Breathing Interrupted It has been a few days since we got the furniture delivered, and the unpacking of boxes begun as part of stage three of the move. The move was a real test of our energy levels, so we had to back off and work more slowly. Even so our energy dwindled. A “canned”…
Summer heat arrived without much introduction. Like getting old, it just showed up and stayed. The humidity came with it, so even the shade is hot. We’d been “in between” for a few weeks…moved out of our old house and living in an apartment until the new house is ready…when all of a sudden: “when…
In between. We are in between things right now – to use the vernacular. We’ve moved out of our home for the last 30 some years and are squatting in an apartment while we wait for our new home to be finished. We should be ready to move in about 6 weeks. We’ve moved in…
I’m a grandfather. With two kids, four grandkids and fifteen years teaching in middle school, where women outnumber men 6 to 1, I know about pregnancy and how it changes diet and behavior. It’s a lot like getting old. I stop walking in the store to catch my breath, people give me the “bless your…
A high, thin layer of cloud backlit by sun. Cherry, dogwood, magnolia blooming. Summer sneaking in behind a mild spring. Children playing after supper time, a sure sign of a new season. Summer. The old house is nearly ready for the move next Monday. Lyd is gone for hours at a time finishing the sorting…
We had not had rain for two days. Yesterday the sky was starkly blue. Today it is a high, pale gray. And then it lowered and began to rain persistently. A week ago, the sky was pouring, the backyard a small lake beneath the pine. It is spring in Oregon and the weather a daily…
Growing up, my parents had a big cedar trunk at the foot of their bed. It was originally my mom’s hope chest. It was always at the foot of the bed, no matter where we lived. It was not opened often, normally in the early fall when my mother brought out our winter clothes, mostly…
It was a cold, pure day. No clouds, just a high pale blue dome and a brilliant sun in it. The winter drear traded for the sharp bright relief of a false spring. We were going to the beach. It was our first “just for the heck of it” trip since before the pandemic. Our…
It has been raining daily. Rain is the norm for January. Little piles of leaves, raked by my neighbors, locate the drain at the end of the drive. Neighbors do this without being asked and because it is the right thing to do. We say hi or how are you when we see each other.…
It has been raining for days. Red and yellow leaves that tumbled across the yard before, are now brown, soggy patches of sepia, like old pictures from my parents’ photo album. Fall has given way to the long, grey days of winter in the West. I have always looked forward to fall. In Wyoming fall…
barelyaboomer 