The Burrow

You'd never think that Arizona men's basketball would be un-ranked , Steve Lavin told me, and it got me wondering. You'd never think that so many prominent men would be called to account for acting like pigs, which is probably an affront to pigs, but that's what we called them back in the day which got me wondering about the fact that You'd never think that the President of the United States would be one of those pigs. Ana Navarro's tweet says it best:   Matt Lauer lost his job. Charlie Rose lost his job. Mark Halperin lost his job. Glenn Thrush lost his job. Billy Bush lost his job. Harvey Weinstein lost his job. Kevin Spacey lost his job. But in politics... Conyers still in Congress. Moore still running. Trump still President.     You'd never think  ... but we're living it.  I don't like to think of it, but I must. You'd never think that the "fiscally responsible party" would rush through tax reform in a matter of weeks, wo...

No one needs anything.  No one wants anything.  Socks and underwear and comfy sweat pants are on every list.  Beyond that, there are no special requests. I know who likes what -  color and thickness and support and show-vs-no-show-vs-I-don't-want-them-to-fall-down.  I shopped a little on-line, not considering Black Friday and Cyber Monday, shipping most of it to myself at FlapJilly's house. Though the thought of the pool and sunshine was tempting, the kids felt like Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without snow.  I agree that it's hard to fully embrace the season when I'm wearing shorts and a tank top, but, somehow, I think I would survive.  But that's where they will be so that's where we will be.  Being absent for the main event makes decorating for Christmas somewhat of a non-event.  I was finished after two boxes and one hour.  A friend complimented my restraint.  I have two niches reserved for Chanukah; that decor is in ...

Used loosely, " bardo " is the state of existence intermediate between two lives on earth. According to Tibetan tradition, after death and before one's next birth, when one's consciousness is not connected with a physical body, one experiences a variety of phenomena. wikipedia I heard George Saunders on NPR's Weekend Edition  and I was flummoxed; he didn't sound like The Saint.  The more I listened the more evident it became that this was not the actor back from the dead, but a master of the short story talking about the dead.  It was a driveway moment ; I sat in the car until the interview wrapped up.  The conceit of the story is immediately believable.  The telling is cryptic, requiring some work until the pieces fall into place.  It's part play, part eulogy, and pure poetry.  I kept interrupting TBG to tell him how wonderful this passage... this thought.... this absolutely how did he know that I thought about it just that way description...

There was love.  There was laughter and tickling and racing and running.  There was so much hugging. There was love first thing in the morning, when FlapJilly hid in her mommy's neck, not wanting anything more than those arms around her small self, sheltering her from the world.  There was love later on, when the zoo was tiring and her daddy's shoulders were the only place she wanted to be. There was love in the pool in the late afternoon sun, when her tiny arms and legs paddled furiously, alternately shouting Marco  and Polo , pretending to close her eyes and squealing with delight when she was caught.  I want to like something as much as FlapJilly liked the pool was Big Cuter's accurate assessment of the situation. There was hide and seek.  Three year olds do not have highly developed skills in this arena; squeezing into a corner of the kitchen, lying silently under the ottoman in the living room, curling up beneath the dining room chairs, each ch...

I've been re-reading Thanksgiving posts, and smiling a lot. Here is some of the joy.   I'll be back to reality on Monday; I'm taking the weekend off. ***** Memories Then: ..... of full bellies lying on the couch, begging for relief, as Hough's creamed spinach wound its way through an overloaded digestive tract..... ..... of my first niece, a veg even as a toddler, eating cucumbers for dinner and feeling just fine..... ..... of walks around the neighborhood, wrapped in scarves and hats culled from the front hall closet, surrounded by all ages and temperaments, mellowed by tryptophan On dinner in Cleveland Heights at Nannie's house: We'd sit in the dining room, using it, for once, as more than an inconvenient space between the kitchen and the tv room, sideboards groaning, waiting for Nannie's yearly screech.  Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving without my mother-in-law jumping up from the table, just as the first fork was lifted and yelping,  ...

