The night after my first marriage there was a terrible tornado. So tempting to draw an analogy here but that would be a cheap shot. It was a small wedding in my parent’s backyard in June. It was a balmy, wildflower scent wafting, sunny day. But the next day was Midwestern hot and humid with
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Help! Help! A Murder of Crows!
My friend Lucy had an unfortunate run in with a batch of crows. They don’t call a flock of crows a “murder” for nothing. Here’s proof. As she squealed into her parking space at work one morning, Lucy hit and killed a crow scavenging through fast food wrappers. Suddenly, a hundred angry crows surrounded her
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Mayday! Hummingbird Bomber at 2 feet!
The hummingbirds are back looking around the porch for their feeders. We enjoy watching the hummer wars as they fight over the nectar and the territory. Hummers are beautiful, aggressive little monsters and in full summer it’s like a battle zone of tiny intense soldiers vying for the prize. When we sit out on our porch
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Question: what did she mean by saying “that explains a lot about you?”
My Mom was delightfully, wickedly, intelligent but born in the wrong era for the outspoken woman she was. She loved us, but children and family really weren’t her thing. You had to believe she meant well when she said some of the things she did. That wasn’t easy sometimes. Check this out. I was born
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Have you ever done something really stupid?
When I was in my 20’s I lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I love Ann Arbor and as time has passed I see my life there as having been a time of excitement, new ideas, new experiences and huge growth. However, for various reasons a lot of it sucked at the time. One winter day
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Fire Escape Voyeurs
After a great breakfast at the Uptown Café, Ken and I headed to the car and as we buckled up, we noticed a couple arguing on the outside stairway of the apartment building in front of us. The woman was clearly angry and the guy kept backing up floor by floor as she moved toward
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Superwoman has a cold
Many years ago I had an-eat–your-soul job. You know the kind: you should take some days off but they sigh and frown on it even though you just worked 20 hours overtime and slept under your desk a couple of nights when it wasn’t worth driving home. I was conscientious, a loyal, valuable and hardworking
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Thanksgiving chaos ala Mackey
My Mother didn’t want to cook a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. She was more interested in sitting in her favorite chair, reading the convoluted history of the English monarchy while drinking a beer and eating popcorn. Actually, this sounds great to me so I totally get her attitude. I regret to say that we were argumentative
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Look Out: I Am the Alpha Chicken
Here’s another post about a Thanksgiving Day disaster at my Dad’s family farm. I have mixed childhood memories about that farm. And check out the other T-day post called Stinky Dog Thanksgiving. In fact, check out all the other posts you might have missed, I dare you! I grew up in suburbia. My mother loved
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Conflict with the librarian!
I got scolded by the return book librarian. Oh the shame! Ok, my book was 2 days late but a scolding? I wasn’t allowed to renew the book even though there weren’t any holds on it. Reminds me of Mrs. Schumaker from grade school. Mrs. S in nasal voice: “You break the rules my dear,
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Did That Kid Just Call Us…
When she was little, my daughter was obsessed with heavy earth moving equipment. Dump trucks, road graters, concrete mixers and so forth made her yell with delight. We spent time in the car traveling back and forth from preschool and work and she was an alert participant in the world. She would gaze out the
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Happy Birthday From Under The Bed
Our family had a bizarre birthday celebration. The day of your birthday would dawn with both excitement and dread. There you were innocently eating your breakfast Wheaties laughing at Charlie Brown and Snoopy when the entire family descended on you. “Grab the legs!” someone shouted as you kicked viciously upsetting the cereal bowl. “I’ve got
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