Terrible storms throughout the night. The dog, circling and scratching. Then, the sound of an explosion, 4 or 5 a.m. Either a tree went through the roof (it happens in our neighborhood), or – more likely – the transformer two houses away blew. My alarm is on AAs; it went off at the usual time. […]
Archives for 2009
Women Walking Away
When women turn their backs on each other, or what they need most.
Sultry Saturday night… his or mine?
It’s a sultry, September Saturday, and evening is approaching. I’m… mmm… comment dire… in a certain mood… Wouldn’t it be lovely to slide into a steamy bath, linger awhile, then find a satiny underthing or two… How I’d like to take the time to regale in the feel of fine fabric against my skin, then, […]
Single Parenthood: How Do You REALLY Feel?
I’ve been a single mother for many years. Yet when asked, I define myself as a writer, a parent, a woman, a friend, an art advocate – and many other things. Make what you’d like of the sequence in that definition; but I claim my “single parenthood” fully. I have great pride in what I’ve […]
Two for 20 in 20
Looking for a few feats of money magic in tight times, especially when it comes to cooking for the family? My 16-year old eats non-stop, and it’s a challenge to keep costs down while he’s fueling up. Fortunately, he’s observed the past few years as I’ve cooked, and I’ve learned to spend little and feed […]
Radical parenting? About teens, by teens.
Who are the real experts on teens? Teens themselves. We were all teenagers once, but it’s not always easy remembering what it was like. Especially when your efforts are met with grunts, hands in your face for cash, monosyllabic requests for car keys, and mind-boggling mood swings. Truth is (despite my magic powers of invisibility), […]
Left foot red, right hand blue
Remember “new math?” Wasn’t it just old math – with a twist? I can’t recall what the twist was (natch), but I can think of plenty of other twists and twisters… tongue twisters, Twister the movie, and Twister the floor game that’s been around since, uh… when I was a kid! But my latest “twist” […]
Mad Men’s Women: Drugged Debs, Bottles over Breasts
Disturbing, on oh-so-many levels. This week’s episode of Mad Men was an unsettling and somber look at the world of baby-birthing in the 60s, and long before. Setting aside all your opinions of the main character’s ambivalence about her place in society, her marriage, her family and her unborn child, it’s hard not to be […]
Tricky trilogy of questions pushes parents to ponder
Placenta anyone? Not a subject I expected to be discussing with a two-year old. But that was the case, when it came to my first-born. And turns out that was one of the easier topics to get through, and the memories of those conversations are quite vivid! Yesterday was his 18th birthday, and I’ve been […]
Hot Shots
When Roger Federer won the French Open in June, I was on the west coast visiting friends. It took a 6 a.m. wake-up to watch the final, and it was worth every minute. At the time, I wrote about heroes. It was an important victory to say the least, and Federer handled his play and […]