The alarm woke me up, but I didn't mind.  I put on my favorite workout tights, ate my favorite flavor of yogurt for breakfast, accomplished great things at Pilates, and was home in time to receive our rewoven-at-a-remarkable-price poolside lounge chairs at 9:15. I went out again.  Costco, early, open before their posted hours, offered up a great parking spot.  I went purposefully through the store, list in hand, and checked out in record time.  Two of my favorite men carried and stacked and put away while I organized my very clean refrigerator.  Each item I placed carried a story. Lox for FlapJilly and cured meats for SIR and Big Cuter.  The cranberries and navel oranges smiled back at me from the fruit bin; they knew that Cuisinart had finally sent the replacement-for-the-recalled blade so that I could make Auntie M's cranberry relish.  There are yams reminding me of Ivette and her casserole, and I found myself missing Hough's creamed spinach in a...

My stickers and I spent some time on the playground, enjoying the sunshine, tying shoelaces, telling stories, and watching all sorts of monkey business involving climbing and the tether-ball contraption. Contraption is a good word. We wrote you a thank you letter,  one of the kids lining up to show me something or tell me something or hug me or plead for a sticker for the reluctant friend whose hand she was holding told me. So did I  came from the back of the crowd. I was bemused.  My school mail slot had held no treasures, yet they were certain I had been thanked. They were right.  These were in an envelope hand delivered to me by the School Social Worker. She found me reading The Lorax, as I do with every kindergarten classroom. After all, if you don't care, who will? is an important lesson, whether you are 5 or 65. In their notes, first graders thanked me for reading that book when they were in kinder, a lifetime ago, before acquiring the ab...

It's not just the weather-woman who's predicting it.  I can feel the warmth and the love heading my way, and no one has even arrived. http://www.jpetersenphotography.com/ FlapJilly took her parents to Chicago on Saturday. Little Cuter sent photos and messages and videos. The subtext was there, right behind the joy of spending An Epic Day With Those I Love. So windy I can't breathe. It better be warm in Tucson bc it's freaking COLD here. Don't worry, honey.  Mom's got it under control The cold snap is over.  We're moving from the high 70's back to the upper 80's by Tuesday..... coming closer and closer to 90 as you come closer and closer to being here.  I spent the day gardening, planting, creating bursts of color to delight your eyes.  We're heating the pool.  The toys and the floats and the Super Soakers are ready and waiting.  It is all as you would wish. The sun will still be shining when we get home to Tucson; a swim can ...

Allegiant annoyed me then pleasantly surprised me . Today, Allegiant entranced me.  I copied the second, complimentary post to their Director of Customer Relations.  Today, she told me this: We were happy to hear that your telephone call with Adam was so delightful. Although we are a large airline, we do our best to make every passenger feel as if they are our only one. It will give me great pleasure to recognize Adam for achieving this in your conversation.   It will give me great pleasure to recognize Adam......   She was smiling and I was smiling and I bet that Adam will be smiling, too.   Isn't it marvelous that our misadventure in the air has led to all this happiness on the ground?  I love that my blog post lets her give and take pleasure as she recognizes excellence.  I love that there is excellence to be celebrated. And now, before this devolves into total smarminess, I'll stop.  There's a lot to do before FlapJilly a...

Did you ever have them? G'ma found them for the High Holidays. She left them in a bowl on the table; one of the few times I remember her decorating. They make me very happy, in a very few bites. Thank you, Whole Foods. I've spent the afternoon with my mom on my shoulder. It's been lovely.

I won every hand at cards today.  There were only three of us and the games were fast and furious.  There was a lot of shuffling and counting and dealing and even more conversation.  We're all on the same page, politically, so you can imagine where we meandered as we perused our hands. Men behaving badly, politicians behaving badly, voters behaving badly - we had no patience for any of it.  We were laughing and crying and shaking our heads. Where's Ivanka in all of this? Someone asked it.  There was silence.  Then we all started talking at once.  Complicit. Absent.  Selfish.  Not one of us thought she was standing up for women.  Not one of us thought she was tweeting #MeToo.  Not one of us thought she ought to be where she is. And then I was sad, because this is a moment she could seize and make her own, a space in time unlike any other, where those previously silenced are now shouting from the rooftops.  I hate to se...

