French version / version française © D A Wolf How do you say “tongue in cheek” in French? He ignores me. He types next to me. He’s concentrating on his work, but he reaches his hand over to my knee. Must I ask again? “I don’t know how to translate that,” he says, looking at […]
La Vivacité (Et Comment Rester Jeune et Espiègle)
English version / version anglaise © D A Wolf Comment dire “tongue in cheek ?” Il ne répond pas. Il tape à côté de moi. Il se concentre sur son travail. Il passe la main sur mon genou. Faut-il répéter ? “J’en sais rien !” dit-il, en me regardant comme si j’étais une petite emmerdeuse […]
Square One
Thoughts on forward movement.
No Pity for the Limping Duck
No pity for the what? Huh? So what does that mean? Ever page through entertaining English expressions? Or expressions in the language of your choice? It’s great fun! And might we start with the duck? Ne pas casser trois pattes à un canard. That means to be mediocre; to be nothing out of the ordinary, […]
Ask the Experts
Authenticity, authority, credibility, credentials. Have we forgotten that these are essential ingredients in establishing expertise?
Isn’t it the month for a Mad Girl’s Love Song?
A little something different for a Spring weekend, whatever the weather? Sylvia Plath’s Mad Girl’s Love Song is one of my favorite poems from my teenage years. Recently, something reminded me of the words, “I think I made you up inside my head,” and I found myself searching out this classic example of the villanelle […]
Is it PROM yet?
Oh, for the eccentricities and entertainment of just the right request to go to Prom! (Yes, it really is that time of year. Again.) Last year, I seem to recall my younger son being encouraged (make that coerced) into repeated prom-asking-behaviors that personally, I found to be a bit much. There was a considerable Butterfly […]
Variations on House Jazz for a Lazy Sunday
One. The ginger cat, posing like a sphinx on the gray front stoop, fives and tens stuffed in the glass vase on Mary Jo’s mantel, Michael Royal’s thin fingers on the clean white keys, folding chairs in the red kitchen, in the green salon, on the sloping screen porch, night’s emerging heat, its low music, […]
The Morning View After a Win
“It’s all about the glasses,” he said. I shot him a glance. He grinned. “How can you type without looking?” I just smiled. And kept typing. Like a little Cheshire cat with a cup of coffee by the bed. “If you pass me my glasses I can see what you’re doing.” “I’m not sure I […]
Statements On a March Day, Like Any Other
Statements of belief, free form.