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Hello!
We bought our tomatoes from Katy’s farm this year. She made little labels for each plant, written in the same distinctive handwriting she’s had for as long as I can remember, more familiar to me even than my own. I like going out to water my plants every evening and seeing this little piece of … Continue reading
Memories from my childhood, #2
I was at a dinner party with my parents once when I was 14. The couple hosting us had just had a baby, and my dad was talking about the trusting nature of babies. “They don’t so much as flinch when you do something like this,” he said, turning to me and quickly moving his … Continue reading
Don’t hast.
Gene: You’re saying she likes old country and new country? That’s not possible. I don’t buy it. Kris: Don’t be ridiculous. People can like disparate kinds of music. Look at me: I like Elliot Smith and I like Kraft. Gene: The cheese? Kris: Oh. Not Kraft, Kraftwerk. I like Kraftwerk. Gene: Really. Kris: Well I … Continue reading
If you do things…
At our wedding, Sean made a great toast which centered around a mantra Gene used to repeat when the two of them lived together: “If you do things, they get done.” I guess Gene’s mellowed with age, because in our family now the mantra seems to be “If you need something done and you wait … Continue reading
Super
Just thinking about peanut sauce this morning made my scrambled eggs taste like peanut sauce to me. As I see it, there are two explanations: 1. I have a new superpower: I can summon the ghost of past tastes to my mouth anytime I want. 2. My indifferent attitude towards housekeeping caused me to use … Continue reading
Multiples
I’m reading The Story of English in 100 Words. I haven’t finished it yet, so I don’t feel qualified to remark on the success or failure of such an ambitious project, but it includes a fun little list of collective nouns which I will partly reproduce here for your pleasure: an absence of waiters a … Continue reading
Fore!
I’ve now failed to attend two large book sales and my page-turning finger is kind of starting to itch. I was thinking I might check out the Berkeley Library sale next month; they’re selling 4,500 books, which sounds like SO MANY…until I realize that’s only four times the size of my current collection. Maybe I … Continue reading
I can live with that.
Kris: “What do you think of this new header image on Carthage?” Gene: “What do you mean?” Kris: “I mean it’s a huge photo of my face. Is it bizarrely egotistical?” Gene: “It’s appropriately egotistical.” Kris: “Cool.”
Dad comes to lunch
Dad: “Something’s amiss with your fence, here.” Kris: “You think?” Dad: “Well, I am a skilled woodworker.” I guess I should add that it doesn’t actually look like this now. It’s still all broken and propped up haphazardly but it’s not actually flat on its face.
Sunblock
Kris: “Check it out, there’s going to be a solar eclipse on May 20 that will be visible from, among other places, Redding.” Gene: “Cool.” Kris: “Can you even imagine the number of alien hunters and ghost whisperers who will be out on Lake Shasta to see that? [Looks at calendar.] Oh, too bad, looks … Continue reading