I’m currently healing from surgery on my foot. Not major surgery, but surgery nonetheless, and  I’m surprised at how much it’s affecting me. I guess I had it in my head that I’d be bouncing around a week after the surgeon removed several bone spurs, a cyst, and arthritis from the joint on the top of my foot. Um. I was wrong. I’m not bouncing. Hell, I’m not even walking all that well. It’s painful to put much weight on the foot, which is ugly with stitches and wrapped up in an Ace bandage. I’m disappointed that going up and down the stairs is work and that I have to…

Okay, I confess to clutching just a tiny bit Friday when I woke up, thinking that it was that day—the day the Mayans supposedly predicted the end of the world. However, this week, I’m at Son’s house, so I figured that if the world was going to end, at least we’d all be together for it. But, it was an ordinary day…well, extraordinary because we’re here with Son, DIL, and Grandboy,  but no apocalyptic storms or earthquakes or fire falling from the sky. Just a rainy day made sunny by Grandboy’s sweet smile and giggles. I’m a usually not a person who worries about the fate of the world overmuch.…

For many years, Father’s day was an…uncomfortable holiday for me. My dad left our family when I was 6 years old, and was never really in my childhood, except for the occasional times of us going to where he worked to pick up the few dollars he was willing to give us. He rarely paid support and my mom worked her tail off going to school full time to get her nursing degree in addition to being a cashier at a grocery store to keep food on the table. I honestly don’t know how she did it. The woman didn’t sleep for over two years. Mother’s Day was huge, but Father’s…

I’m very unmotivated today. After a busy weekend and Monday spent finishing a rush job for my favorite client, I’m not in the least motivated to do much that is productive. So far this morning (it’s almost 9 am), I’ve checked my email, read a couple of blogs—including a great one from my friend, Roben about how words create pictures —and played around on Amazon, com. I ordered a new book for my Kindle and lent one of my Kindle books to a friend who’s going on a Rhine River cruise in a few days.  Have fun, Patt! I’m so jealous!! It’s not like I don’t have plenty to do.…

So the scene is this: mid-morning at the breakfast table. I’m facing the windows that look out on the snow-covered back yard where a crimson cardinal is perched on the arbor in the herb garden. The sun is finally shining after days of dreary gray skies and rain, but since the temperature is only 32 degrees I’m resisting the urge to go outside and bask in its warmth. Besides, that means I’d actually have to rise from my chair and I’m disinclined. I’ve been a weird state of mind since Christmas, and I’m not sure why. I think it’s partly because of worrying about my health, although since the cardiologist’s…