stories

Made coffee this morning and got another lesson in gravity: The rich cream slid down into cup's depths, while all the sweetness sank to the bottom, leaving a thin, bitter layer of dark on the surface. What does it mean when your morning cuppa joe becomes a metaphor? Probably that gravity is ruling my life lately, and it needs to [...]

Halloa from the sea. Life is good, waves crash home to the beat of the setting sun, lots to tell. This weekend the Resident Carpenter and I loaded the car with enough to last a family of four in Antarctica (we overpack), and headed west to the coast. We'd planned to shoot sunrise ocean video with the new drone, but [...]

Elmo, The Leg, and I are now officially on Recovery Road, located between Bugout Boulevard and Anxious Avenue, a block or two away from Stircrazy Street. I'm still waiting to feel relieved, celebratory, about the fact that bone is finally growing in The Leg and amputation becomes less and less likely with every good report. Yet what I'm mostly feeling [...]

Something I've not seen before: What a busted femur looks like when the bone starts growing back. Uhm...wow. Everything tumbles into my head like a firehose; the problem isn't finding something to write about. It's figuring out which stuff to write about first. So...let's start with V-day: The Leg is finally Finally FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY!!!! healing. All the pain, [...]

Remember how I said my life had a soundtrack? I re-entered The Court this morning to the Christmassy strains of "Joyeux Noel." It matched my mood: I'm going home. Sally-the-driver picked me up this morning (The Court has a bus with a wheelchair lift and driving you to appointments is included in the price) and dropped me off at Kaiser [...]

"Excuse me," I said politely to the tiny, scowling lady walking past, "Would you mind grabbing a package of dental floss for me?" Stores don't really consider wheelchairs when they set up their displays. The floss was all the way on the top shelf, far above my reach when seated in the wheelchair. I would have stood, but the Kaiserbeast [...]

Pelican Lady scowls and mumbles, and what she's saying under her breath would make a muleskinner blush. Unhappiness bends her body, breaks it in dispirited places, leaves her mouthbreathing as she walks, frowning and rolling her eyes. I don't know why she's so angry, don't know her backstory, but it would have to be a doozy to make her THIS [...]

I waft into the ship's dining salon on the arm of a tuxedoed escort, pausing at the top of the stairs to demurely show off my gown. He leads me to my table and gratefully accepts the slight smile I give him as thanks. As I sink gracefully into my chair, attendants rush to light the cigarette at the end [...]