Thoughts, tales, and travels
January 27, 2023
Looking Back on 2022
Last year was truly memorable, like being reborn. It was our first year of living fully engaged with the world after the isolation and frustration of the pandemic. A new year free of the fear that I had Parkinson’s Disease, a fear that was finally banished after consultations with specialists...
November 30, 2022
Augustine Herrman, Gentleman Smuggler
One of the historical characters who makes an appearance in my novel Branches and Bones is Augustine Herrman, who is best known for his map of the Chesapeake area. He was also a smuggler. Before there was a Chesapeake and Delaware Canal to transport goods between the Chesapeake Bay and...
November 23, 2022
Delta Ponds Walk
Went walking with Bill at Delta Ponds yesterday while our Prius was getting an oil change. It was a dim day, sky sagging with the predicted afternoon rain. Good day for ducks, and they were out on the pond, along with coots and egrets and herons. At the end of...
August 1, 2021
Vuong: Young and Beautiful
Review: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeousa novel by Ocean Vuong I don’t want to forget this is a novel. But when the main character is adressing the story to his Ma, it’s hard to keep that thought in mind.I can’t forget for a minute that Ocean Vuong is a poet. Every...
June 14, 2021
Colorado Road Trip
And this was the reason for the trip. Bill with his new Grandson Charlie.
November 5, 2020
We Can’t Breathe
It’s day two after election day, and we still don’t know who will be president. In an effort to avoid obsessive magic wall election coverage, I’ve turned to Exhalation, a short story collection by a master of speculative fiction, Ted Chiang. I found there the first story I had read...
August 31, 2020
And the Books Go On
Today I actually went through the doors of a library for the first time since March. Our little Sheldon branch of the Eugene Public Library is now open. I’ve been picking up and dropping off books curbside for a few weeks, but today I picked my own books off the...
April 1, 2020
Hair Raising Wholesome: Orange World and Other Stories by Karen Russell
Karen Russell dishes up dark, disturbing stories. Not quite “an axe for the frozen sea within us,” as Kafka would recommend. More like a probe for reflections in our darkest recesses. A water witch for hidden pools of empathy. Russell’s great gift is for creating a fully developed world built...
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