We saw dozens of small shorebirds bathing in Asbury Creek this morning. They looked like smallish (largish robin-sized) but very fat pigeons. I stood and watched them while Gary moved quietly up to my side and gestured to his pocket where he carried the camera. A neighbor joined us. None of us knew what they [...]
Early in the school year, I used to do vocabulary activities in my junior English classes. They required the use of hardcover dictionaries and most often teamwork. In each case the terms and their definitions were written into classroom journals which could be accessed during quizzes and exams. No need to write any of this [...]
I made gibassier last evening. Fourteen brioche-rich rolls with both butter and olive oil and scented with orange flower water, anise seed, and candied orange peel that I made last winter. The previous night I made the preferment, and I completed the dough in the late morning, then two rises, and they baked in time [...]
I just finished In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. I usually read a book in a few days, but this memoir took longer. Where was the wisdom I was seeking? I was afraid for a long time that it would not come. I was doing NaNo during those weeks too, so I was writing [...]
Tracking shows my package shipped via UPS from Wisconsin and has since traveled to Georgia, Illinois, and Massachusetts. In that order. I live in Oregon. A former student who delivered for UPS once tried to explain to me why such routes are efficient. I remain unconvinced. It seems to me that efficient travel from Wisconsin [...]
Gift. The best of all, is time. Time for a walk. Time for a talk. Time to look closely at someone and to listen. Take time. Use time. Find time. You have time. It does not have you. There is always more until there is none. Olive Kitteridge tells an aging woman not to worry [...]
Over the years three boys in my Junior English classes argued in their research papers that nuclear power was the cheap, non-polluting, and safe alternative to fossil fuels. They were blissfully unaware that radiation is deadly. They did not want to hear about it. When one boy asked an engineer via email whether there were [...]
