The Burrow

There's an interesting theme going on over at Time Goes By this week.  Sparked by an op ed piece in the New York Times , the conversation is almost equally divided between those who think the old geezer should be allowed his aches and pains and those who are tired of hearing him and those like him whine. Rain wrote about it, too.  She's always been a source of comfort and a nudge in the right direction when I needed it so I scurried on over to see what she thought.  No, 60 is not the new 30; it's different and that's fine.  Be positive but accept the reality; what else can one do?  She says it eloquently and thoughtfully; click through and read her for yourself.  I agree with it all. I went back through some old posts on G'ma, and I found this .  I wrote it after I told her that I, her eldest and most durable child, had intersected with bullets.  Can you see why I am going to school on being an old old person from my mother? No guilt. N...

Mad Men is back, and CTVW, my window into the world of the single-20-something-in-NYC, doesn't get the hype .  According to her Facebook status, she watched the previous seasons on DVD and the opening episode of Season 5 on Sunday, and she's unmoved.  How can that be? Good television is hard to find.  Rich content, thoughtful videography, stylish set decorations and sharp dialogue is a rare combination these days.  To my mind, Mad Men has all of that, and more.  What is my young cousin missing? Sally Draper, 14 in 1964 just as I was, wears pajamas just like I did.... pedal pusher pants with a row of faux lace at each cuff and a matching top with a cap sleeve and lace.  Her reaction to the curve of her step-mother's naked back in her father's bed - a long look, no words, no facial expression - was exactly what I imagine I would have done in her situation.  We were not empowered then, we teenage girls. I'm not talking about the sense of entitlement...

It was hot and sticky in Chicago.  TBG and I wore shorts as we strolled down Michigan Avenue.  We looked like tourists and we didn't care.  There were others out and about who were similarly attired.  Khaki shorts and polo shirts were visible at every street corner.  Granted, my pink polka dot sneakers were just a bit outre but they certainly made me smile.  When I'm walking these days, every little bit of levity helps. Levity.... laughing but also a nod to levitating, which is what I'd like to do when I'm walking.  Pounding on the pavement isn't as much fun as it used to be.  But, I digress. Had I realized that the sartorial differences would have been so stark, I'd have taken photographs.  At the time, I didn't notice it at all.  Coming from Tucson, where comfort rules and bright colors are de rigueur, I wasn't startled by the prints and stripes and bright tight jeans on the pedestrians we passed on Chicago's streets....

Spring in Chicago looks like this: Spring in Tucson is more prickly. I have to say, I miss the tulips. They are not very successful in our Zone... whatever the USDA is calling it these days. We don't have enough cool hours for the bulbs to fully mature. The Midwest is just perfect for Holland's most famous export. The merchants along Michigan Avenue pay to install seasonally fantastic displays along the sidewalk.  From a distance or up close and personal, they soften the cityscape. I expect flowers when I stroll through a park. I love the tingle of surprise I feel every time I stroll down Chicago's upscale shopping district. Someone took the time to remind me that there is earth beneath the concrete. I feel the need to say "Thank You." Little Cuter and SIR live in Boys' Town, a decidedly funkier neighborhood. Filled with great restaurants and nail salons, several gyms and a hat store dating from the 1800's, t...

We stayed on Wall Street for the weekend. TBG spent hours pointing out where this used to be and where that once was, while I became fascinated with the details. This was the view outside our window.  Our hotel,  Andaz Wall Street , is the height of NY minimalist design. There was nothing extraneous.  There were no frou-frous. It was glorious.  The City, though, is filled with geegaws. There are random faces and swirling columns going no place, and if the bus hadn't stopped right in front of the doorway I'd have been able to show you the extensions of the window treatments you see in the center curved lower window.  It was outstanding. Sam's Felafel had the longest line of any of the food trucks on the park.  Sitting on a bench, surrounded by tourists and a serious police presence,  I wondered if the architect imagined shorts and sandals striding in front of his decor.  The buildings seemed to call for bustles and para...

We've been planning this weekend for 30 some years. Friends with the parents of the groom, it has always been our intention to dance at our children's weddings. This weekend we'll get the chance. Josh and Cara are getting married. Reggie's been planning and thinking and organizing and fretting and smiling from ear to ear for a year or so. Getting along with the in-laws has made this all much easier, if easy can be used when planning a rehearsal dinner in NYC when you live outside LA. Small decisions and big decisions all received the same careful attention. Josh is doing this one time and one time only... it's going to be perfect. While she was Suzi-sitting, Reggie and I gave lots of thought to the decorations for the rehearsal dinner. Catalogs and Google were perused and items considered and discarded as we interrupted ourselved with memories..... Big Cuter and Josh in diapers, jumping on a bed in Acapulco. They were so little; when did the...

How is it possible that Chicago is hotter than Tucson? TBG and I are dripping... exhausted.... overcome by the humidity and the crowds.  Little Cuter's building hasn't turned on the air conditioning yet and we are perched on the edge of the couch, faces straight on into the fans.  We've forgotten how debilitating the combination of high temperatures and water in the air can be. We took the bus downtown this morning and did some serious shopping.  We had a plan to hang out with Not-Kathy, but it flew out of my brain as we left the vertical indoor mall and were confronted by a wall of heat.  The 147 Express bus was 7 minutes away (according to the very helpful digital display on the outside of the shelter) and I nearly melted. Thomas the Wonder Dog is energy-less.  Lying on the couch, snuggled close to the humans, is his usual modus operandi.  Right now he is in the shade on the hardwood floor, in front of the stationary fan, tongue lolling and lungs he...

