My 39th Birthday, Condensed As most of you know by now, I LOVE birthday month. I am having a great birthday this year. Here are some of the highlights! My parents called me at 6 a.m. and sang “happy birthday” in unison. They also (I am sure this wasn’t planned) both said “Happy birthday dear…
Category: Life in America
Planning Oscar
by
Well, it is that time of year again. The Nominations are out and I have, as of this moment, 23 days to get two big things done. 1. Come up with a quirky theme/invite for the annual Oscar party. 2. See about 9,000 films in an effort to, this year, FINALLY, win my own ballot…
A Midwestern Crossing
by
Photographer David Ottenstein Stops Time in Iowa The last thing I expected to see when I went to a gallery meetup at the Ridgefield Guild of Artists on Saturday was HOME. The Radius 2008 Exhibition featured the best of their emerging artists from the last 10 years, and one of those was photographer David Ottenstein,…
Why We Gave Up
by
So Colin and I were going to do The Master Cleanse. Which is a great way to lose weight, but not the reason why one should do it. It’s a cleanse, after all, designed for clearing out toxins and getting you healthy. Day one was yesterday and as mentioned in yesterday’s post “Hungryland”, I spent…
Hungryland
by
If you are looking for me, I am living in hungryland, drinking lemon-syrup and wondering how I missed all these commercials for popcorn, pizza, Progresso soup, Olive Garden, cheese cubes, salad, candy bars etc etc, before. My head is light and airy, and I am obsessed. The answer is The Master Cleanse… I should feel…
Three Questions for the New Year: Part Last!
by
So we made it through some pretty brainy landscapes this week in the pursuit of pondering the end of 2008, and the dawn of HOPE, 2009. To be sure you aren’t taxed too much, I leave you to think about this simple yet all-important issue, one that often doesn’t get near enough attention in the…
Three Questions for the New Year: Part One
by
I am curious about a few things, most especially considering the monumentally bizarre and historical year that we have just left behind us. So in the quest for deeper conversation, more direct and useful contact with my brilliant readers (that’s you!), and topics of future rants, I have Three Questions for the New Year that…
When Friends Disappear
by
Or, the Christmas Card That Ate My Friends It’s that time of year again– the time when I start fuming about Christmas cards. I love sending Christmas cards. Sure it’s time-consuming and tedious, but there is just something about putting together a good card with some fun photos and remembering your friends and family at…
Our First Christmas
by
Of course it isn’t. But it is, really. Because Colin and I are spending Christmas, each of us–for the first time in over 18 years– at home. Here’s our first Christmas tree together. We got it pre-cut this year from a great little family-owned, fifth generation nursery called Q-Gardens. Next year we’ll probably cut one…
Home, Here and There
by
Whenever I stop myself from trying too hard and whenever I look and see what it is I am searching for, it Is almost certainly the long, wide flat spaces of home, the first. It is easy enough to reason away life in the mid-hinterlands. How can I ever get the culture or the speed…
The Gauntlet
by
I love flying out of small airports… There is nothing better than the 15 foot walk from entryway to checkin. Don’t get me wrong — I still reminisce about the Heathrow days, when long security lines snaked around the coffee shops and purse boutiques, and that was even before you the entered security rope maze.…
Diametric Adoration
by
In the middle of my procrastination/break from grading, I visited my email and Google reader and found good stuff from two different women in my life… oh they make me SO crazy! First, there’s HEATHER! Heather the green wonder-mama, now appearing in ANOTHER feature near you! I’ve done some freelance work for Heather, so she’s…
English Things I Miss, Part 1: The Toast Rack
by
Here’s a new, non-regular segment for you that perhaps will help me cope with the grieving process of no longer living in London: English Things I Miss, subtitle, Though Not Necessarily So Much That I Would Move Back to the God-Forsaken Land of Clouds and Complaining. First English Thing I Miss: The Toast Rack It…
How We Love Long Beach
by
If anyone is wondering what I was doing on election day, have a look at this photo… This is LONG BEACH, an image taken from the air a few years ago, of one of the beaches owned by my town, Stratford, CT. On election day–all but about two hours, anyway–I spent the day at Wilcoxson…
Yes We Can… Now We MUST!
by
Let’s enjoy today. To bask in the warmth of the light of change. Let’s enjoy the fruits of our hard work and watch CNN until our eyeballs fall out. Let’s scan the world’s papers to see ourselves, admired through others’ eyes. Let’s hold hands and sing, and high five, and, especially when the cameras are…
