It happens every January. While December is filled with gifts, decorations, rituals and events, there often isn’t much to be excited about after the holidays have ended. Unless you are a gardener. Seeds from Renee’s Garden are among my favorites. I love the artwork done for each of the packets. The seed catalogs start arriving in the mail in November, and by December, I have already poured through the paper versions as well as my online...
I have been fortunate. Other than unexpected surgery, I have been healthy throughout the pandemic. Not even a cold or a sniffly nose. Until Christmas. Then, I came in contact with someone who gave me a virus. The hard part is, in the middle of a pandemic, one never really knows what kind of virus has been shared. Did I have COVID? I went through the stages of denial. My throat wasn’t really that scratchy; and my nose was only a little stuffy....
Today is New Year’s Eve Day. Although the brink of a new year means something to many, it also means little to a lot. Some see it as a chance to file the old year away and move on - and others see it as a chance to embrace new goals and vision. I am somewhere in between. Resolutions are not for the retired. I have already made and failed at resolutions so many years ago that they are no longer relevant to me. I had resolutions when I was...
I’ve always wondered why a holiday that is meant to be a celebration turns into such pressure and anxiety. Christmas is a lot of work. If you follow friends, relatives or strangers on social media, you are sure to see beautiful photos of perfectly decorated homes, scores of scrumptious Christmas cookies and sweet children singing in their holiday music programs. Behind that perfection is a lot of women (and some men) trying to pull it all...
Sometimes, I look at his little face - and those dark brown eyes stare back at me. Where did you come from, I wonder. How long were you alone and scared? How could anyone bear losing you? There he stands - little Freddy, “Fred Flintstone” is his official name. He is the perfect complement to our Barney Rubble. Barney is our first rescue dog. Freddy is our second. He joined our family Nov. 10. Freddy and Barney meeting for the first time....
Christmas is just three weeks away, and again we are handed decisions we must make about how, and with whom, we will spend the holidays. At least those of us who still are concerned about another COVID Christmas. It was easier last Christmas, when there wasn’t a vaccine yet and many people still wore masks and followed either voluntary or mandated social distancing. The decision to spend time apart was painful, but important. No one wanted to...
There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t think about her. Not once or twice, but many, many times. I was not ready for my best friend to die unexpectedly in late July. Yes, she had been very sick and hospitalized for much of the three prior weeks, but no one ever said she was in danger of dying. She had "this issue, that infection, this problem" that her doctors were addressing. While I was very worried, and prayed constantly, I always...