Suprise Me

You can see a great distance from the Great Wall of China at Mutianyu.  The view is quite spectacular as it winds along the crests of the mountains, rolling up and down with the terrain; the wide path at the top of the wall turns into irregular stairsteps to accommodate the undulations and is punctuated… Read More

"Can I help?" a woman's voice asked from behind me. A young woman had appeared with a shovel. Read More

I needed something more reliable. My hours were irregular, public transportation spotty, and I lived too far from the hospital to walk.  And it rained and snowed.  Any car that ran would do. That, plus my general ambivalence, is probably why my first car was such a clunker. Read More

Hotel Kittens As you may remember I spent childhood summers at my grandmother Esther’s hotel in the Catskill town of Liberty,  NY.  (See My Heart Remembers My Grandmother’s Hotel,  My Game Mother,  Playing with Fire,  and  The Troubadour) You may also remember that one of my beloved childhood pets – a cat with a beautiful… Read More

We felt a bit deceived—after all, we only agreed to take him because she had begged—but he had clearly had a traumatic adolescence and changed since his owner had died.  We still took him in, the damaged goods, and named him “Jack”. Read More

My history with computers, both plus and minus in my life and work Read More

Going into business is always dicey, you might even say a crap shoot, but I have a habit of it.  Back in the early ‘90s, I was also in the habit of playing poker in casinos around the southland. I’d recently come back from a trip to Africa and used some of the photos I’d taken… Read More

The Camper-Waitress Goes to the Fair The summer my friend Stephanie and I were too old to be a campers but not old enough to be counselors,   we worked as camper-waitresses at a children’s camp in the Connecticut foothills.   Stephanie and I went on to become life-long friends,  but a friendship cut too… Read More

"Don't worry. They have everything at IKEA. They probably even have the IKEA birthing room. Look, you've already peed your pants in a liquor store. What have you got to lose?" Read More

A recipe for joy--try this at home! Read More