Jo Anne Worley of Laugh-In once said that she dreamt about the secrets of the universe, and quickly scribbled them onto a piece of paper at her bedside.

The next morning, she awoke and read the paper.  "Cottage cheese." 

My dad with his brother, fishing.  Wy… Read full post »

I still remember where I was that brisk November morning when I got the call, on my way into a Minnesota hospital where my husband was a patient.

The nurse on the other end sounded young, and surprisingly nonchalant.  "Oh, hi, Mrs. Riordan.  Lawrence is fine, but. . ."… Read full post »

People have been asking with increasing regularity recently when I plan to head south.  It's a little like asking Mary Poppins when she plans to move on to the next family.

When the wind changes.

I'm sure there are those, many in fact, who go through everything right away… Read full post »

Our collective 21st century consciousness is bookended by an apple--one in Eden, another in Cupertino.

I dreamt last night of Warren Buffett, Warren Buffett in the back seat of an old convertible mugging for the camera with Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett enjoying a Dilly Bar from Dairy… Read full post »

Something there is about going home, sagebrush and barbed wire, whether thirty years have passed or three, the mountains always in your blood, your collective memory, where wild mustangs run free.

Danes… Read full post »

I packed your shirts away today.

Mom gave them to me after you were gone, too soon, along with a couple of your books, your wallet with those scraps of paper in them recording every pill, every date.  They all need to go to the backs of other people,/… Read full post »

My father was the first to show me what it meant to be fully human, fully vulnerable, in spite of being the Jitterbug King.

He never pretended to be perfect.

Make no mistake, he was pretty darned good.  Most girls, especially oldest, especially "daddy's girls," take their father for… Read full post »

If you were inclined to Google "lessons" and "Weinergate" this week you'd find enough to complete your summer reading.  Even before the semi-disgraced politician's late Monday confession that yes, he had irresponsibly tweeted a crotch shot to a young woman not his wife and then fai… Read full post »

Sixteen years ago I pledged I'd never again allow myself to get sucked into watching courtroom carnival.  The spectacle that was the O.J. Simpson trial gripped many of us.  Then the last few days I found myself watching what was happening in a courtroom less than three hours from my… Read full post »

Oprah Winfrey, whose final show is being broadcast today after 25 years.

When Oprah Winfrey first bounded onto the talk show stage in the early 1980's at a time when Phil Donahue ruled daytime talk, it was clear she was there to stay and to make a difference.  Her hour-long… Read full post »

While it's difficult to find a bright spot in the case of a New York City luxury hotel housemaid alleging sexual misconduct by the former head of the IMF, a small but significant portion of the population might actually benefit in the wake of the case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

A… Read full post »

Dominique Strauss-Kahn.  The former IMF chief formally resigned his post as head of the agency overnight while he remains imprisoned at Riker Island in New York.

The news overnight that Dominique Strauss-Kahn,  currently detained in New York on suspicion of sexual assau… Read full post »

The news that former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger fathered a child out-of-wedlock with a member of his household staff ten years ago comes at an interesting time, swift on the heels of the very public arrest of the head of the IMF on suspicion of sexual misconduct in an expensive suite… Read full post »

Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden, in hiding since the attacks of September 11, 2001, has been killed in an attack on a compound outside Islamabad, Pakistan, on May 1, 2011, as confirmed by U.S. President Barack Obama in a historic late Sunday evening statement from the East Room of t… Read full post »

It's early still in northern Washington, in sleepy towns like La Conner and Mount Vernon, bulbs just waking up in midwinter spring.

Every year the rite continues, pilgrims come, first the daffodils, and then the tulips, cut for the taking, like a Parisian shopkeeper's window. 

%IM… Read full post »

There's a certain absentmindedness that comes from the death of a spouse--from the death of anyone close to you, I suppose, but particularly from the death of a spouse.  Things have a way of disappearing, being forgotten, lost in the comfortable clutter of a l… Read full post »

In the end it is all about diamond cuff links.  Lost, then found.  Forgotten for a time.  Misplaced.  Worn, then removed. 

Tucked away.

This is no easy landscape, a hostile frontier.   Paperwork amplifies grief, which consumes everything.

I wander ba… Read full post »

There have been far too many people who've been exceptionally kind to me here during my husband's recent hospitalization and death, many who've reached out to me with kind words, offered phone numbers, big shoulders, support and comfort.  Many of you also sent flowers.

I am really deeply touched… Read full post »

The following letter was penned from a tent in Melun, France (just south of Paris), in early April 1945,  by a young American soldier stationed there during World War II, and sent to his parents back home in Chicago, Illinois.  It details his experience as a C-47 pilot flying in… Read full post »

In happier times, before her July 2009 detention by Iranian authorities, Sarah Shourd.  (photo:  maggiesnotebook) 

American Sarah Shourd, one of three hikers who has been detained by Iranian authorities for over a year, was released from prison this morning on bail, acco… Read full post »

Things continue to get more interesting in Florida as the three-way contest for the Senate is in its final weeks.

According to reports in the Orlando Sentinel, after meeting in Orlando last week officials of the Florida Republican Party are weighing the option of the suing Florida governor Ch… Read full post »

American hiker Sarah Shourd, above, receiving a humanitarian visit from her mother in Iranian prison earlier this year.  Iranian authorities have announced they will release Shourd, one of three captive American hikers,  Saturday after being detained in Iranian prison for over… Read full post »