Clik here to view.
The Big One
Spring hot isn’t at all like summer hot. Summer hot is sticky and damp, humid yet dusty and full of allergens. One goes from a hot, humid house to a hot, humid car (at least we do; our car AC gasps out...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lost Cat, Found Friend
I’m sure you know that Art and I love our cats. They pop up from time to time in these columns, and we wouldn’t trade them for anything. They are part of our family, and certainly take up a lot of real...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Out of Service
I’ve been going going going the past few months. I am a hereditary workaholic, so it isn’t anything to write home about. But the idea that I wanted to stop working myself so hard was rather novel. I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Trainspotting
I’m writing this column just past Amsterdam, enjoying a cloudy day on a southbound train. I’m on my way to the annual League of Historic American Theatres conference. Maybe it’s the idea that I’m...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Out-of-Town Cheerleaders
As I write this post, the Capitol is in the midst of its production run of Spamalot, and I can hear the Canalfest fireworks in the distance. The big weekend for Honor America Days has just passed, the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Coping Mechanisms
Forgive me, dear reader, I know my columns have been sporadic this year. Life has been throwing a lot at me! It’s hard not to get discouraged sometimes when dealing with the everyday ins and outs of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
It doesn’t matter if they like you
I had a revelation the other day (and no, it isn’t that I should be better about writing this column, though I have also come to that conclusion). I had the revelation that it doesn’t matter if...
View ArticleClik here to view.
One Weed at a Time
My in-laws–one of whom I had the pleasure to meet while they were alive, one of whom I did not–were industrious, fastidious people. While working one or more jobs and maintaining an active social life,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Counting my blessings
Art and I like to watch independent and foreign films whenever we can. Usually, we have to leave Rome to see these movies, whose accolades seem to have reached every corner but ours. This weekend,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Happy is what you make of it
Recently, an article appeared on the website CreditDonkey.com titled “Study: Happiest Cities in New York.” Through a variety of collected data and wide extrapolations, they determined that Rome was the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The spirit of the season
What a whirlwind few months. I feel like Rip Van Winkle–it seems I just blinked my eyes and the world has sprung from October to December. Truth be told, though, while my eyes were closed, I was told...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Great Walmart People Watch
True confession time: I was shopping at Walmart the other day. I know people rag on Walmart and its corporate policies quite a bit, and the “typical” people who shop there are infamous throughout the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Skinny Cat
Art and I have a cat named Sam. Though Sam predates me by several years, he has finally accepted me as a co-habitant (after 7 years of thinking about it). Sam also has hyperthyroidism, an endocrine...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Green-tinted dreams
It’s been pretty chilly lately, as is often the case in wintertime. I am not one of those who “hates” winter; rather, I tend to observe the passing of the seasons with a fatalism that keeps me from...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Little Wild Woman
At the risk of sounding like a crazy cat lady, this is another column about cats. The cat in question, however, is not one of our own cats or Kallie at the Capitol. This week I am cat-watching for my...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Down in the mouth
My teeth and I haven’t always agreed. Though I went for semi-regular checkups as a child, for most of my adult life I had not had dental insurance and consequently avoided dental checkups. I had a few...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Snow Angel
Ah, winter. Cloaked in white, sparkling in the sunlight, crunchy underfoot. If I had my druthers, I would sit in the library in a big comfy sweater with a nice cup of cocoa and gaze at it through the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Un-Lunch
My grandmother turned 90 this past July. That is, as I would say and often do, an awful lot of livin’. She is a wise, sassy, funny, mischievous, lovely imp of a lady when she is at her best. I...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Shelter from the “Storm”
Well, we all made it through February relatively unscathed. Weather records tells us that last month was the coldest month on record for Rome. Not just the coldest February; the coldest month. Let that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Death (?) of a Trumpet Vine
Ah, spring. The season with the most promise for new ideas and projects, a time for recommitting ourselves to our outdoor endeavors and making things fresh and new. It’s also a time for growing and...
View Article