The walk today was delightful, although the near freezing weather confuses me as to what inner and outer clothing to wear. My torso was fine, the four layers perfect, my hands toasty with rabbit fur-lined mittens (likely not politically correct), and my head warm beneath the knit beany cap (except for my flattened post-hat hair). …
Stephen Jay Gould divides the genre of popular science writing into two modes: Galilean (intellectual essays about nature’s puzzles) and Franciscan (lyrical pieces about nature’s beauties). I am divided as I am drawn toward both men and their forms : Galileo was brave and courageous with his science while St. Francis of Assisi contributed to our …
Cold, quiet, and serene. The temperatures in the high teens and low twenties have forced me inside (although I cannot help but bundle up to walk on the icy trails, gaze at the snow-dotted hills and glance at deer coming down from the higher elevations at least twice a day). I am working on a …
I’ve been thinking about houses (reading Tracy Kidder’s “House”) and homes (just finished Roxane Gray’s “An Untamed State”) lately, what they mean to us as physical shelters, emotional cocoons, family gathering places, and remembrances of our roots. I realize more and more how important home is to me: the familiar pictures on the walls, the pots …
The weather continued cold, chilly and foggy, even drizzle from heavy clouds, but Town Lake Trail called to me this weekend. We are in Austin for only a few more weeks before returning to the West Coast. I bundled up, tights under my running pants, Craft wool undershirt beneath my long-sleeved shirt beneath my vest …
A brief review of three plays: “Cabaret,” starring Alan Cumming as the emcee and Michelle Williams as Sally Bowles in the Kit Kat Klub in pre-WWII Berlin, evokes as always with the underlying tension of growing Nazism, and anti-Semitism. The old Studio 54 theatre contained the play well, with the lower level set up with …
I wish I could walk forever through Central Park, capturing and retaining images that assault my five senses. Recording them on film (iPhone) is less than prefect. I prefer the more intense imprints of them on my mind. But my mind falters, assaulted from years of impressions, sights, sounds, and words; the reminders created from …
We’re enjoying a New York City weekend, reminscent of our two years here as newly-weds, but without the long days of work or a five year old boy with whom to spend our time. We love walking through Central Park, along Riverside Drive and the West Side Highway and then over to the Upper East …
Today is Austin Adoption Day. The Gardner Betts Juvenile Center in Austin is festive with the Wizard of Oz theme, “There’s no place like home,” made real for many children today. Upon entering the building (after the ubiquitous security check to which we are too immune), I approached the hallway, transformed into a yellow brick road. …
My current stack of books to read, in the process of being read, or finished within the last month or so, which does not include the ones on my iPad, is daunting. I lack all discipline when it comes to restraining myself from purchasing or borrowing new titles. I devour books, eager to find connections, …