I started listening to a podcast last week called Dolly Parton’s America. My daughter was obsessed with it and knew I would love it. What she didn’t know was that I used to do a pretty mean imitation of Dolly before post nasal drip wreaked havoc on my vocal cords. I always liked Dolly, she was pretty, funny, and self deprecating. She was feminine, but not fragile –…
I am one of those annoying individuals who thinks a tree in my house at Christmas, just HAS to be a real pine tree. Trees have their way of seeking revenge against people like me though. I do it because I love the smell. As a child, I sat under the tree and played with the wise men, Jesus, Mary, Joseph, camels, angels, and sheep, while inhaling that…
I wish I could go back to childhood to see how much time (and my faulty memory) have altered what I think I recall clearly. My Fourth of July memories revolve around picnics at Brady’s Run Park, on slightly damp summer grass. The only food I remember is the Fourth of July birthday cake with tiny American flags on it because the Fourth was my mom’s birthday, and…
Since it’s the day before Thanksgiving, tying on an apron is what most suffering, red-blooded Americans will be doing. I'm one of the ones crazy enough to enjoy spending days in the kitchen.…
Today is my Uncle Richard’s 89th Birthday. To honor him, I’m posting my most prized possession, my video of him showing me how to make meatballs and sauce. (It’s at the end of this post.) It was the highlight of my year! Most people’s bucket lists are filled with things like: Stay in a Scottish castle, or dance in the sand in Greece. But at the top of…
Sitting on the couch tonight, I had my arms crossed over my head, thinking of what to say about Mother’s Day. My fingers on my right hand happened to be touching my pulse on my left hand and I could feel that tiny, steady, thump, thump, thump. And it occurred to me that that thump started with my mom giving birth to me all those years ago. Along…
Each winter my mother and I sported a light coat of flour from December first to the 25th. My mom flew into a baking frenzy and I was recruited to grease pans, sprinkle sugar on hot fried twists of lemony dough, and run up and down between our upstairs and downstairs kitchens like lightning for whatever mom needed because she always said, “Honey, you gatta da fresh a…
I spent the Fourth of July having lunch with a friend, then responsibly cleaning, doing laundry, and ironing the fat pile of clothes that sits in my room staring at me every day. I could have gone to a party, but decided to stay home and get things accomplished. If I was any more boring, I would have to be dead. Going out would have been fun, but I…
When talk of first concerts comes up, I always sit quietly, smugly waiting for my chance. Then, as casually as possible I say, “My very first concert was a Beatles concert at Cleveland Stadium in 1966.” People’s jaws usually drop. They are amazed, either at how wretchedly old I must be, or that I really got to see the Beatles in person.…
I was at work last week, fighting a nasty bout of bronchitis and kept nodding off at my desk. I thought I was being very sly, but someone walked past, noticed and mentioned it to me. He said it looked like I was in deep thought, but I think he was just being kind. I know what I look like when I’m nodding off and it is definitely…