I bought a large container of buttermilk this week because I thought we’d try to do spontaneity and have some friends over for pancakes, or I thought Jerri would be home and we’d have her over for pancakes since she’s just getting back from her nephew’s funeral, or I thought we’d have some others over for pancakes because their kids play well with Tin. And instead, since we came home at 2AM and slept in,…
I’ve heard tell that Nina Simone was a troubled woman, a diva but not in a traditional sense; she was complex and haunted and you can tell by her voice as she sings lines that resonate with lines between the lines … how she seems to carry a weight of life older than her years. Do the greatest artists spring from roiling and turmoil or is it possible to see and sing life from the…
Last night we went to our friends’ Absinthe party, the one which was supposed to help us forget, but instead it helped me remember, remember why I love New Orleans, its people, and my friends’ parties. Their parties are always the embodiment of diversity – gay/straight and black/Asian/latin/white and fat/thin and tall/short and everything in between and outside those divisions, from artists to professors, from musicians to writers. Sometimes we’re treated to a show like…
My West Coast work husband is leaving and his going away party was today, another friend said we’re having a party to keep from crying. I said that’s what we do best down here in the Crescent City, dance to our grave. So tonight some friends are holding an Absinthe party, the want to make the cocktails that help you forget we’re still in a recession no matter what the headlines tell you. My hair…
My friend slept so good the other night after all, I’m the one who had nightmares. It figures. I think those of us who are left behind during an enormous change – a death, a leaving, a divorce – are the ones who sit on the sidelines trying to figure it all out.
Author unknown… A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, “Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.” The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, “You’re in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above ground elevation of 2,346…
My left foot was itching today and I’ve heard tell that means I’m going to travel somewhere I’ve never been. Then almost as if in answer to that a dear friend in Zagreb sent me this photo he took while he was on the island of Vis this summer. Yes, this is where I want to go, I want to plunge off a white washed stone into the wild Adriatic sea. Cast my lot to…
I was thinking about all the advice I’ve gotten about babies and kids and if I had to highlight the best ones they would be this: 1) The Baby Whisperer said if your baby is not sleeping through the night, interrupt their sleep rhythm. Go in a couple of hours before they normally wake up too early and gently wake them by putting your hand on their chest and rocking them slightly. This worked like…
Somewhere around 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon, I started crying and couldn’t stop. I had received sad news day before yesterday and it’s meaning was deeper than its surface. A chapter was closing in my life, one that has been filled with rancorous challenges, excitement and all in the company of like-minded people who I’ve come to regard as my family. I started looking through old photographs of us, these people, and each photo is punctuated…
When we were trying to adopt, I would read baby books and they didn’t make sense. Then Tin came around and I had to start reading in a hurry, three books at a time, and most of them were very helpful. Recently, E recommended some books for me written by Louise Bates Ames and James Ilg – titled simply Your One-Year-Old: The Fun-Loving, Fussy 12-To 24-Month. Then there is the Two, and Three, and etc.…