Baby green sea turtles hatch on the beaches of Baja California on the Sea of Cortez, hump their way toward the water, and vanish in the surf. They vanish for five years, before they return to those beaches to lay their own eggs. In his achingly lyrical Telling Our Way to the Sea, Aaron Hirsch … Continue reading The Turtle-Shell Autobiography
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On Hobbits & Hobbit-Holes
One of my favorite coffee mugs was a gift from my sister, covered all over with "famous first lines" of novels. I have a degree in English literature, and I still had to look a few of them up---I guess they can't all be "Call me Ishmael." But I do think there's one first line … Continue reading On Hobbits & Hobbit-Holes
Stop, Don’t Make Me Chinkle!
It's a word of my own coinage, particular to post-childbirth and post-menopausal experiences---a mashup of "chortle" and "tinkle." A mashup word for the mashup experience. A chinkle is a laugh that makes you wee a little. At the risk of venturing into TMI territory: in earlier stages of my life, damp panties were indicative of … Continue reading Stop, Don’t Make Me Chinkle!
A Visit (And a Visitation)
One of the interesting things about working at Home Depot is that our customers have a definite expectation that anyone in an orange apron will be able to answer any of their questions. And the reason our customers have that expectation is because we are encouraged not to answer with “I don’t know.” When I … Continue reading A Visit (And a Visitation)
Addendum to a Eulogy
Yesterday my dad should have turned seventy. He passed away this year on my birthday, so this weekend we've been missing him on his. Ironically, I could still practice my favorite joke-ritual, which was not to call my dad (whose depth of phone-phobia was rivaled only by my sister's and my own) on his birthday. I … Continue reading Addendum to a Eulogy
Living Large by Living SMALL
Sometimes the Stuff we own ends up owning us... Here's a look at life with LESS!
Bathing Ferrets, Idaho Wildlife, & Pumpkin Pie
I used to think that my sister and I had the best-ever outlet for playing with our bath toys. We grew up in an Idaho farm-town that practiced irrigation-watering for the lawns in town, so our front yard was flooded in several inches of water for a couple evenings every week. I still have memories … Continue reading Bathing Ferrets, Idaho Wildlife, & Pumpkin Pie