That was Big Cuter's query last night on the phone.  After a lengthy and painful discussion of men treating women badly, centered on his feelings of helplessness and desire to do more.... but what??, we moved on to politicians behaving badly, which led to Martha McSally, my non-representing Representative, and her decision to vacate her seat and run for the Senate. Why don't you run, Mom?   I was ready with my response, because I've been thinking about it over the last few months.  The answer has two parts. Part One - I don't want to mount a campaign.  I remember talking to Lynne Woolsey, our Congresswoman when we lived in Marin.  She kept calling and asking for money.  I kept saying No.  Finally, I broke down and told her that we wouldn't be sending her any money, that the big donation I'd given her months before was only done to secure the signed-by-Bill-Bradley-basketball that was on auction at the fundraiser my friend held for her.  An...

Well, you were right.  I've never been so glad to have send a scathing email.  Allegiant Air has restored my faith in the business world.... at least, their little part of it. After being poorly treated by flight attendants  and encouraged to report the incident by you, my faithful denizens ,  I put the matter behind me.  As usual, writing it down had taken the edge off the angst. I assumed my email would wind its way through a bureaucratic maze, resulting an nothing more than a we received your email and thanks for telling us  response. I was so wrong.  I sent the email off on Thursday evening, less than 24 hours later I was on the phone with Adam G, a member of Allegiant's Management Review Team in Las Vegas.  Apparently, I ignited quite a firestorm with my little post.  "A lot of people have seen this, " was one of the first things he told me. I must credit Chris Elliot , the Travel Troubleshooter columnist whose run-to-the-rescue...

I dismissed the kudos he awarded himself when the Executive Editor of the NYTimes said that the biggest story he published was outing Harvey Weinstein's sexual assaults.  I wasn't sure that it merited all that praise; it was, after all, not the Pentagon Papers.  It was not taking down a President, nor stopping a war. But now, less than a month later, Republicans are calling for their Senatorial candidate in Alabama to drop out of the race after allegations that he fondled and molested a 14 year old when he was 30.  Ridley Scott is reshooting his latest film, taking out Kevin Spacey and replacing him with Christopher Plummer, after a young man accused Spacey of sexual assault.  Those accusers were merely the first to speak out; others have followed in their footsteps. Kasie Hunt told us that she and other women in the news business never spoke up about sexual harassment because they assumed that no one would care.  An Arizona state representative is on the re...

I'm having a new experience.  It's making me smile and giggle and look at myself in a whole new way. Yesterday's post about flight attendants gone bad evoked the same response from three very different people .  None of them thought that I was over-reacting.  Each one of them thought that I should report the incident upstream.  I was gently chided for taking it as calmly as I had.  They all agreed that I was under-reacting. Never.  Ever.  Not Once. That's how often I've been told to amp it up. Often.  Frequently.  More than anyone wants to remember. That's how often my behavior has been met with eyes and gestures inviting me to take a breath, to take it down a notch or twelve. But yesterday my readers rallied around my plight, commiserating with me, placing the blame squarely on the rude worker bees in the sky, imploring me to send the email off to Allegiant Air. And so, I will.  I'll refer them to the blog post for the go...

This story has a happy ending.  Read the follow-up post published Nov. 13, 2017 We boarded early, thanks to our Allegiant credit card perk, and placed our suitcase in the bin right overhead. My very anxious flyer husband had a moment of panic he didn’t need when he reached up to retrieve his book and couldn’t find our bag.   The flight attendants had moved our suitcase to an overhead bin several rows back, according to the woman seated behind us.  They never told us.  He found the case and moved it back over our seats only to have it moved again, without warning, and replaced with someone else’s bags by the same two flight attendants.  We watched them the second time.   At neither time did they explain the move, or notify us that they were relocating the bag.  They just did it. There was no indication that the original location, the one right over our seat, was inappropriate - no sign, no verbal warning, nothing.  Normal...

