Every quilt I complete and give away annoys her. “When do I get mine?” she asks in that tone that already knows the answer. “I just haven’t found the right pattern.” I just haven’t found the right colors.” I just haven’t found the right inspiration.” I can’t use time as an excuse because I figure […]
Archive for the ‘Family’ category
All Together Now
Last night the hubs and I took a brief respite from our ongoing 30-Rock marathon to watch “Commune”, a 2005 documentary about Black Bear Ranch, a commune that was started in the late-60’s in Northern California. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ0OuT2hiuY[/youtube] While the film touches on the political and social upheaval of the time, most of the focus is […]
What I think of this
The waitress walked up and surveyed our table. “What do you think of this?” she asked. I had my head down trying to sort out what seemed like a byzantine list of options. To assemble my custom burger, I had to choose from five different categories of exotic ingredients. I was overwhelmed on page two […]
Holding out for a hero
When I was in sixth grade, the teacher gave us a writing assignment. “Write about one of your heroes,” she said. As my classmates immediately thought of firemen, their grandma or Jesus, I had to ponder my options. Joan of Arc? Harriet Tubman? Louis Braille? Superman? Athena? Woody Guthrie? Teresa of Ávila? The list was […]
Airport Thoughts
I am waiting for a flight to take me home to the little college town where I live, a home far away from my family. For the first time in eight years, we took a holiday trip to see my parents’ parents and siblings, which resulted in the predictable reversion of my folks to their […]
Stuff and story
There is always a moment when the holiday season kicks in: the first fluffy snowfall, the first decorations on sale in September, the Macy’s Parade, the smell of baking spices wafting through the house. With respectful acknowledgement that celebrations and interests vary, our family loves Christmas time and it begins when we bring the first […]
Happy birthday to me, I mean you
The alarm went off at 5:00 am last Tuesday, but I was already awake. I had been lying there wondering if I could still cut one last rose this season to put in a bud vase. I got up with atypical morning energy and began the planned preparations. Over the next hour and a half […]
Thursday playlist: Loose associations
Last time grandpa fawcett posted here, it was a bunch of gripes. This time it's a jumble of thoughts and enthusiasms, the ramblings of early dementia: 1.) This song “A Real Hero” by College (feat. Electric Youth) is from the movie Drive. I could not stop playing this song every day, ten times a day, […]
Comparative Freedom
I have often wondered where I got my inability to understand the unspoken expectations of authority. For a while I figured there was some kind of cognitive gap right in the part of the brain that might do that; it feels almost like a mechanical failure. Of course it’s almost certainly the fault of radical […]