My Articles 

“I delete Instagram unless I am traveling,” my friend “Lucy” told me. She went on to say that she wanted to be more present in the moment. I am amused by this because this friend is the type to ask questions that could only be asked by someone that is very attentive to their companions. She misses nothing. Her questions make you think she was inspecting your soul and found something questionable behind your kidneys while she was at it. You have no choice but to come clean. Sh

This week the good Catholics of the world celebrated Ash Wednesday as the start of Lent. The rest of the world celebrated Mardi Gras because like most cultural appropriation, it’s best to take the fun parts. My understanding is that this celebration is the time when Catholics get together and party so hard that it takes the Easter Bunny six weeks to sober up and find its way home. Don’t hold me to that.  I am not Catholic so I might have that wrong but really, how else do you

Since I was 17, I found myself moving every three to four years. Because of this, I had never settled into some place with the idea that it was permanent. I didn’t plant anything in the ground or paint a wall or upgrade an appliance. I was okay with this because it felt beyond my capability anyway. I didn’t have the tools or the knowledge to do anything more complex than changing a lightbulb. Not only did I not settle into the house, I never got to know my neighbors. It was u

It is no secret that I am not much of a cook. There are a few recipes I have practiced enough to reliably pull out for company, but cooking brings me no pleasure. Given the opportunity I would simply blend my calories into sludge and drink it over an hour while doing things I prefer like reading or knitting. So it was something of an event when I went to buy a new kitchen appliance. The occasion was prompted by the fact Tucson had three days of rain which constitutes its enti

When My Man and I go to Italy, I don’t bother looking for places to see or things to do. Yes, I am lazy, but I also trust that he will make good choices for us. He will also know someone that gets us to the front of the line or a free pass so there is no point wasting my energy. There is a tradeoff to this choice. No, we haven’t seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa or Michelangelo’s David but I swam in a forbidden cave in Puglia, climbed a sketchy cliff in the Dolomites, attended I

What do you do when you have exactly one day in New York City? This was the question I faced after running the NYC marathon. I had burned two days preparing to shuffle through the five boroughs and now I had about five minutes to enjoy the rest of the trip. I considered all the possibilities: the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Vessel, a Broadway show, museums, a skate at Rockefeller. There were so many things to do. But I didn’t need to worry. My Man had a

I signed up to do the NYC marathon.  In my research coming to this marathon, one writer referred to is as the world’s most inconvenient marathon. There is no more appropriate description. I must pick up my packet in one part of town.  Once I have my official bag I must go three miles away which is an hour in New York time to Central Park. After dropping off things I might want tomorrow after  the race, I must fight my way back to my hotel. Then there is getting to the buses b

I used to be a hiker. I was proud of this fact. A good day was 15 miles on the trail with thousands of feet of climbing. I was tough. Now even though I require no joint replacements, I mostly watch hiking. No, hiking is not usually considered a spectator sport but I like to think that I am breaking new ground being the only person in the world that watches hiking. Like most bad ideas, this was not an intentional choice. My Man bought a house that sits near a popular hiking tr

Now that summer is over, I am slowly transitioning my life to fall and winter gear. Sure, it is late for most people but I live in Arizona. Winter does not require a full costume change like it does up north. The shorts do not disappear for months and store clerks will still look at you blankly if you request hats or gloves. It is a bit more subtle in the Southwest. Here we just adjust which sunscreen we might use as the blistering hot sun will only be out for 10 hours instea