Sunday Bag o’ Tricks & Treats

I don’t have a high opinion of presidents in general, but I didn’t appreciate the importance of the leadership they provide until Trump took office and there wasn’t any.

Wednesday Bag o’ Staples

Progress report: my knee still aches (with occasional sharp nerve twinges) and I still walk like Festus, but the home exercise routine is going well, the outpatient physical therapy at the orthopedic institute even better, and the swelling has almost disappeared. Tomorrow I see the surgeon who replaced my knee and who will, I hope, […]

Crossing Lines

Donna visited a friend last night. Despite a mutual agreement to avoid politics, conversation turned to the administration policy of taking children from would-be immigrant parents crossing the southern border of the US. Her friend … not for the first time … came down hard on the racist MAGA side: it serves them right; the kids are being […]

Eighty Thousand Gnocchi in Three Key States

So far, it’s been a quiet Saturday morning. I have yet to replenish the bird feeders, but most of the outdoor chores are done and Mr. B has been walked. I feel I should update my blog and newsletter privacy policies and send every reader an email about it, but I’d have to write a privacy policy first […]

It’s All a Racket

Like most Americans, I was raised to believe my country was not corrupt. Of course it is and always has been, because human nature makes corruption inevitable. I’m thinking about corruption in light of news that a Korean aircraft manufacturer paid $150,000 to a shell company set up by Michael Cohen, Trump’s fixer. A huge […]

Friday Bag o’ Brimley

I’m not going to be coy: my blood sugar started inching up a few years ago; this year it crossed a line and my doctor says I now have type 2 diabetes. At my age I’m probably in for the duration. It’s totally on me, of course. I couldn’t feel guiltier if, after years of unprotected anal […]

Tuesday Bag o’ Chorizo

One of Tucson’s attractions is its abundance of carnicerías, Mexican butcher shops, each with loyal customers who swear by their favorite shop’s hand-made chorizo. We buy our chorizo at Safeway, philistines that we are, but the brand they carry actually does come from a local carnicería, and that’s what we had for breakfast this morning, scrambled with eggs, flour tortillas […]