About a year, maybe less, before it was sold to us, our backyard underwent an overhaul. Much of the apparently very expensive lawn was torn out and replaced with rocks. But crucially, not all of it. The rocks were a…
Fifteen Nails
My literary hero Ray Bradbury famously adorned his writing desk and the surrounding office with endless piles of books, toys, tchotchkes, and papers, enough to almost make me feel like my natural inclinations aren’t so broken for an aspiring writer.…
Old Friends
Old friends old friends sat on their park bench like bookends A newspaper blown through the grass falls on the round toes of the high shoes of the old friends … Can you imagine us years from today Sharing a…
Mailing it in
Yesterday, I sent some mail that was long overdue. How overdue was it? One of the two envelopes I mailed contained correspondence I had first attempted to fax in early May. The documentation in question was an authorization for me…
Get Organized
One of the many challenging things about living with me, for the few who’ve made the attempt, is that I am something of a packrat. Hoarder is the term of art these days, although in its true sense, this term…
That Escalated Quickly
Today, I took my son on an escalator and broke down. To be clear, the escalator didn’t break down. I did. We were at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, where we’re members, and he’d just seen the hippos and done…
Pulling Hen’s Teeth
I called my dental insurance today and officially designated my chosen dental provider as my dental provider. It wasn’t a big thing, but it was a thing I needed to do and I did it today. The need arose because…
Do the Extra Thing
My son Graham loves the bus. Specifically, he loves taking a variety of SEPTA’s Philadelphia city buses around the Roxborough neighborhood where we live, and to various points of interest across the city. He’s gotten adept at reading numbers and…
Climbing the Ladder
Yesterday’s main elements for me – outside of a slow sloggy day at work that ultimately proved productive but took some real effort at self-motivation – combined plum-picking and a devastating migraine that sent me to bed early. It’s unusual,…
Home Depot Away from Home
My father adored Home Depot. And Lowes. Perhaps more accurately, he always loved exactly one of them at a time, and whichever one it was alternated based on where he’d gotten especially favorable or unfavorable service last. He would be…