Retirement

My place of employment offered a retirement incentive package because somehow they thought it would save them some money, although in the end they realized they are going to have to replace all the retiring employees because ... we were not over-staffed, and honestly, they'd have a lot of younger people quit if all that …

Easter Blogging

It's rained a lot in the last month, and we are due for more rain this week. Today was sunny in the morning, and is now clouding over - although as I write this the sun is peeping in and then hiding behind clouds: so not consistent. Which is ... weather. After a relatively easy …

Murders, real and imagined

I, fortunately, have never been close to a murder. I am not an investigator, no one in my immediate family has been murdered, none of my friends have been murdered. However, I have been reading murder mysteries since I was eight, when my mother decided I should move from Nancy Drew to Agatha Christie (it …

Primary season

It's primary season in the US, where the two major parties hold elections to decide their nominees for office. It's so desperately boring this year. The Democrats have cleared the field for the incumbent, an 80 year old man who is fading. And who many people - Democrats I'm talking about - never really liked. Why, …

Review: Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood

Spoiler Alert: I am going to talk about the end of this movie in this review, because it is key to my feelings about this movie. It came out in 2019, it's now 2024, so no apologies. Also, if you haven't seen it and don't want spoilers ... don't read this. Any of it. First, …

This is the end … of 2023

This is a list of favorites and things from this year. Because if I don't list them, will I remember they happened? And will I remember they happened in 2023? Memory and time gets weird these days (was that five years ago? More like 10? Really?? Who knew?). Favorite Fiction I read this year: Thistlefoot, Station …

November is a mad month

"Remember, remember, the fifth of November ..." So November starts out with a nod to the Gunpowder Plot, beloved of radicals everywhere, that was devised by some Catholic fanatics who wanted to overthrow the Protestant government in England (because inter-Christian religious wars were still a thing then). Famously celebrated in "V for Vendetta" as a …

Books, Book Clubs, and the joys of friendship

I'm in a phase of life where all I want to do is read books. This is not new for me: I have always been a reader. But now, now in particular, I just want to immerse myself in books. Because what is going on in the outside world? At least two wars going in …

Postmortem: September

September was not a good month for me. The month was filled with work stress, of spending too much time physically there, of horrible commutes that increased the stress of the work, of struggling to sleep well, of not enough downtime. Why does every road in Chicago have to be under construction right now? There …

Cooking

I like cooking. I like trying new recipes, I like tracking those we love, I like making delicious food for myself, my partner, my family, my friends - I like to make small dishes for one or two, and I like to make food that would feed an army. It's all good. What I dislike: …