Good Night, Good Dog

Posted by on Apr 9, 2018 in dish | 1 comment Today was pretty much the Mondayest Monday in the history of Mondays. Today, we put our thirteen-year-old Brittany, Jester, down. Mr. Man and I put a lot of research into choosing what would be our family dog after having lived with Jack, pretty much the perfect cocker spaniel. We wanted something a little bigger, with a similar happy disposition, good looks, smarts, and just a bit different...
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Life in Three Words

Posted by on Jan 1, 2015 in dish | 0 comments Ah, New Year’s Day—that one day of the year designed for self-flagellation and list-making and vows and whatnot designed to make us all 21st-century Bionic Men and Women (“We can rebuild her…we have the technology…”). It’s exhausting. It’s demoralizing. It’s abusive in its own twisted way. Is it any wonder so many resolutions fail before January...
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A Look Back

Posted by on Dec 31, 2013 in dish | 0 comments As usual, I began 2013 with all kinds of positive energy and ended up limping to the finish line. It wasn’t a failure of a year, but I didn’t take the world by storm, either (not that it was on my list). As a teacher, I’m always asking my students to reflect on their work so that they can chart a pathway to improvement. In that spirit, here’s how 2013 went for me: GREAT...
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Fear Not

Posted by on Dec 25, 2013 in dish | 1 comment Anyone who grew up when I did learned to love the Charlie Brown Christmas special. We talk about Charlie Brown trees at the lot, those poor things that are more stick than needles. We know all the words to “Christmas Time Is Here.” We know exactly how awful pink aluminum Christmas trees are, no matter what today’s fashionable magazines tell us is “on trend.” But the...
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Nesting Instinct

Posted by on Apr 24, 2013 in dish | 0 comments Our Carolina wrens are back! A couple of years ago, we noticed a patch of thready Spanish moss in our brass mailbox. The door latch on the box isn’t that tight, so it was hanging down. We thought the moss must have blown in there (we’d had some spring storms) and didn’t think much of it. At least, we didn’t until more things showed up in the box: leaves, withered potato...
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