There are many words we could use to describe the year 2020, and “surreal” is probably one of the kindest. The same can be said for how we’ll be celebrating Christmas this year. Like many people, my husband and I will be staying home for the holidays, rather than going home for the holidays to celebrate with family members who live in other parts of the country. It’s not our preference, of course, but we keep reminding ourselves that by staying safe at home this [...]
North and South America. Asia, Africa, and Australia. Europe. The Middle East. The Caribbean. No, I’m not studying for a geography test, or memorizing different areas of the world in case I ever become a contestant on “Jeopardy!” and that’s one of the categories. I’m just thinking of some of the people I spent a few hours with this week, and marveling at all the different places they’re from. A number of them are people I’ve met as I “traveled the world” from home via [...]
I was still in bed on Thanksgiving morning when my husband, an early riser, came in and said, “The power just went out.” I instinctively looked at the clock on my nightstand, which showed – nothing. “What time is it?” I asked. “6:45,” he said, adding, “I called the power company. They already knew about it. They said it should be back on by 8:30.” I did some quick mental calculations, based on the tasks and cooking I had planned for Thanksgiving dinner. Although it [...]
Thanksgiving is next week, and it will be different this year than ever before. Like many people, we will be staying home rather than traveling to be with family members in different parts of the country. And like them, our hearts are torn over not being able to spend the holiday with loved ones, whether they live across the street, across the country, or “over the river and through the woods,” as the old song goes. This is also a year when many people are [...]
Eight months. That’s exactly how long it’s been since I went into lockdown. I remember the date precisely because, like today, it was a Friday the 13th. I had just been diagnosed with diabetes, and on that day in March I drove to the pharmacy to pick up a supply of lancets and test strips for my brand-new practice of doing finger sticks to test my blood sugar. But first I had a lunch date with a friend, not knowing then that it would be [...]
I know what I want for Christmas: a magic wall. Like many Americans, I’ve had difficulty tearing myself away from election news coverage this past week. I’ve watched split screens of four different television stations at once in order to see different predictions, projections, and perspectives, as well as the latest up-to-the-minute ballot counts in each of the battleground states. One of the things I’ve been mesmerized by is a “magic wall” – the name given to a giant computer monitor showing a map of the [...]
It’s Halloween weekend. Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, which is the best day of the week for trick-or-treating, although the streets won’t be filled with nearly as many ghosts, goblins, spirits, and superheroes this year as they normally would. Still, it’s a scary time of year – more so this year than most, for a variety of reasons. This is also the best time of year for scary movies. My husband and I just finished watching The Haunting of Bly Manor, which we [...]
There are people who consider me to be a very organized person. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them. Actually, it’s not that I don’t consider myself to be organized. In some ways I am. If you mention something I wrote about in a long-ago column or blog, I can usually go back through my files and find a copy of it within a matter of minutes. Or if you ask me for the recipe for something I brought to a picnic or party – back [...]
My father-in-law passed away last week. When it was clear he wouldn’t be with us much longer, my husband drove to Chicago to be with him during those last few days. Before he left, we made the agonizing decision for me to stay home. Actually, making the decision wasn’t the agonizing part; accepting it was. In earlier times – meaning any time before the pandemic – we’d have been traveling back and forth to Chicago regularly, especially as my father-in-law’s health deteriorated. But since March, [...]