BEST DAY
One of our cats, Danny, is a real piece of work. I expect that he always will be wild and difficult. Danny is cute as can be, with a chubby kittenish face, strangely long legs, and a stubby, crooked tail.…
BE KIND REWIND
I was at the optometrist’s office the other day, having a routine exam. I asked the doctor about my “floaters,” the little specks and smidgens that float around in my vision a lot of the time. I think most of…
HAPPY TO HELP
“We are all here on Earth to help others; what on Earth the others are here for, I don’t know.” - W.H. Auden Most people enjoy feeling helpful. It’s just immensely satisfying to think that we’ve been supportive, exercised kindness…
ANIMAL MAGNETISM
I came across a couple of cartoons this week, from Asher Perlman, who cracks me up. There’s some deep wisdom contained beneath the gags, I think. I especially like these because we’ve declared this Sunday “Animal Sunday.” Sometime around now…
DANCING WITH MYSELF
Travis and I just returned from an 8-night cruise down the Pacific coast, from Vancouver to Los Angeles. It was spectacular — the weather was perfect, the seas were calm, the ship was beautiful and appointed with every luxurious convenience,…
NICE GOING
Every now and then I think you might like to hear something from me nice and easy. But there’s just one thing, you see — I never, ever do anything nice and easy. I always do it nice and rough.…
WHOLE AGAINST THE SKY
We just watched a beautiful documentary series on HBO, The Last Movie Stars, about the life, careers, and marriage of Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman. I don’t know exactly why we were drawn to it. It’s not like I'm some…
FULL OF HOLES
When we describe something as “full of holes,” that means it seems unsound. Like an argument that can’t stand up to logic. Or a shaky alibi that falls apart under scrutiny. Or a half-baked plan that fails to address how…
HONEY HONEY
I read a sweet news item this week about an English village, Long Newnton, in Gloucestershire. They had a problem with speeding traffic. According to digital signs they’d installed which recorded and alerted speeders, more than 90% of motorists were…
LIVING SITUATION
Recently, I was introduced to the idea that there's a difference between a problem and a situation. Problems have solutions. Situations are simply the way things are. We can fix problems, try to solve them. But while we can like…