The ghost cats walk through the house as if it is the Serengeti and their watering hole exists under the table. They keen like the cries of a baby, masking their intentions to simply break hearts. I want to welcome them but they vanish into the walls… Read full post »

The other night I had a friend over and she spilled a glass of wine. It was late, and my laptop was still on the table, but I had a flash of anger that was beyond the event. Tonight a friend opened a can of ginger ale that , well,… Read full post »

1.) Two BILLION dollars for a baseball team? As my friend pointed out: that's $7 for every person in the US and 35 cents for every person in the world.

2.) The DODGERS? I like that name! Dodging this and that, the curve balls of life, the fastballs of bills.… Read full post »

San Jose, Costa Rica. I walk and walk and walk around in circles, trying to know this place. Sometimes I get it – a park, a monument. I walk up a hill, wanting an experience or a glass of wine.

I enter what I now call the bad man bar. Super… Read full post »

Kitties on opposite knees

snoring like sailors

how come I cannot get up?.

Hummus is not my friend, yo.

White beans good for heart.

Art James weighs in with advice.

Drinking dirty martinis

while doing laundry

Oh no I forgot that load!

Snowfall in Massachusetts

does not yet ne… Read full post »

Year end lists are great. At best, someone’s feelings get hurt and they sob into their champagne glass while we all snicker, knowing they will be hitting the hard stuff within an hour. At worst, you are that person. Either way, here’s a hanky and a cigarette – and a shot… Read full post »

 My brother gave his first homily/sermon on Christmas morning. It was a 10 a.m. service; I was late and the lovely presiding priest was kind enough to say, after the service, that they are used to people attending the 10:15 service (ha ha), and indeed she and Alan were surprised that/… Read full post »

I remember when I got my first fur coat. I was 11, and had gone to visit my father in Scotland. He had recently abandoned our family in favor of the old country - something I didn't mind at the time but now see as a mistake. I liked going to Scotland… Read full post »

Totally big thing I learned, by looking at things and with my own eyes and brains: Cities in Western Mass. that were developed "back in the day", industrial cities, built power lines BEHIND houses, in what we call alleys. God bless them - nobody in those areas lost power - because,… Read full post »

Where did the general put his armies?

Just like the pictures we seem not alike, like an inability to spell a name exactly.

Every time I think I have you I don’t.

Men are like that, you are like men, distant, remote, inscrutable.

I stumble in front of you, little sister, only girl, your first

and… Read full post »

(Quick overview: I work as a counselor/advocate for a program serving people who have been raped and/or are in crisis surrounding the trauma of sexual assault.)

I had a brutal week last week, and I’m a pro. The news from the Rape/Crisis front is often not good, due… Read full post »

 (I got so many wonderful critiques when I shared this the first time - thank you all! And more critique is welcome. So this is my latest revision...)

From the porch I see them all go by.

Kevin with his arms awry, walking fast to the bus. 

The woman leaning to… Read full post »

 There are squirrels in my walls. It's a problem. The squirrels are really bold - not afraid of lazy cats, apparently. I get all "Yellow Wallpaper" at times - because I turn down everything  that makes sound and say "Did you hear that?" half hysterically.

I am becoming Charlotte Perkins Gil… Read full post »

From the front porch I see them all go by.

Kevin with his arms awry, walking fast to the bus. 

The woman sincerely leaning to the early bar, as

if there were wing or wind .

The guy next door hits the punching bag

and looks up in disgust at… Read full post »

The judge at the trial made an amazing statement at sentencing. She asked everyone to agree with the sentence by standing up and saying "Yes". She was obviously horrified by what the prosecution offered, and like many people who never knew Mia, stunned by the significance of a life , a… Read full post »

Home Alive did important work for 17 years. Unfortunately, the organization is no longer active. I think Home Alive changed many lives and changed attitudes about the importance of self defense as a tool for fighting back. The mission statement and the success of the group inspired many other groups… Read full post »

It was really just a regular night at the bar. The Comet Tavern in Seattle – aka “fort living room”. It was just the place where we always gathered. The Comet has no pretension at all – you sit and drink at large picnic type tables with everyone else. At the… Read full post »

Only the little slice of night between turning

out the light and actual sleep grant some

sense of the reality of your death.

In the Christian world view I am to

celebrate the triumph of your march

from life support to respiratory arrest.

I cut… Read full post »

My brother was ordained into the Episcopalian Deaconate yesterday. He is an amazing and talented man, and his path to this place in the Episcopalian Church has been a long time coming. I could tell you all about him, and there is much to say. But let’s just selfishly concentrate on… Read full post »

I could tell many an embarrassing tale involving any number of bodily fluids, or tell you about how the first time I met someone with Tourette’s  I had just taken a pure dose of the hallucinogen Ibogaine. In fact, I could have a separate blog devoted to embarrassing events in my… Read full post »

I just tried to blog and got the message that I can't post unless i'm logged in - but how the hell could I be creating a post within my account unless i was logged in?

This annoys me - there is no spam filter, but somehow there is a filter… Read full post »

I was five when my father took me to  a sunrise service, two dozen people and the countless dead in the cemetery for the news of the resurrection, my father the pastor claiming that rebirth is possible. I did not see any souls rising, although today the fog is like a… Read full post »