Category Archives: Uncategorized

Earlier this week I went to Brooklyn to see my friend L and M, my former supervisor at the Manhattan Borough President’s Office (MBP,where I met L too), who I haven’t seen in decades.   Our meeting spot is a restaurant in Dumbo and I get there early to walk around the beautiful waterfront park, navigatingContinue reading “and yet…on being older”

I often do a gratitude practice first thing in the morning. It’s pretty predictable: thanks for the cup of coffee, for being awake early before everyone else gets up, for quiet time to meditate and do Wordle. I’m trying to extend that practice during the day, to stop and appreciate all the little ways thatContinue reading “gratitude practice”

Although I have fond memories of baking chocolate chip cookies with my mom: my favorite part was putting the just-shelled walnuts through the chopper – yes, we did it all by hand! – I’ve always been more of a cook than a baker. Becoming a vegetarian at age 15 made me more aware and inquisitiveContinue reading “baking therapy”

Respite: providing or being temporary care in relief of a primary caregiver I’ve had a “save the date” on the side of the refrigerator (we have a weirdly unmagnetic surface in front so nothing stays attached there) for months. While we’ve been looking forward to my nephew’s wedding, a big burden was finding a placeContinue reading “respite for a celebration”

Awe: an emotion combining veneration and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime.   L’shana tova.   That means “for a good year” and you don’t have to be Jewish to take in that blessing and to see these first days of autumn as the perfect opportunity to celebrate a new season,Continue reading “Days of Awe”

Getting used to a full house after my time alone. V is back in school full time and there’s a lot to do in planning his future. I’m also on the board of directors for an organization affiliated with his school that has started a day program and is planning for residential services as well,Continue reading “planning mode”

I’m free. For the first time in 17 years I’ve had  the house to myself for a week. Wheee! Wild times at 152 High Street. Not. But I’m still grateful to have this time to myself.  T went to Seattle to visit B and family, and V is in a respite group home for theContinue reading “a week off”

In a week with a lot of bad news the story that most horrified me was the stabbing of the writer Salman Rushdie. In a bitter irony, someone rushed the stage and attacked him just prior to a lecture where he was to speak about freedom of expression in the United States.  Rushdie had beenContinue reading “perilous times”

We went to the beach with V for the first time this summer. It took a while to get there this season given that it’s already well into August. But V usually has sessions with his behavior technician J on Saturday and Sunday morning, and he’s had camp on weekdays, and I like to leaveContinue reading “Asbury Park”

Due to some really shitty town management two of the three public pools in our town – the affordable option for the middle class residents who still exist in this increasingly affluent community where I live – are closed for the entire summer, leaving one pool at the exact opposite end of town from myContinue reading “by foot: on not driving”