I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.
~Vincent Van Gogh
I agree with you, Mr. Van Gogh. I do love your richly colored masterpiece, “Starry Night.” I think I understand why you painted that picture. If one can ever understand a man who sliced off part of his [...]
Summer performs its final act in these next few weeks.
I see the foreshadowing in the orange-tinted maples along the highway. I watch the plot development in my garden: plants are yielding less produce each week. Blooms are brown, spindly or spent. I witness the last chapter as it writes itself: Girl from the West gets up [...]
I do not have a sister.
Not by blood. Not through marriage. Not even through friendship.
I have one brother who has never married. We are not close.
My husband is an only child.
I once had a friend with whom I was so close we often referred to each other as sisters. In childhood we promised we’d always [...]
While strolling through a street fair in my town, I came upon this display in front of one of those eclectic shops that sells vintage toys and odd collectibles. Two nearly naked plastic baby dolls posed inside a toy convertible sedan, engaged in all forms of self-gratification and self-destruction. Yet, through the haze of smoke [...]
Some call it the Nightmare Ride.
Some call it the White Trash Parade.
The official name is the Woodward Dream Cruise.
Call it what you will.
I have a love-hate relationship with the Dream Cruise, billed as the largest one-day auto event in the world.
It’s big. It’s more than a one-day event. If you happen to live near it, [...]
“It’s not your fault.”
This is what friends and family reassure me when I start to think that resigning my job almost three years ago put us in the black hole we are in today.
Who knew everything would fall apart in two years? They ask.
You would have been out of a job anyway, they assert.
Your children [...]
I’m not in the habit of snapping pictures of strangers in public and posting them online. But this one, when I found it with my downloaded shots, just begged to be shared with the Internets. The reason I have this picture at all is because I was balanced on a railing, finger poised over the [...]
First the neighbors asked if we were moving. Then the mail carrier wanted to know about the rent.
In the bizarro world that is my life lately, the latest crazy thing is the “House For Rent” sign that sprouted on our lawn overnight.
We own our home. (Well, we make mortgage payments.) Yeah, we’ve thought quite a [...]
Rather than look down the road at a horizon obscured by thick clouds, I’m focusing my attention on what’s directly under my feet. One or two footsteps ahead. That’s all I can manage.
When I look down, I see that my feet look like someone who goes barefoot too much. I see that I’m rough on [...]
