Suprise Me

Once upon a time long, long ago, long before words like gluten, trans fats, cholesterol and diabetes were part of our everyday conversation there were Oreos. Read More

She passed for 16 so she could work in a garment factory. She never saw the inside of a school room but had wanted to be a doctor. ... She was a woman grounded in tradition who never stopped looking to the future. Read More

The Spanish proverb that is the title of my story is a painful lesson I learned as a young adult. Growing up in a traditional Jewish household, I was taught two Jewish proverbs as a child: “What you don’t see with your eyes, don’t witness with your mouth.” “Loose tongues are worse than wicked hands.”… Read More

The Diary of a Young Girl Among my friends and the distaff side of my family are many very accomplished women – doctors, nurses and therapists, a pharmacist and a research scientist, lawyers, two judges and a diplomat, a film editor, a TV producer and a theatrical director, several writers and artists, and a publisher… Read More

Nigel understood that what he was doing in recounting his everyday activities and observations was subverting most people’s understanding of what was possible for a person with his condition. He mentioned this frequently throughout the narrative—though he never used a verb such as subvert. Read More

We Lived outside the box! Read More

This prompt gave me the opportunity to write about my pediatrician, Dr.Elizabeth Torrey Andrews. In a weird coincidence, I googled her and discovered an obituary in the Reed College magazine, the college my younger son graduated from. Dr. Andrews was only a Reedie for one year (1923), then transferred to the University of Oregon, following… Read More

At this point I had to make a split-second choice. I could stop and tell Mr. C or just let it go. Read More

This year, sadly, there are no spring celebrations. COVID-19 has taken them away from us. Read More

These were a few of our favorite things: “Gortons” [grotons–ground pork pate] “Tourquee” [tortiere–pork pie] “Boudin” [blood sausage–really yuk] “Crepes” [Memere’s fat crispy pancakes cooked in light oil–the recipe faded away with her Alzheimer’s] “Rhubarb stalks dipped in a cup of sugar” [great for walking around with] “Pepper steaks” [thin beef grilled with sautéed onions and… Read More