After a lifetime of problems with compliments–they often make me uncomfortable but sometimes I crave them–I’ve decided that the problem is not compliments per se but the kind of compliments I’d like to receive. Maybe this is true for other people. If so, we need to get more sophisticated in how we dish out compliments. Continue reading
Seventy
I have been seventy for three days now. Am I supposed to have some insights already about what it’s like? The tests and trials went on right up to the day itself, the morning of which I had a fight with my husband. Continue reading
An autumn birthday
I love autumn, the lovely shedding toward winter. This autumn, in a few weeks, I’ll be turning 70. It’s been at the back of my consciousness for a while, no doubt influencing what seem like random activities. They’ve been steps toward this milestone. Continue reading
Overcoming obstacles
In which I learn that change comes with two steps forward, one step back; that obstacles are often best overcome by going around, taking a different route, rather than plowing through; that the biggest obstacles are internal; and that the most limited commodity is willpower. Continue reading
Burning Bibles
A few days ago I cleaned off my study shelves and was shocked to discover that some books had gotten moldy. I’ve never had that problem before. Our Midwestern summer has been so wet that it makes me think of Flight Behavior, Barbara Kingsolver’s devastating novel about climate change. Among the moldy books were two Bibles that had belonged to my mother, old-fashioned, tissue-leaved, King James Version, well worn. Continue reading
Beauty and retirement
I am a glutton for natural beauty. Last week, on our way to a wedding in Pennsylvania, we made a side trip to West Virginia and I was able to feed my craving for two full days in the mountains. It made me think about how I want to live the rest of my life. Continue reading
Playing the body numbers
I would really like to think that we can avoid the American scourges of heart disease and diabetes, if not cancer, by leading a healthy lifestyle. And I would really like to stay away from the complicating medications meant to treat them.
Thus, it was only reluctantly, after years of futilely trying to get my cholesterol numbers down with diet and supplements, that I agreed to start taking a statin. My husband is holding out against medication for himself, choosing to believe those who say cholesterol numbers aren’t all that important. Which of us will live longer? I guess you’ll have to wait and see. Continue reading
Ten books that marked me
My daughter-in-law tagged me in the challenge that’s making the rounds on Facebook: name 10 books that have had an impact on you at some stage in your life. How does a compulsive reader like me narrow it down to 10?
Rather than list favorites I decided to name 10 books that marked different stages of my life. Many of them prompted me to do something. Here they are, in chronological order: Continue reading
Torture regime
I have just finished the fourth week of my new exercise regime, a 20-30 minute daily program of high-intensity exercise involving weights and cardio intervals. You have asked me to report back. How am I doing?
Faithfulness: My biggest achievement is that I have actually done it for four weeks. I have done something I don’t like–intense exercise that makes me huff and puff and sweat–because it is good for me. They say you won’t keep up an exercise regime you don’t enjoy. Well, I have. So there. Continue reading
Carpenter ants, killer whales, ebola
These are on my mind this morning.
Ebola first. The16-year-old son of someone I met in Liberia six years ago has apparently died of it. Kamara, the tall, dignified peacemaker, Muslim leader, traditional elder, has lost his son to this outrageous virus.
When it’s someone you know it becomes real. Continue reading
the practical mystic 