After a several days of rain and freezing or near-freezing temperatures, we had a beautiful, beautiful fall day today, complete with clear blue skies and temperatures upward of 50°F (10°C).  It was so gorgeous out that when I walked to pick Petra up from school, I wore only a light jacket instead of the winter… Read More Glory day

A woman whose blog I read more or less regularly had a baby boy last week, and she named him Ezra. I got a little pang when I read that, because Ezra was my boy name, the name Petra would have been given if she’d been a boy, and a name I was still angling… Read More Wistful

After letting it sit on my desk for far too long, yesterday I finally filled out and mailed off my absentee ballot, casting my vote for, among other positions, President of the United States.  It’s hard not to feel a bit frustrated, though, at the fact that there’s not the slightest chance my vote will… Read More Civic duty

I’m feeling a lot better now than I was a week ago, a fact I’m trying to remind myself of often, because truthfully, I still feel like shit. I think I have to take back what I said about this not being the sickest I’ve ever been … if I’ve felt worse for longer in… Read More Self-pity city

Just now we’ve got a guy here installing the hardware to add another TV to our satellite package, and somehow he must have struck Petra’s fancy.  She came in a couple of minutes ago and told me, smiling sweetly “I like him.” “You do?” I asked.  “Is he nice?” “Yes,” she said.  “I’m going to… Read More Making plans

At the beginning of the year, my one and only resolution was to post here every day, and I would have made it if it weren’t for those pesky kids.  And their germs. I’m not sure what it is, exactly — it started as a simple enough cold, then morphed into the flu, then turned… Read More Revived