Author Archives: jthere

Back from a wonderful trip to Portland. B is great and so is his chosen city. Beautiful architecture, gardens and parks, delicious food, friendly people – even in cars they’re cordial out there! – stunning roses, the only thorn being the huge homelessness problem. Portland has the highest homeless population per capita of any USContinue reading “PDX-ewr: returning”

EWR-PDX Friday September 24th 11 am has been imprinted on my brain for the past month like a beacon of hope, that thing to look forward to that has kept me going. That is when I am scheduled to depart from Newark for Portland to visit B for four days. I’ve been so excited toContinue reading “away at last”

We often communicate with abbreviations or brevity as placeholders when we don’t want to get into the details. How are things going? “Hanging in there” is my favorite response. It keeps things vague, not too negative. But in leaving out the details there is so much I don’t share, and with that, so much thatContinue reading “the details”

Happy new year! Whether you are Jewish or not, it is the start of a new season.I’ve been thinking a lot and writing a little, having relished the break from this blog, which was hard to maintain when V had no school, camp, or any structured activities. In addition to swimming, which is my summerContinue reading “Prayers all Around”

I’m struck by two big news stories this week and how they reflect and refract each other, one in DC and the other in Tokyo.  “Quitting is the new winning” is a comment I read in response to the recent spate of iconic women athletes dropping out of competitions to tend to their mental health:Continue reading “quitting is the new winning”

BFF S came to visit this past weekend and we had a wonderful few days filled with great conversation, food, walking and art. We spent a day in the city visiting museums, something I realize I haven’t done in a couple of years, what with the big swath of time taken up by Covid. TheContinue reading “People Come First”

The other day I was in my solitary lap lane in the pool when a woman yelled out “Look! A deer!” And everyone in the water – it was late morning, so less than a dozen of us were wet so early in the day – stopped and watched a big deer go bounding byContinue reading “Midsummer’s Bounty”

Of all my stories from 20 years of living in the city it is this one, which I was reminded of this past week, that may be the New Yorkiest. Parent teacher conference night can last a long time, if you attend a school, as we did, with a procedure where you sign in onContinue reading “it happened one night”

When I lived in Brooklyn there was a little park a block away that was the closest, most convenient place for the boys to play. It was run down and decrepit, with peeling paint on the equipment, but was nonetheless well utilized by local families and adults who regularly used the handball courts. Almost allContinue reading “people. make. change.”

From an article in Thursday’s paper: kitsugi, a way to mend shattered pottery, was developed hundreds of years ago in Japan; it was later embraced outside Japan as a philosophy of living: “Bad things can happen that might shatter us. But we don’t have to stay broken or hide our wounds. We can put ourselvesContinue reading “The Two Hour Vacation”