Someone’s in the Kitchen

<In our kitchen this morning. I’m up on a high stool rearranging the dishes cabinet in our "downsizing house".> The Physicist walks in, intent on a cup of coffee: What are you doing? I: I’m working with the life I have, instead of the life I thought I was going to have. The Physicist: <Beat. …

Becoming a Grandmother

Seven years ago I sat with my friend in her living room and she told me she had had to quit her job because she was too sick and too weak to work anymore. The doctors didn't know why. She had worked seven days a week for years, but now, no more. I had begged …

All the Tea in (Mother’s) China

We've been cleaning out my mother's house, dispersing the collections of a lifetime to the four corners of our community. A few things have been sold to raise funds for a new, narrow twin bed for my father, (who has decided it is time to downsize), a few have gone to the Coach's home and …

A Small Brook Burbling

I'm at the farm picking up milk the Dancer and the young Scientist can eat/drink without getting sick. We have been under lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic for the past nine weeks. I brought my dad along and our sweet girl dog, who are waking around while we wear our masks and wait in …

Not in the House

Heard yesterday: "Hey, Dad! What do you get when you cross a Shih Tzu and a Pit Bull?" "What?" "Oh. Um... I can't tell you. Mommy won't let me say that word."

Oh, Tell Me Where Did Katy Live, and What Did Katy Do?

When I was a little girl, I discovered that when I woke up in the morning and heard the cidadas' song crescendoing outside my window it was going to be a very hot day. Each tree held it's own choir, and one stand would rise in song, then die away, and then a neighboring group …

Mama’s Song

My beautiful mother loved to play the guitar. While walking to work on the first day of her first job, the young woman with dreams of becoming a doctor spotted a guitar in a pawn shop window. She took that pretty, little guitar home with her very first paycheck and played for the rest of …

Pivoting: The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me! Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

Cooking with (and without) a Book

A young friend graduated from college this year, married and moved across the country. It's an exciting time in her life, with many new things to learn.  I sent her off with a crock pot, knowing there will be many days when she and her husband will both be out for long hours and neither …

Vanilla Almond Meal Cookies (Egg Free, Wheat Free, Gluten Free, Low Glycemic, can be Sugar Free)

When the Physicist and I began our gut-healing regimen a year ago  (through which he lost 50 pounds and I lost 20),  I hunted for a cookie we could eat and still follow the prescribed protocol. This cookie became my go-to recipe.  Easy, quick, tasty and satisfying, (and far more economical than commercial GF cookies) …