Just got back from the grocery store. There's a cheeping, bustling colony of house sparrows living in the letters of the store sign, nestled up to the lights for warmth.

While I was loading my car, a male bird (the males have more distinct markings) emerged, carrying something thin, white, and… Read full post »

This is in response to a post by Brian B, who asked for first kiss memories. I wrote this a while ago for a group of friends on another forum, it's edited to take some identifying details out, which is why it's a little raggedy.

I was just barely 14… Read full post »

It started when my husband went out to get the mail. He came back in, tossed the mail on the sofa, said, "If I'm not back in ten minutes call the police," and picked up his Weapon of Choice, which is a boken, a sturdy wooden practice sword, about the size… Read full post »

Just a quickie update on how my diet is going. As I mentioned in earlier posts, I'm trying to lose weight while having to dance around an auto-immune disease which reacts badly to stress, plus a damaged heart. Plus, I'm dealing with my mother, who has her own nutty attitudes towards… Read full post »

 This is in response to voicegal, who asked for people to share spiritual encounters.

When I was sixteen years old, it seemed not a day went by without my mother and I getting into a fight. She sent me to a therapist, and I was given… Read full post »

In my last post I proposed a dilemma:  how to get fit and lose weight within the contraints of my autoimmune disorder, which puts a great deal of stress on my heart and restricts my ability to exercise.

Enter the opt-in diet. Now, I used a form of opt-in diet… Read full post »

In part 1, I talked about my mother, who ate large quantities of food while pretending to diet, and how I learned portion control from her, although thanks to an active lifestyle I never seemed to gain weight.

In part 2, I described my struggles with an undiagnosed immune disorder,… Read full post »

I described in my earlier post my mother's confusing attitude towards dieting, how she would claim to be on a diet while consuming huge volumes of food, and how I learned to eat in her house, consuming huge volumes likewise.

Unlike my mother, however, I never gained weight. By the time… Read full post »

This is a post about diets.

 I have mixed feelings about diets. My mother has been on a diet since she was sixteen. Periodically she will announce, "I've lost five pounds!"  Or twelve pounds. Or forty pounds. But forty pounds is not all that visible a change when you are almost… Read full post »

Today, I'm a mockingbird.

I didn't really want to be a mockingbird. I didn't want to be anything in particular. But it's come to my attention that people are uncomfortable when I make comments on their blog posts if I don't have a little picture and a banner and a blog… Read full post »