Category: In Which We Set Ourselves Up for Mockery

So, I’m going to my brother’s house in New Mexico to … I almost typed “to spend hospice with him,” like it was a family holiday. Earlier today I used the term “to steer his hospice,” which sounds threatening. His cancer was very fast, and unexpected. A week ago the doctors saw infection on a…

I once said that doctors should be well paid because they had to routinely tell people they were going to die. Dave’s new doctor had to deliver bad news about inoperable cancer on his first visit with Dave. Dave then talked to me on the phone and said he had a new doctor (he has…

Mom’s family had abortions … I think five or six … from a lady on the corner. I have a friend who lives on that corner of Jamieson and it amuses me to think she might live in the very house where I lost a number of potential relatives. No one talked about the abortions…

So far I have known three people who caught the virus. One didn’t even have symptoms, one had every symptom but recovered, one is still suffering. And now, I know someone who died. Not a close friend, but a popular, healthy, middle-aged co-worker in another department, and people are reeling. I was scheduled to have…

I’ve been reading about the Trump protestors in London. My immediate reaction was of course, I love them. I love the signs and the Trump balloons, and I love the lady who shivved the Trump-baby balloon because I got to see the image of the shrivelled Trump-baby balloon. On the other hand, would I protest…

I am keeping my Memorial Day traditon of saying how pleased I am that I never had a relative die in a war. The relatives who served during wars all had great good luck in battle, or else the good fortune to have a stateside desk job during the last two weeks of the Korean…

This marks the eleventh Mother’s Day without Mom. In general, it feels less painful, on any day but Mother’s Day. I’m still elated to find notes in her handwriting (most recently on the backs of those old photos of Cindy and I and the sugar cube house). Immediately after she died I remember thinking, “Well,…

So I’ve gone from making copies and following walkthroughs to painting from “life” (if you call a stuffed monkey “life”). Chickens – This was a copy of a painting. The original was square, and my canvas was a rectangle, so I had to add a bonus baby chicken. I didn’t have a baby chicken in…

Long time commenter Hattie (real name :Marianne) has passed away of cancer. She was endlessly fascinating, tremendously well-read, and blogging almost to the end. Like my Mom, her hospice was brief. I will miss her nudges on my blog to remind me to make updates. If you haven’t, visit her blog at

So I did go see a counselor, and it was not what I expected. I think I expected someone to call me on my bullshit, and my bullshit was not called on, Instead, she was very supportive of my concerns. She listened, and was calm, and yet horrified at the appropriate times. She had three…