Nursing duty.

I was a few minutes late for my part-time job the other day (lifeguarding for swimming lessons), and explained my tardiness thusly: “I’m dog-sitting for a medically fragile schnauzer.” And that’s why this is the first blog of the week. My life’s been disrupted a little bit. This is my dear friends’ dog, and I […]

Posted at 10:22 am in Current events, Same ol' same ol' | 70 Comments
 

Eating with Sterling Cooper.

I’m a re- person. I like to reread books, rewatch movies, TV shows, all of that. I don’t wallow in the past, but when the pickings are slim, sometimes I’ll decide to rewatch “Mad Men,” and out of guilt for the indulgence I look for something different to pay attention to, critically. This time? Food. […]

Posted at 8:48 am in Television | 44 Comments
 

Boomtown.

I was 16 when I first set foot in the state of Michigan, and bypassed the lower peninsula altogether. We headed across the bridge, to my friends’ cottage in the Les Cheneaux Islands, high up in Lake Huron, off the eastern Upper Peninsula coast. Of course we stopped a few times in the nine hours […]

Posted at 8:30 pm in Same ol' same ol' | 64 Comments
 

Road trip ahead.

Housekeeping note: Posting next week will be light, as I’ll be taking off on Wednesday to visit J.C. and Sammy in the U.P., where the cell coverage — with our carrier, anyway — is very very sketchy. As I recall, if you position your phone just so in a particular corner of the cottage, you […]

Posted at 8:51 pm in Current events, Housekeeping | 61 Comments
 

Send her home.

I know we’ve been over this time and again, but having seen Princess Nepotism’s many appearances at the G20 summit, I’m reduced to spluttering. The gall, etc. Imagine if Obama did this, etc. What if that were Chelsea Clinton, etc. I’ve been thinking it all weekend, and now I must say it out loud: The […]

Posted at 10:28 am in Current events | 66 Comments
 

An earlier Lent.

Well, at least I know now why I was feeling so listless on Sunday. I woke up a few hours later with a mild fever, and spent the next 24 hours feeling thisclose to barfing and swinging between that little fever and waking up in a sweaty tangle of sheets. I’m better today, but still […]

Posted at 8:02 pm in Current events, Same ol' same ol' | 83 Comments
 

Drizzles.

And justlikethat, the weekend is over. Kate is back from school, summer plans still unformed, despite her best efforts. She was literally home for 90 minutes before taking off for the U.P. with a friend, I guess because the highs are going to be in the 40s for the next few days and who doesn’t […]

Posted at 7:57 pm in Current events, Same ol' same ol' | 51 Comments
 

Water. Falling.

Today at Gullfoss, the Niagara Falls of Iceland. And frankly, more impressive, as it’s not used for hydroelectric power, there are no casinos rising on its shores and no Maid of the Mist taking honeymooners up close, although there are scores and scores of tourists. This is a beautiful country. On our drive today we […]

Posted at 3:53 pm in Uncategorized | 48 Comments
 

Early bird.

I generally work out around 6 a.m. at one place or another, and today, a late cancellation meant I was the only one in boxing class. Woo, personal training! Two rounds on the speed bag, three on the mitts, two on the heavy bag and the usual grueling 12 minutes of core work, and I […]

Posted at 7:44 am in Current events | 60 Comments
 

Miss Lisa.

Ruby, our new rabbit, has her first official nickname. Spriggy had approximately a thousand, ranging from Fart in a Hot Skillet to his Indian name, Joe Walks Along. So we like to call our animals by handles other than their given names. But even I was impressed when Alan threw this one out: Miss Lisa […]

Posted at 10:59 am in Detroit life, Popculch | 44 Comments