List of posts

  • SOME ADJUSTmeant

    SOME ADJUSTmeant

    Pre-pandemic, we followed a simple route from coast to the city at least twice a month. We left home early and returned before dark. We shopped at the Farmers Market, saw family, went to the music store, visited the nursery, and walked through Powell’s Book Store. We were always in a hurry because of weather…

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  • MICHIGAN

    MICHIGAN

    Despite my better judgement, I have been reading The Washington Post news articles and comments about the shooting in Michigan. People keep asking why the school didn’t do more. I wish the answers were simple. This is not a day I am supposed to post, and you probably do not want to know. My husband…

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  • THE LAST DAY OF NOVEMBER

    “The Last Day of November” by Jack Ridl by Rattle Jack Ridl THE LAST DAY OF NOVEMBER My wife is at her spinning wheel. Shefirst cleans, dries, and combs the fleece, then dies the wool. She will spin yarn to make a shawl, stocking cap, socks. She disappears into her gentle quiet. I am a third of the…

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  • ALL GOOD THINGS

    ALL GOOD THINGS

    As I type this post on the morning of the last day of November, I have over 61k written for National Novel Writing Month. The official goal is 50k of a novel. In case you wonder, a typical novel is around 75-80k, but sixty thousand words is regarded by many as the absolute minimum length…

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  • AT THE KITCHEN TABLE

    AT THE KITCHEN TABLE

    Perhaps the World Ends Here by Joy Harjo (1951- ) The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live. The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, and it will go on.

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  • GOOD INTENTIONS

    GOOD INTENTIONS

    The sky was beautifully pink yesterday morning and after a mile of walking, I ran an unofficial 5k on sand without wetting my feet. I was out of breath but not breathless at the end of my run. I felt light-headed and bent over for a couple breaths. It is not the first time I…

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  • WORK

    WORK

    I received a recruitment email for a teaching position in another state, which shall remain nameless. I nearly tapped the link. I would love to visit that state and I miss teaching and I enjoy working. But no. The public schools in that state are in bad shape. To establish myself in a new place…

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  • IT’S NOT AS BAD AS IT LOOKS

    November is our wettest month, with over twelve inches falling on average. I used to claim that there would be a week in November where rain falls 24/7. I might be forgiven for thinking all twelve average inches have fallen in the past two weeks. Creeks are high, streams running down into the sand every…

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  • The LIE ABOUT TIME

    The LIE ABOUT TIME

    We do not have cable television anymore. We watch shows via the internet. We rewatched the entire Psych series last fall and discovered episodes we had never seen before. That should not have come as a surprise. Like all children with a television in their home during the second half of the twentieth century, our…

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  • IT COULD BE WORSE

    IT COULD BE WORSE

    We attended the meeting about replumbing, “re-piping,” our condo. I knew the cost would be bad; I did not expect it to be overwhelming. I never believed the claim by the listing agent that the plumbing was okay. In theory, I was prepared. (I should have rejoined Facebook and asked to be a member of…

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