Of course, death is always with us in vast quantities that we can only imagine when we can’t sleep at night. But the ones that have gobsmacked me at holiday time started with a Shakespeare seminar classmate in college. I didn’t know him well, but when he disappeared over Christmas break in a small plane… Continue reading There’s always a death at Christmas
Emo eating, addiction and wellness
I broke my foot in June and quickly gained 14 pounds — faster, you might say, than a heifer on a feed lot. That was five months ago. Since September I’ve carved off nine of those pounds — as slowly as sculpting marble with a butter knife. Aaargh, that’s all I can say. (Of course,… Continue reading Emo eating, addiction and wellness
Watsontown, PA
“How’d you find Watsontown?” asked one of my 111 high school classmates after Stoic and I ended up there as we drove home from Niagara Falls last month. She, incidentally, is among the handful of us who didn’t stay there after graduation. Well, as a vaudeville comic might say, with great difficulty. I think because… Continue reading Watsontown, PA
Best summer soup ever!
“If I got this in an expensive restaurant, I’d be really happy with it,” said Stoic the Vast on first tasting this elegant and easy zucchini soup, adapted from a skinnytaste.com recipe. That’s our highest praise. If we’d paid real money for it (instead of “just” raising or buying the groceries), we’d still like it… Continue reading Best summer soup ever!
Gregory Pardlo’s Air Traffic and zucchini tots (no, really, both of these things)
Honestly, I was going to opine about zucchini and how thanks to Maggie M. at my YMCA, I’ve learned about zucchini tots which are just like tater tots, except, you know. Then this morning I finished Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gregory Pardlo’s “Air Traffic: A Memoir of Ambition and Manhood in America” (Borzoi, 2018). A frequent… Continue reading Gregory Pardlo’s Air Traffic and zucchini tots (no, really, both of these things)
Depression — that big black bear — and obesity
For a cogent discussion of the relationship between the two, see — surprise! — an interview with the glamorous Charlize Theron in the May issue of Elle magazine. She gained 35 pounds to play an exhausted new mother in “Tully,” and says “I had depression for the first time in my life shooting this film.” Isn’t… Continue reading Depression — that big black bear — and obesity
And now, Father’s Day. Also, best fruit salad ever. With no added sugar!
OK, the good thing is: We get Mother’s and Father’s Day over within a few weeks of each other. Then I can revert to standard grump mode, as opposed to raging about the nonexistent parenting in my long-ago past. Even I realize this last hurts me as opposed to anyone else, especially those no longer… Continue reading And now, Father’s Day. Also, best fruit salad ever. With no added sugar!
