Hello friends, sorry for long delay but the crazy last days of summer, first days of school, and then a week from hell followed by a weekend from heaven and an illness equal no time to blog. I hope to remedy that soon. Exhaustion: it’s a real danger. In the meantime, I’m resting a lot, hoping to regain strength to take on all the stuff coming down the pike. Back in the saddle soon. I promise. Advice to Aspiring Writers: Even cowgirls get tired. Or: Drink plenty of fluids.

Ack. Ack. I know that’s the Bill the Cat sound but I can’t believe it’s Sunday night and I am whupped. And the weekend is gone. And there’s so much to do. Ack. ACK! Just wanted to include a picture of my handsome stud-man who swam/rode/ran a triathlon this weekend with injuries and did extremely well regardless. He’s my hero. A few more words — been worried over my Great-Aunt Doris, who is 95 and who has been an inspiration and a cheerleader of mine for literally my whole life. She has been having some health issues and just had a pacemaker put in last Thursday night, so it’s been…

So I’m at a neighbor’s house and my neighbor has a falling-down pear tree in the back yard and it is chock-a-block with ripe pears. And since my neighbor is making me lunch, she must think the plate looks naked, or else seizes the moment and a captive audience for her wares. She puts a pear on the plate. Well, half a pear. Apparently all the fruit that hangs on the tree or mercifully falls to earth is not, shall we say, grocery-store perfect. In fact, it’s half rotten. But my neighbor has cut away the yukky parts and made it as lovely as something from the Garden of Eden,…

…or is that treason? I’ve been writing a lot about faith, or lack of it, in recent months — over the past five years, as it happens. Weird, for me, as I’ve always been what I consider a “spiritual” person, to be in a place of “faithlessness.” It morphs as I go — but here’s where I am now (an abbreviated list). I do believe I will wake up each morning. I do believe in oxygen and invisible pathogens and single-celled animals and diatoms. I do believe I will have some kind of literary success. I don’t believe that airplanes should be able to stay up and so therefore when…

I just finished moving from a house to an apartment just three blocks away, because it seemed like a good idea at one time. I think moving is like having a baby: you think it won’t be so bad, then you endure this god-awful day, then forget about it completely while you enjoy your new digs – until the next time you move, and realize how ghastly it is all over again. You can’t just move your stuff, you know. You have to cull through your junk so you don’t have to transport everything. You have to give it away, throw it away or have a yard sale. I did…