"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
Feeding body and soul
Progress report (or lack thereof): the skin graft isn’t taking. I feared that might be the case, and now the dermatologist has confirmed it. He cut off the top layer, which was scabbed over, yesterday morning. He said we might have to try another. After he left the room I asked the nurse practitioner what would […]
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 […]
Last night Donna asked me if I couldn’t see my way clear to working up a little Christmas spirit. Sigh. Millions are affected by holiday season depression. I always thought they were weak, but now I’m ready to admit I have a touch of it myself. It certainly helps explain my seasonal grumpiness, which rarely lifts […]
We’ll start with the official family portrait, taken with the big Canon on Thanksgiving day: This is as much of our family as we can gather together these days: our granddaughter Taylor had to stay behind in Las Vegas to work, but at least she was able to share Thanksgiving dinner with her boyfriend’s family. […]
We’re having friends over for dinner tonight, my excuse to make braised beef short ribs, which we haven’t had in literally years. I don’t know about where you live, but here we rarely find beef short ribs in the grocery store or base commissary. We get ours at the local butcher shop, where they cut them to […]
For the second time in two months, my debit card’s been compromised. Donna picked it up right away: four small charges from Angeles City in the Philippines. I always examine card readers on gas pumps and ATMs and am pretty sure I haven’t fallen victim to a skimmer. Well, who knows? This time I had to make […]
Aye, I do some ministerin’. I signed up for a mail-order Universal Life Church ordination about 15 years ago in order perform weddings for Hash House Harrier friends. Word spread, and before I knew it I was also marrying non-hashing friends and relatives, then random couples (no disrespect intended, if any of them are reading this) off the street. […]
As I remind Donna every year, she’s not my mother, and Mother’s Day is a Hallmark holiday. I know exactly what Donna’s thinking when I say that: the hell you say.