Recent Entries

• Thrift stores and antique shops: tapping into the memory vault once again

  May 14, 2022

  I’ve always been fascinated and intrigued by flea markets and thrift shops. And, I like antique shops. but mainly if they have old books and retro collectible stuff from the Fifties and Sixties. It’s amazing what manner of junk masquerades as “antiques” in some of these places. At times, I find m...

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• A mother’s love: A former caregiver remembers

  May 8, 2022

  It’s been almost 2 1/2 years now since Mom passed away after a long struggle with dementia. Not a day goes by they I don’t think about her, especially on Mother’s Day. Although she could remember almost nothing except long-ago memories of her childhood, and didn’t know what day it was, dementia d...

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• A former teacher looks back to a time of great accomplishments and possibilities

  May 6, 2022

  When I was a newbie teacher of middle-school-age students 42 years ago in the Fall of 1980, I had spent the previous summer preparing to teach English literature, composition and grammar. It was a private school and I only had a total of 44 students in two classes/grades. I was also taking educat...

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• Roses — Queen of Flowers

  May 4, 2022

  One of the really nice things about living where I do is that we have flowers blooming all during the year, even in December and January when it rarely gets below 32 degrees. We have our winter, cold-loving flowers — the magnificent camellias — which delight us for months, as long as we don’t hav...

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• Solitude and loneliness can co-exist

  May 1, 2022

  I had a bit of a jolt when I read something a fellow diarist posted a few days ago. Is this really what it means to live alone when you strip away all the pretense and rationalization? We’re social creatures (some would say animals) and we need others like we need food, water and air,…

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• Believe it or not

  April 29, 2022

  I have taken many thousands of photographs over the years, but there have been on two instances where a mysterious and mind-blowing figure and a symbol or sign appeared in one of my photos.  I have no “real”-world explanation.  I just accept it in wonder and gratitude. This photo is one of them. ...

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• A perfect Spring day at the gardens

  April 26, 2022

  I’ve been stepping away from the madness of crowds, traffic and noise by visiting Magnolia Gardens for more that 40 years now. It’s enchanting, flower-filled pathways are known to me by heart. I can honestly say I know every nook and cranny of this 400-acre wonderland, considered by many one of t...

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• The final stretch of selling our house is filled with excitement and anticipation, sadness and relief, but also grubby money issues

  April 24, 2022

  The past few weeks have been quite interesting and eye-opening, as well as tumultuous.  We had two serious offers on the house fall through because we are selling it as is, but one of them wanted us to reduce the price considerably, to avoid having to pay for the repairs directly. They cloaked th...

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• Smiles and tears flow from one source

  April 22, 2022

  Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone; For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth, But has trouble enough of its own. Sing, and the hills will answer; Sigh, it is lost on the air; The echoes bound to a joyful sound, But shrink from voicing care… Look up…

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