The sun was just starting to set as I drove home from the first meeting at my new Toastmasters club. I drove slowly, partly because I’m not entirely familiar yet with the winding roads, and partly because it was the time of day when deer often dart out into the street. We’ve already seen plenty of them, including – along the side of the road – some that didn’t quite make it across safely. When I got home, my husband was sitting out back on [...]
My alarm clock was particularly jarring when it went off this morning. Not because it woke me up out of a sound sleep – I was actually already awake – but because I hardly ever hear it anymore. Since my husband retired and we moved to Georgia a month ago, there have been only a few times when we’ve even set our alarm clock. This morning, it was because we were expecting a delivery that was scheduled for early in the day, and we wanted [...]
A landline telephone. Paper calendars. Print versions of books and newspapers. These are items I refuse to part with, even under pressure – sometimes subtle, sometimes intense – to embrace their technological replacements. Holding on to them often feels like a losing battle, but it’s one I’ll keep fighting nonetheless. It’s a battle that’s come to the forefront, in different ways and with different results, during my recent move to Georgia. Wherever we’ve lived, I’ve always subscribed to a daily newspaper – the Chicago Tribune, [...]
It’s true that change can be difficult, and that old habits die hard. Yet it’s surprising how quickly we can get used to something new, often without even realizing it. After a week and a half in our new home in Georgia, my husband and I flew back to Minnesota to retrieve our other car and the rest of our belongings, and once again make the 1200-mile road trip to Georgia. While in Minnesota, I joked about how odd it felt not to have a [...]
My favorite frozen fountain!
One of my favorite days of the year has always been the first Monday after we move our clocks ahead in the Spring. Although Daylight Saving Time actually begins on Sunday, it seems to have a bigger impact on Monday. That may be because on Sunday I’m still dealing with the loss of an hour of sleep, but more likely it’s because weekday routines and timetables are more firmly set than they are on the weekend. On Monday afternoon, it’s much easier to suddenly recognize [...]
These contradictory thoughts have been popping into my head often as my husband and I completed our move from Minnesota to Georgia. His final day of work was last Friday, and by Sunday we were packed up and on the road. We spent a day in Chicago visiting family, then took two days to drive down to our new home. We’ve made the drive to Chicago several times a year during the time we’ve lived in Minnesota, so we’ve gotten used to the landmarks, the [...]
Like many people here in Minnesota, I spent much of last weekend enjoying – and marveling at – our unseasonably warm weather. The most common refrain from everyone was, “This is February? It feels like Spring!” It seemed almost surreal to go out wearing a sweater or light jacket instead of a heavy winter coat. I went on an outing downtown with some friends on Sunday, and they laughed when they came to pick me up and found me sitting outside in a lawn chair, [...]
A friend of mine, who’s also a long-time reader of my column, asked me a while ago if there were any send-off events in the works as I prepare to move out-of-state. If there weren’t, she said she’d love to help organize one. I hadn’t thought about anything like that, but I was trying to plan a book launch party to celebrate the book I recently published, which includes a number of the columns I’ve written over the years. I’ve been to several book launches, [...]