I hired Linda.  We shook hands to seal the deal.  TBG and I  ran into her at the movies two days later. She hugged me. H David and Zanner were our friends for years.  He greeted me at the door with an enveloping bear hug. I didn't like either one. G'ma and Daddooooo didn't raise touchy-feely children.  G'ma says that the first unsolicited hug she received from me was when I came home from college for Thanksgiving vacation my freshman year. She remembers me pulling away from snuggles and cuddles..... I don't remember them on offer, to tell the truth. Perhaps my reluctance to get up close and personal for a greeting stems from Daddoooo's habit of ending every hug with a potch en tuchas .... a gentle smack on the buttock.  I knew he loved me. I never understood the smack. My parents did teach me the value of a firm handshake.  Five fingers clasping five fingers firmly, a squeeze designed to announce my presence but not intended to damage, eye co...

That's me at my college graduation in 1973. My hair was loooong, wasn't it?  If I tipped my head back just a little bit I could sit on the end of my pony tail. Half-back like this or wildly flying around my face or pulled low in a leather thong, my hair defined me. Arriving at the University of Chicago for Orientation as I began my social work education, the room was filled with well-manicured, perfectly coiffed men and women.... until I looked to the back and saw a row of men with hair as long as mine.  Like a semaphore signal, their tresses were calling me.  Here were kindred spirits, sitting with the only other woman in overalls.  We're still friends to this day. Spending the morning at Prince Elementary School's Jump Rope for Heart last week gave me the opportunity to revel in what long hair is doing these days. There are, of course, long braids decorated with colorful ties.  I remember G'ma pulling and brushing and gathering all the lost stra...

Denizens of The Burrow pool results:  After the first two rounds Jenny Hileman is in the lead.... by A LOT! I can barely formulate a sentence that doesn't reference basketball. Grocery shopping and dinner preparation and blog posting have all taken second place to March Madness.  My heart has soared and sunk and I'm ready for a break from whistles and free throws and large young men adjusting their too-log shorts on national television.   It's the first Monday after the first weekend of competition and it's time to take stock of the situation. Some of us are happier than others.   Did anyone else notice that the printed brackets from ESPN's Tournament Challenge have a very tiny font size?  Would it have been so difficult to use 12 instead of 8 and turn the whole thing to a landscape orientation?  Even McDonald's recognizes that an older demographic is tuned in; have you seen this commercial? I'm just sayin' ...... The weekend start...

Whenever someone asks me to explain the thinking behind a Jewish ritual - think Kosher or No Work on Sabbath - my brain heads right to Passover.  I'm not the only one.  About.com, as secular as it gets, tells us this when searching for cleansing the house for Passover: Before Passover, the house needs to be cleaned so that all chametz (leavened products) are removed. Don't forget the bag of baby crackers in your diaper bag. What about the Purim treats your 3rd grader has stashed away in her desk? Gotta lift the sofa to get all that popcorn vacuumed up. While you are at it, you might as well throw some Spring cleaning in there - get out the summer clothes and put away the winter blankets and coats. Do you think there was Spring Cleaning in the shtetl? Here in the desert, with a winter that lasts about 6 weeks if we are lucky, the need for quick access to lighter clothes comes suddenly.  Last week Amster froze at Mr. 6's soccer practise; today it will be in...

March Madness entries must be made by 12noon ET today! http://games.espn.go.com/tournament-challenge-bracket/en/group?groupID=48262 password:  theburrow ***** Andrew Weill told me to make a list of things that make me happy over the course of a week, and then to read that list every night, before I go to sleep.  He says it will make me happier, and that that happiness will last for six months.  I just might give it a try. I'm not the kind of person I seem to have become the kind of person who takes advice from a speaker at a book festival .  I am opening myself up to all kinds of interventions these days.  Making a list and checking it twice doesn't seem all that ridiculous right now. Having determined that stress and anxiety and fear cause inflammation, I began to take glucosamine and turmeric, two natural anti-inflammatories.  I allowed myself a moment of self-congratulation when Dr. Weill included them, along with melatonin, as the o...

A quick reminder to check in at The Burrow's NCAA March Madness Bracketology site.  Enter your picks and join the fun.  The link is here ; the group's name is Denizens of The Burrow , the password is theburrow. Picks must be made before the start of the first game on Thursday at Noon, Eastern time. ***** As the economy recovers  (albeit too slowly for most) and the jobs numbers get better and companies seem ready to spend the dollars on their balance sheets, the Republicans seem to have decided that social issues are the way to win the election in November.  Waging war on women's reproductive rights seems to be a sure-fire way to alienate many independent voters and female voters and enlightened male voters and sends a crippling message to young women who may be fiscally conservative but still interested in retaining control over their bodily functions. ***** Turnabout is fair play, it seems.  There have been similar items around the country, but...

This is where Miss Vicki and I turned around today. It's a very pretty sign, isn't it? The Happy Ladies' Club Serious Hiking Group (of which I was once a member) did the entire outer loop last week.... all 14.5 miles of it, Today I managed about 10% of that, and, for the first time, I understood the wisdom behind   "don't compare yourself to before " My right now was pretty wonderful. That's the path adjacent to the parking lot. Pima County Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation gently developed this multi-use park 15 minutes from my driveway. It's not Mount Tam , but it's mine. I could pause and take a picture when a crested saguaro appeared.   There's not much change of elevation, which was a good thing. When I got tired, I could stop and wonder what happened to this guy. And what's this guy's story?  He certainly has one, don't you agree? Is he carrying a loaf of bread home from the market? Is sh...