My mother tested positive for Covid-19 on April 11, 2020. A week later, she experienced difficulty breathing, coughing, but no fever. After days of being very ill, she was moved to the Positive-Covid-19 floor of her nursing home in Massachusetts. She was on oxygen continuously for several days, then periodically as needed. Then– she got […]
One Eye Open
This morning I awakened like a sleepy dog, one eye open, a bright new day rising up from the east. I wonder what today will bring. Will I learn to breathe through the morning news without a rise in blood pressure? “One day at a time”, one of my brothers tells me via Messenger. My […]
Day 17. Self-quarantine and what have I learned?
Day 17. Self-quarantine and what have I learned? It’s not that different from my regular routine. Introvert here. I’m not accomplishing as much as I thought I would. Gained 3 carb pounds but lost them as soon as I realized I was foraging in the pantry too often. Walking the yard is more fun than […]
CGI in “The Call of the Wild”
I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I was unaware that the animals in The Call of the Wild are CGI until I was a few minutes into the film. Computer-Generated Images. Had I known, I doubt that I would have gone to see The Call of the Wild yesterday. I like my animals living […]
To Post or Not to Post
The fact that my blogging has diminished to a trickle hasn’t escaped my notice. The reason that my blogging has diminished to a trickle is not so obvious. I think most writers can understand my dilemma. In the academic world, “publish or perish” is king. Or queen. In the world of an independent writer seeking […]
The Prodigal Writer Returns
I know. I know. The date on my previous post is embarrassing. I had a rough spring. Uncertainty and doubt. Then I ran away to Mongolia in June. Well, not exactly “ran away”. In June 2018, I received an email from Australia’s Intrepid Travel—an email that had been sent out to those Intrepid travelers who […]
Your Phobia, My Joy
This morning I was reading a piece in The New York Times about three friends embarking on a 7-day kayaking trip in the wilds of Alaska*. On Day 1, within minutes of being dropped off, a whale spouts offshore, close enough for gleeful joy or absolute fear—depending upon your response to large mammals in close […]
Linda 2.0
Today is my anniversary. It was precisely one year ago today that an IV drip began to dose me with the anesthesia that would propel me into a seven-hour surgery. A team composed of two oncology surgeons, an anesthesiologist, and ER nurses worked together to eradicate my breast cancer and put me back together again. […]
On the Steamship Finland
“Babci! Can I have a cup of tea?” I skipped into the kitchen and plopped into a chair at the kitchen window. From upstairs, I had watched Dziadzia heading across the lawn to the barn where he would milk the cows.“Yah,” said Babci. She opened the upper cupboard for tea cups and tea bags, then […]
A Comedy of Errors
Back story: I’ve been coming to Belize from time to time for 30 years. In 1989, there was no electric power cable under the sea from the mainland to this island. Electricity was supplied by a humongous generator in town that hummed like a sleeping giant. It shook itself awake periodically, knocking out the power, […]