Aug 3One teacher: the power of oneNote: I have been absent on Medium for nearly a year — choosing not to share my blog content here. And then I thought….what am I missing? So here we go again! Want to see what you’ve missed since last October? Visit my blog. Life’s serendipitous moments stun me. This…Educators7 min read
Oct 28, 2021Sixty, American Pie and the dental drillToday I turned sixty. Yes, sometimes my writing reads like a stream of consciousness. More recently, maybe less so. Today, I am certain, probably more so. Sixty. Sixty years ago, as Mom’s nurse or doctor at Portland’s Good Samaritan Hospital told her “not yet,” she and Dad crossed Northwest 23rd…Turningsixty5 min read
May 8, 2021Just do itNow, I bet you thought this would be about getting vaccinated. Not exactly. Okay, kind of. The other day I looked up a condition I heard referenced earlier in the week on OPB, distracted in that moment of airtime but its message loitering in my brain. For later. Something my brain best remembered as a sort of Pandemic Blues. The feeling — you’re not sure if…Pandemic4 min read
Feb 21, 2021The ice cometh and the power goethYes, I admit it. I was excited about our snow forecast. And not just a puny amount, but inches-no, I hoped for a foot of the cold, white stuff. Just like when I was young (listen to My Music Man Chapter 2: Ice and Snow below). I envisioned fastening on…Storms8 min read
Feb 3, 2021Love lettersI was updating Mom’s new social worker a bit about her life the other day. He wanted to know the important details, and soon agreed the part about Mom and Dad first divorcing, then remarrying eight years later indeed fit the mark. He mentioned what I already knew — reunification…Remarriage4 min read
Jan 15, 2021The mountains beckonMaybe it’s the glimpse of January sunshine inviting me to daydream both ahead and back to moments of wilderness glory. Or, perhaps it’s the claustrophobia of being sandwiched during the pandemic, between telework and caring for a mostly bed-bound loved one. I peer outside to catch the summit of Mount…Mountains7 min read
Jan 6, 2021A typewriter click-clacks foreverOne would think I’ve written enough about typewriters. After all, not only do I share memories of Dad’s click-clacking away in My Music Man, but even after that I featured this two century-old appliance in its own blog (see: Pen, typewriter, computer). I would have stopped there -if it hadn’t…Typewriter6 min read
Dec 28, 2020The gift of imaginationA most favorite pastime of mine during the pandemic days of summer and fall, splattering into the wetter and colder days of winter, is watching kids outside: carrying on as life was before, not even bothered by mask requirements. This has given me great hope. Imagination is both a remedy…Imagination4 min read
Dec 14, 2020Forcing holiday joyFor several decades I have faithfully planted a dozen or two Paperwhite Narcissus bulbs shortly after Thanksgiving, patiently awaiting the arrival of their white blossoms and heady fragrance. This was not a tradition I grew up with and I’m not sure what or who inspired me to begin it, but…Holidays5 min read
Dec 2, 2020Overdue, rediscoveredMy family treasures library books. In My Music Man I wrote about how, as our family prepared to evacuate our Eastern Oregon LaGrande home because of a 1972 wildfire, Mom insisted we gather the library books hiding in the crevices of our home together with cherished family photo albums. (Okay…Books5 min read
