2020 has been an incredible year for me. It started with me living in my mothers’ house after her death in November because we needed to get things organized and arranged as the estate settles.When my mother died at 101, my calendar was full. To distract myself from watching her decline, I involved myself in many different organizations. Once Mother was gone, there was no reason to stay there. But I did not realize that at first because my forward…
The restrictions people accept as “Laws” are becoming more and more onerous. We the “People” MUST do something to combat the total erosion of our Freedom. Why are people not concerned? The answer is that they are terrified. I speak to people like this daily. They are intelligent and sensible people, many of whom I have known for YEARS. They tell me that people are dying of COVID, and they do not want to be dead. But they are confusing…
Charlottesville is a town filled with fear. I have never seen anything like it. People are afraid. Children are afraid of their grandparents, and parents are afraid of their children. How on earth did things become so twisted? Using the excuse of a disease that is so non-lethal, it kills less than 1% of those who contract it. And they are mostly people with one or more co-morbidities. “They” scare us with tales of hospitals full of patients, refrigerated trucks…
“You have inspired me!” She said the magic words. I was feeling a bit discouraged about my “reach”. I had been wondering if anybody cared about my message. I received an email from a woman whom I know only slightly. She wrote those words to me. “YOU have inspired me!” which encouraged me to keep going. When someone says “you inspired me” or variations on that theme, it warms my heart. Some women have even said, “You changed my life.” Those are…
A friend of mine got the COVID-19 virus. He was very ill. He was in hospital for some time. It is taking him a long time to recover. I am so glad that he is getting better all the time. It is terrible that he, of all people, got a bad case of the virus. He writes of his fear of infecting others. He speaks of the virus as if it were a fatal illness for almost anyone who catches…
Do you ever stand in front of the clothes in your closet saying “I don’t have a thing to wear” while looking through hangers full of clothes. I spent many hours this way. It is frustrating and at the same time it is obvious that there are a lot of clothes in that closet.?And like a lot of women I had my fat clothes and the clothes I could only wear after dieting. And of course there were also the…
When events seem discombobulated and people feel disoriented, it interferes with the energy surrounding us. On the day after an election with no clear winner, it is good to be older, wiser, and calmer. And that is certainly true for me.I remember the first election for which I was old enough to vote. I was passionate about it. It seemed to be the most critical thing in the world. If my candidate lost, the country as we knew it would…
The sun beating in my windows woke me with intense golden light. It is such a pleasure to wake up that way. Full of gratitude is my state every morning because I love being here in this house.My room faces east and overlooks a brick terrace that borders the whole length of the back of my house. A lovely view of fields, surrounded on the far edges with woods peacefully extends out from there. The trees are beginning to turn,…
What did you believe when you were small? Did you like yourself? Or were you like me, scared to say or even feel that you liked yourself because that seemed conceited. They warned us about appearing to be “conceited” because that was arrogant. It was a terrible sin. I knew that some people said they “like themselves best.” But I felt sorry for them. It seemed like the proper thing would be to say that you liked others more than…
Do you sleep with your dogs? If not, why not? It is the greatest pleasure to have a warm body next to your own with absolutely no agenda except to love you. I have always slept with my dog since I was ten years old and got my first dachshund, Rowena. She was a smooth haired black and tan standard-sized dachshund puppy. My parents bought a pair of them from a friend. One was for my sister, and she named…
colorful closet full of clothes of my mother
The virus which we have been watching for several months now, first hearing about it in January, has now taken center stage. It is front-page news, interior news, and back page news. It is everywhere. Facebook is full of it. Vitriolic, angry people arguing about who did what and where the virus came from, plus angry political slants and slanders. So we can all make a choice. We can use our time to focus on the virus or focus on…
In troubled times it is helpful to remember that adversity comes and goes like the weather. Dogs keep us company and love us no matter what happens.
Watching the young travel the streets on scooters brings home the fact that we are older.
difficult to discuss demented parents if siblings are in denial.