We took the South Shore Line from South Bend to Chicago. The round trip cost $27.  Eastbound, our conductor called for our attention before imparting detailed instructions on the do’s and don’t’s of train travel. He asked if anyone had any questions, and paused to give us a chance to respond. We took an Uber from FlapJilly’s house to the South Bend Airport for $25 plus a generous tip because Antonio was super cool.  We spent a lovely 25 minutes talking football and relationships and admiring the entrepreneurial spirit. Less than $300 got us to and from FlapJilly and her parents, via Allegiant Airways and a trek up and down I-10 at either end.  And now, at the end of all that coming and going, I can barely keep my eyes open. All those miles, filled with all that love.  I’m going to have very sweet dreams tonight.

Seret took me to the Structural Objects Functional Art and Design Fair on Navy Pier . Visiting art with an artist .... I was in heaven. In no particular order, here are some of my favorites. Tableware was on display in all shapes and colors. I stared at these curves, marveling at the handles and the spout . This set was made out of paper. There were a series of faux grade school reports. This was my favorite. Portraiture had a big presence, with faces created in three dimensions. These little guys were part of a larger set which came from Korea. There were MFA students presenting a project representing light and space. It's pool noodles over bent metal. I'd have bought it were they selling it. These little glass teapots live encased in glass. There were several iterations the theme, but these were my favorites. He's carved from wood. I know.  He looks real.  I almost spoke to him....

We've known the groom since playgroup, in the early 1980’s.   The bride is a new and worthy addition to our crew.  Their nuptials this weekend are a lovely coda to our annual Halloween With FlapJilly Adventure; it was kind of them to schedule it so conveniently. TBG and I will take the train from South Bend to Millennium Park in Chicago, avoiding driving through the toll road and Stony Island and city traffic. We qualify for the Senior Fare; round trip travel will cost less than a tank of gas.  Public transit makes me smile.  The affair is in the Loews Downtown Chicago; we’ll travel by elevator from our room to the party. That’s a perfect commute. No need for a hat or gloves or a coat to defend my black tie outfit from the elements.  With a few alterations, TBG’s tuxedo Now looks quite study; we haven’t gotten this dressed up in a long time. One of the advantages of old age combined with bullet wounds is the right to wear flats. Black patent comfort wi...

Foreign tourists mowed down by a fanatic. Presidential tweets excoriating our judicial system. My Rubber Stamp Representative, who votes with Trump 96% of the time, is deemed too liberal by her fellow Conservatives. It was 38 degrees when I drove Little Cuter to work this morning and it rained on us with cold, hard drops when we walked to the car after dinner. I could be annoyed, depressed, aggravated, peeved. I could be righteously outraged. But there's this little person with the biggest personality who serves as a perfect distraction. The world is going to hell in a hand basket, but it’s pure background noise. Grandchildren..... better than Ativan.

Our Tucson neighborhood does not measure up to the minimal standards of Halloween-ing. There are no decorations. There are no trick or treaters. There is no candy waiting patiently on doorsteps for random requests. And so, TBG and I travel to the midwest for our fix. Little Cuter and SIR have the best house. I stayed behind to man the candy station, while the kids and the husband and the pooch took off to acquire sweets and share the joy. There was a slow and steady stream of littles and bigs. The need for a coat was overwhelmed by their need to show off the costumes. I was more than happy to share my fire pit. Some came in wagons, holding tight to Moms and Dads. Some were happy to be terrifying all by themselves. The strangers were wonderful, it's true, but those I knew were even better. Ruth Bader Ginsburg rolled the streets of Northern Virginia and Wonder Woman protected the home front with style and panache. All the lo...