Today, a sweltering hot-for-us day, as I turned up the stairs towards my home office and saw Black the dog outside in the garden, I called out to him, “Stay well hydrated, Blacky, won’t you?” He just looked at me. He didn’t nod. He didn’t get up and trot over to his probably too warm […]
Miscellaneous
Blast From the Past
Thinking about these things today, I could not say precisely when I first began to check out from my work. However, I still vividly remember warming to the notion of retired life with Lee, who had bailed from her own work as soon as practicable. When she retired, Lee was not counting on falling deathly […]
You Say It’s Your Birthday
In my first posting to this site back in the early winter of 2021 (February 4, 2021), entitled “Please allow me to introduce myself,” I described two of the existential issues I had to confront during the early days following Lee’s death: “So I was left to ponder the BIG QUESTIONS: Am I destined to […]
But Still…
I’ve been going nuts with the business of living ever since I returned home on Sunday, following my final few days at Deer Tick Manor. As I a prepare tonight’s impromptu cookout for some neighbors, I’m afraid that this week’s blog offering has less meat on the bone than is typical. *** As for my […]
Farewell Deer Tick Manor
Regular readers by now will be familiar with Deer Tick Manor, the semi-rural property that Lee and I acquired almost 20 years ago. On July 18th, I bid farewell to Deer Tick. By late afternoon on that date, the place should have new owners, who may call it by any name they wish. To help […]
Setbacks and Support
If you read this weekly, you may remember that 9 weeks ago I sprained my ankle badly. I wore my air cast for the first 2 weeks. Moved to smaller brace for a few weeks and I’ve been in physical therapy 1-2 times per week for the last 4 weeks. Long story short, I’ve been […]
Three Old Men
My close friendships with Eric and Bob go back to our high school days. We have remained so throughout these many years, despite the changes in our respective personal circumstances that inevitably occur over the course of a lifetime: wives and girlfriends, children and grandchildren, jobs and careers, and health being chief among these. The […]
Fighting Through Inertia
The confluence of two celebratory occasions, Father’s Day, and my birthday, leaves me in a pensive mood today. As I have told you before, I have not fathered any children, a fact that is among my regrets in this life. Unlike Mick Jagger, whose youngest child was born in 2016 when Mick was already in […]
Midnight Storms
For the most part I’m not angry at Tony for dying by suicide and I just do it all without too much complaint. However, one-night last week had me on edge and anxious about our lives without him. At 1:30am, I am jolted awake by a train noise and the tornado sirens going off. There […]
No Straight Lines Here
Four hundred and eight days after Tony died, we finally mowed the lawn ourselves. With Memorial Day last weekend, we were out of town as were my neighbors who’ve been mowing our grass for us. Last summer, I didn’t even pretend like I wanted us to take that task on. I didn’t pull the mower […]
Reflecting on my April
Like everyone’s favorite Justin Timberlake meme, It’s Gonna Be May. Technically, it’s May 2nd but you know what I mean. And if it’s May, then that means I did it. I made it through April. Feels like there is a lot to reflect on over the last 30 days. I relived his last days and […]
Cousins Club
Cousin Judy called out of the blue a few days ago to inform me that she will be here later this week to visit family. She wants me to join them for dinner on Friday and possibly for Sunday luncheon, too. The family members I refer to are her close family members. I expect those […]