Suprise Me

Truth be told, I do very little reading these days. I used to love to read and long ago, I read a book a week, but my eyes have betrayed me. I developed severe dry eye 30 years ago and did all I could to maintain my vision. I cauterized my lower tear ducts shut… Read More

I was rushing to pack for Boston, but took the phone call. It was my client at the Farm Bureau Insurance in Indianapolis, calling to say the signed contract was being FedExed to my office. Perfect way to start my birthday weekend. Dan and I had lived apart for almost 8 months by this point,… Read More

Little by little, I’m thinning out my collection of books. Only books I have loved and respected can stay. It doesn’t matter if they’re ones I plan to read again. I might not. But I want to be able, when I walk past and see their titles, to feel at least the ghost of a… Read More

Kids! Try this at home! Read More

4:20 PM central standard time. Darkness descends. No sunrise until 7:17. Dark dominates for fifteen hours. Pandemic fear grips me. More than 311,000 people dead. Isolation. Zooms — too many zooms. News — too much news. Books begun and abandoned. Sunday Times unfinished. Too cold to visit outside in Chicago. 34 degrees numbs fingers and… Read More

Members of my family share a long and celebrated history of playing for royalty and heads of state. We are not exactly court jesters, but we come close. My Buckingham Palace event is one more gig on a long list of fancy-pants musical soirees. Read More

All of my years as a faithful voter have taught me that it’s important to keep trying. Eventually, I hope our country will get what it needs. Read More

The gradual decline of print newspapers is a great sadness to me. While I do read the news online, it is not the same. I can only describe it as a loss of serendipity. Read More

    The good folks at Retrospect are asking about tattoos and piercings – those permanent (well, mostly permanent) ways we adorn our bodies. Now, as a former dedicated follower of the “body-as-a-temple” school of thought (courtesy of Catholicism, bless their metaphorical heart), I found myself firmly in the pew, not the piercing table. But… Read More

Passed Out in the Library The last thing I remember was locking the door of the high school library at the end of the day.  And then inexplicably I found myself seated at my desk, confused,  and with an aching head. I had no memory of walking back to my office and sitting down at… Read More