“Making plans for after lockdown?” a friend asked recently, in an email. For a moment, I froze, in a kind of panic. That was so completely not what I was doing. Suddenly I imagined that I was woefully out of synch with everyone else. It was akin to that old feeling that occasionally swept over me (maybe you too) in high school and college: probably I was missing some kind of ultra-fun event, not in the coolest place at the … Read More
Do you know how sometimes in your mind things, events, people do a kind of pile-up? They’re completely separate, in a way, but they have a habit of congealing in clumps and then you just have to say, “Huh, that must be my particular pile-up. No one else would see it this way.” And this, my friends, must be partly what makes each one of us so special. One of these mental mash-ups happened to me a few days ago, … Read More
As we approach the time in the calendar when thoughts among the youngest of us turn to preparations underway up at the North Pole – and thank goodness for that — many of the rest of us are still grappling with the fact that we are a polarized society: a whole lot of us over here, and another whole lot of us over there. We are in factions, in bubbles, separated, with barely an inkling of how to come together. … Read More
Camp on the computer? Come on, you gotta be kidding. The concept seems to defy the very definition of what this summer institution is all about. Without the playing outdoors, the eating in the dining hall, the jumping off the dock, the walking the paths together, the fireside singing, the sleeping in bunks— what are you left with? As you’ve probably read, many parents (mostly parents who are comfortably off) have opted out of paying for camp on the computer … Read More
“In or out?” There’s a question that’s been asked of many dogs by humans standing at doors, through the ages. During this current age, we’re asking it more commonly of both ourselves and other people, too. More often than not, and partly because summer is an ally, we can answer it with “out.” “The Great Outdoors” has never rung more true. Until we can defeat the virus, we need to at least try to de-claw it by bringing our breathing … Read More
It was just plain irresponsible for me to pretend that I still had a blog during the past couple of months. But wait…it’s still here and so are you, I hope. School’s out now and, hot as it is outside, I feel as if I’m taking a cool swim even when I’m not. Relief washes over me– enough relief so that I can see one of the many Covid-19 contrasts coming clearly into focus. Rarely has there been a time … Read More
Even, or maybe especially, during strange and doleful times, the whimsical comes into its own. Yes, we have our daily work, our responsibilities. A book of class lists here, a book of hymns there. As the late afternoon shadows fall, we know what the evening news will say, how the numbers are mounting up; we watch it anyway, feeling ineffective on our sofas in comparison to those on the front lines, battling it out. We may not be the ones … Read More
Way back when I started this blog, almost a decade (!?!?) ago, I shared a photo of a wall painted one color and a ceiling painted another, to illustrate my interest in side-by-side contrasts, the kind that draw in the eye or the spirit. Things that melt together, merge, have their own kind of charm; but things (or plants, or animals, or people) that retain their distinct qualities while attaining an often astonishing closeness have fascinated me ever since I … Read More
It’s been so long since I’ve checked in here that, if I were to bring any animals at all to this site, these would be the most appropriate choice. But another species has been on my mind. And I daresay you’ll be relieved to hear about anything other than politics right about now. Some of you have been doggedly —oh, my topic slipped out– following all the mostly dreary news of late; you need a break. So, trying to be … Read More
It’s a good thing it’s so beautiful, day after summer day, right here at home, because we don’t have much for travel plans. Blame it on the will-it-ever-end revising work; blame it on the dog and no dog sitter; don’t blame it on the kids. But really, it’s OK. I bet not absolutely everyone is gallivanting around, anyway. And besides, I already had an unusual trip to California just as summer was starting. It’s appropriate that this happened more than … Read More