life lately
-
Simple Pleasures
Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need–a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, some one to love and some one to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing. I can do without the pipe or two but, other than that, I think Jerome K. Jerome got it right. In the midst of all the nonsense in Three Men in a Boat, there is a bit of wisdom. At the end of a grumpy day…
-
Walking in the Sunshine
Sunshine. Warm air. Blue skies. Dirt paths. The sound of the breeze in the trees. The swift darting flight of swallows overhead. The possibilities of a new walk discovered. Should we take this path or that? The woods or the water? How long? How far? Do we care? Watching my daughter sit in the grass with her eyes closed and listen, just listen, to the sounds of nature all around her. Letting the stresses and strains of the week drain away. Once again getting pulled into a conversation about which dog we encounter is the cutest. Sitting on some rocks by the side of the water and eating the snacks…
-
Some Days Are Like That
It is snowing. Again. This is the fourth winter storm this month. My car needed a brake job. Another expense. The book I ordered got lost in the mail but the packaging arrived right on time. Yes, the post office delivered a completely empty plastic bag to my mailbox. I ordered a shirt online. The company sent me the wrong one. I made a new recipe and everyone, including me, hated it. Our mailbox got knocked down by the snowplows. I have a horribly drippy cold. Did you ever read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day? My son loved it when he was little and we read…
-
London
I live for the day when I step off the boat-train and feel its dirty sidewalks under my feet. I want to walk up Berkley Square and down Wimpole Street and stand in St. Paul’s where John Donne preached and sit on the step Elizabeth sat on when she refused to enter the Tower, and like that. A newspaper man I know, who was stationed in London during the war, says tourists go to England with preconceived notions, so they always find exactly what they are looking for. I told him I’d go looking for the England of English literature, and he said: “Then it’s there.” Helene Hanff wrote that…
-
“Cool Mom Vibes”
It has been freezing cold and snowy lately. My son has developed the cold of doom that I am convinced is going to take over the house right before we go on vacation and the kids go to their grandparent’s house. I have spent an unreasonable amount of time trying to get a doctor’s office to perform a simple task. Life is a bit chaotic and stressful. But I don’t care. Why is that? Because, according to my daughter, I give off “cool mom vibes.” I’ll just pause here to let that sink in. And no, if you were hoping I could tell you how to be cool too, I…
