angry. Everyone is on edge, these days. She was adamant that doctors were in it only for the money.This was interesting because she is a nurse at a hospital. Most people I know would say that “hospitals do not care about you. They just want to make money.”…
A ‘ conspiracy theorist ‘ is someone who engages in Critical Thinking. Isn’t that a good thing? When we are young the world is bright with promise and seems to extend out indefinitely. Even if our circumstances are dire, there is hope peaking over the horizon, seen from a distance maybe, but still possible. At the end of life, our gaze turns back to see how far from the starting point we have come. There is less time to begin…
The sun shone behind a wall of clouds so diaphanous that it seemed to be made of sheer Mother of Pearl. Silvery, shimmering as if it would burst forth any second now in glorious glaring sunlight. But that never happened. Instead, the sky became thicker and smoother and the scent of snow was in the air. It felt damp and cold and invigorating at the same time. Snow-covered the turquoise-painted outdoor furniture on the terrace, and it covered the terrace,…
Remember being 10 years old? Such a milestone, 2 digits! I was thrilled when I turned 10 that I could say something happened 10 years ago. A new type of “me” arose by the time my life contained that august number of years. Everyone has an annual birthday whether it is celebrated or not. But some are more important than others. 12 was also a big year for me, as I became a woman on my 12th birthday, much to…
Christmas this year was one of the best ever. Our family is large and several members have birthdays in December. There is even one on the 23rd and one on Christmas Eve. These family members have parties in addition to the Christmas parties already scheduled by friends and families. None of the parties were canceled. And they were all a lot of fun. The weather was mild, and we were often outside for hiking and eating. At one birthday, the…
When the sun sets with a crescendo of color so magnificent it takes the breath away, trying to capture it leads to multiple photos. Or when it rises in splendid spirals of pink, orange, fuchsia, and golden light. Brightening the dark mauve sky at dawn by degrees is God’s way of increasing the light. My first act after a moment or two of awe is to reach for my phone to memorialize the sight. Looking back through my photos for…
Think about the title of this post. What is your threshold? How much will you put up with? What are you willing to do to stop it? Recently an organization to which I belong sent out an email to the membership about their new policy. The new rule which must be complied with is to show a vaccine passport or failing that, a negative Covid test. You must do this in order to attend their dinners and luncheons from now…
Montpelier Races! They are the only races held at the property of a historic home, in this case, the house of James Madison. He was, among other things, the 4th President of the United States and the father of the Constitution. The property is gorgeous. The autumn drive along secondary back roads in Virginia is breathtaking. The leaves still on trees were vibrantly colored. A clear blue sky with scudding puffs of cloud here and there accompanied me along the…
The text came in while I was sitting in my old bedroom in my mothers’ house in Washington DC. The phone rested in my hand. The hair stood up on the back of my neck. A snake hiding in my house in Charlottesville! I scrolled down to a photo of the little critter which my housekeeper sent. It really wasn’t very big. There it was stuck solidly to one of those horrible sticky rectangular mouse traps. Its whole body fits…
One of my children asked about anti-body tests. Are they reliable? Some others talked about crazy stories they heard about people not being allowed to attend weddings of friends unless they had the shot. Some frightened friends of parents would not allow them to come into the house without a mask. The stigma against the people who have not had the shot is out of all proportion to the danger. If one did not know better, one would think that…
One of my children told me recently that they believe the government is their friend and there to help us through the current virus. This child thinks their mother (me) is selfish and stubborn because I do not believe that. It makes me feel somewhat frustrated and a little bit hopeless. There is so much fear of “the virus”. It is pathological. Truly scary, to me, is the idea that a lot of people believe that we as humans are…
Suddenly the hot day seemed to stall. The sun disappeared. Everything got quiet and very still. Looking up into the sky, I was shocked to see it suddenly dark. Storm clouds crowded where the brilliant blue had been only minutes before. The entire sky was suffused in charcoal and shades of grey. Such majesty in that infinite depth defied reason and shocked us with the change from light to dark. The sheer power of thunderclouds which seemed to crash against…
