My nephew Bruce has gotten out of surgery. When he was initially critically ill, I prayed to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Soon it will be her feast day. I will offer prayers of both petition and thanksgiving to Our Lady on her day. I cast THE SECRET GARDEN today. Some were ecstatic; others had tears. […]

My nephew called me from Iraq!! It was awesome. I couldn’t believe I was talking to him. He wanted to tell me that he is reading ANGELS AND DEMONS and really liking it. I’m excited. He has never been big on reading, but he has always wanted to be. It’s just hard for him. He […]

I haven’t forgotten. I just can’t think of anything to say. I miss you.

Up at 4 a.m. to put the too heavy turkey in the oven, which is used about once a year so it smokes for a while and when we get up we have to open the doors to get the smoke out. How many kinds of pie? Blueberry, lemon, pecan, pumpkin, Susan’s pumpkin, mincemeat. How […]

My children are philosophers. Not surprising since their father was such, and the little time that they spent with their philosopher-stepfather must have affected them as well. Brendan the railer(he who rails against the MAN), Ian the searcher (he keeps heading East), and Caitlan the seeker of justice (she wonders whether India and Ghana are […]

On Thanksgiving do we give thanks for it all? The heart-break and the heart-full, the belly laughs and the sobs, the moments of peace (seconds?) and the gut-wrenching doubt, the partial answers and the incessant questions? My guess is that we must or be hypocrites. That is why I am not yet redeemed–I balk at […]

It’s the night before Thanksgiving, and it used to be my anniversary. I drank a beer.

Last night I met Deb’s brothers, Howard and Tom. I’ve heard about them for so long, and it was fun to finally meet them. We had caramel cake with chocolate ice cream and walnut topping. It was yum! Deb and I had already had a few glasses of wine, but we topped the cake off […]

Yesterday was very important because my brother and sister-in-law hooked up one of my two woodstoves. The other will be hooked up as soon as I get one more piece of stove pipe. The stoves are both the kind that can be opened to see the flames so that if you want a fireplace and […]

It’s FALL! Like beautiful autumn, like crisp cold as a refrigerated apple air, like bright hurt your eyes but you don’t want to wear sunglasses sun, like leafcrunch. I was up early but then decided to read THE WEEK which I have been converted to as an “objective” news-zine, has some hazelnut decaf, and went […]