I’ve only crossed the threshold a half dozen times,sat on a folding chair in the dining room eatingKrispy Kreme doughnuts once and yet it feelsmore like home already than this house we’veoccupied since we came to town last year. Occupied is the right word, like an invadingarmy occupies another country, or a passengeroccupies an airplane…
When I get to work on any given afternoon, I have to walk through a wall of sound to get into the kitchen. The big boombox that sits on top of our giant mixer is blaring the Spanish AM station loud enough to curdle the milk. The good news is I get there at two…
This afternoon I had my first experience attending the monthly meeting with the folks from Duke Dining Serivces. I had no idea what kind of meeting I was going to; I just knew I was supposed to go. I went with Tabitha, who is our floor manager and we met with two women who work…
I was walking from my car to the kitchen this afternoon when I saw a little gang of daffodils in full bloom – on March 3. Those of you who live in non-New England types of climates may not understand the disorientation I experienced. I’m not used to flowers in March that aren’t either cut…
A little over a decade ago, when I was taking a novel-writing course through the Humber School for Writers, Timothy Findley, my mentor, would send notes on the pages I had written and often say, “You move from A to B without showing how you got there. If you’re going to tell a story well,…
We’ve just spent the last nine hours traveling miles and miles of interstate and classic rock and got back to Durham to find a small package on our doorstep I have been waiting for. Back in September I began putting together a book of poetry and recipes from this blog as a way to say…
Ginger and I (and Ella) got up early this morning and drove to Birmingham to check in on Ginger’s folks and to see Lola and Gracie, our other Schnauzers who are now living with my in-laws because they have been so helpful to Ginger’s dad who has Alzheimer’s. We got here mid-afternoon and have spent…
I don’t do well in small spaces. When life becomes claustrophobic – when my world begins to feel small – I get nervous, agitated. I don’t like feeling that I’ve gone through my day (or days on end) without doing anything more than dealing with my stuff. Between being ill, trying to negotiate the pedantic…
I’m happy to say I’m beginning to feel better. Not yet one hundred percent, but better. Thanks for the kind words and prayers. I had a fun thing happen today. The Duke Chronicle is the independent student daily newspaper at the university and they ran a story on three changes in Duke dining services; I’m…
my head is stuffymy body’s falling asleepI’ll write in my dreams Peace,Milton