Social Commentary
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What does it Mean to Look Your Age?
“The contents of a woman’s handbag — there’s something terribly intimate about it because it’s hidden.”— Justine Picardie, author of Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life Looking at this photograph, could you guess my age? There are sunglasses, lipstick, a wallet, keys, a phone and the usual assortment of things I consider necessary for getting…
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The Grace of Enough
Puerto Vallarto, photo by my son Satiety depends not at all on how much we eat, but on how we eat. It’s the same with happiness, the very same…happiness doesn’t depend on how many external blessings we have snatched from life. It depends only on our attitude toward them. There’s a saying about it in…
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Choosing My Battles
Keep Calm and Carry On Motivational poster by the British government 1939 “Keep calm and carry on” is often easier said than done. Whether it’s a verbal confrontation, a personal dilemma, or a reaction to a crisis, it’s easy to let our emotions get the better of us. The desire to strike out at whatever—or…
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Better Now Than Never
Our Decluttered Fireplace Mantel We spend the first half of our lives accumulating things and the last half giving them away. Author Unknown Several years ago, when we were moving into a smaller home, we rented a storage unit for all the things we thought we should keep. It seemed like the sensible thing to do.…
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The Patina of Wear
“Age appears best in four things: old wood to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.” —Francis Bacon The folding bridge table in the photo is over eighty years old, and I have owned it for more than twenty of those years. During that time, it has served…
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The Echo of Our Words
Words matter, and the right words matter most of all. They’re all that remains of us. John Birmingham The photo is of our neighborhood Reading Garden Park. The walls and walkways are covered with quotations—words of wisdom, humor, inspiration, and reflection. It is one of my favorite places. There is something comforting about sitting quietly,…
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A Poppy in his Buttonhole
Grand Uncle Palmer ‘ The poetry above is from the poem For the Fallen, written by Laurence Binyon in 1914 during the early months of World War I. My uncle Palmer served in that war, and this is one of only a few photographs I have of him. My grandfather served as well. He lied about…
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Nostalgia and Time
Gen X learned two important life lessons from Columbia House: nothing is truly free and always read the fine print Unknown You’ve probably heard the phrase, “This almost wrote itself.” Well, in a way, this post did. About a week ago, a fellow blogger wrote about The Columbia House Record Club, highlighting the wide variety…
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Cultivating Genuine Connections
You make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. Dale Carnegie As often happens with my writing, the universe seemed to conspire to steer me towards this topic. Initially, my friend lent me the book, “How…
