Posts by Kate
catching up on a meme
Last night I was faced with the task of hemming Stella’s princess dress. (I know. It’s utterly shocking that she has chosen to be a princess for Halloween.) But I couldn’t muster the strength to go down in the basement and get the sewing machine and try to remember how to use it, so I…
Read Morepersimmon tree
I want to encourage you all to visit Persimmon Tree, a new online literary magazine by older women (their descriptor, not mine). They launched last spring with their first issue featuring fiction by Jane Lazarre and poetry by Ruth Stone. The summer issue featured ten poems by Grace Paley, and the current issue contains Eva’s…
Read Morea little relief
For the past couple of weeks I’ve been feeling so, so crabby. I’m living with a number of activity restrictions that, in combination, make me feel crazy. I mean, you take no exercise and no sex and shake that up with no red wine, and how would you feel? It doesn’t help that I’ve been…
Read Moreon empathy
I’m wondering what would happen if we could—and would—regularly imagine the lives of people, real people in our country and in our world, who live lives beyond our own experience. What would happen to our public policy, and foreign policy, if we didn’t seemingly lack the ability to imagine lives? It’s impossible, it seems, to…
Read Morea bookish meme
The lovely Moonlight Ambulette memed me. The original post is here. 1. Hardcover or paperback, and why? Paperback, because holding a hardcover hurts my wrists. And I like to carry books in my purse and a hardcover would definitely put me over my current fifteen pound limit. 2. If I were to own a book…
Read Moreforever acknowledging
A few days ago, I took Stella in for her 4-year-old check up. She was all shy smiles, and passed the little developmental tests—drawing circles and triangles, hopping on one foot, balancing with her arms out, identifying the colors on the nurse’s smock—with flying colors. She proudly held out her arm for her blood pressure…
Read Morekudos and a contest
I’ve just started my fall Loft class, and it’s so nice to be back “in it” again. I love the elated feeling, the “this is exactly what I want to do, what I love doing” feeling I have after a good class. But before I get too caught up in this term, I want to…
Read Moremourning Deilis
I just found out that one of my god-daughters has died. She got very sick and was gone in three days, from meningitis, I think, though this may have gotten lost in translation. I have only seen Deilis and her twin, Dailis, a few times since they were born, almost ten years ago. I flew…
Read Morepoetry and concentration
I haven’t been able to focus on much of anything during the last week. I had a good report from my doctor: baby is okay, take it easy, no exercise, nap every day. The good part, of course, is that the baby is fine. The difficult parts, for me, are taking it easy and not…
Read Morea gorgeous placenta
I never thought I would be so excited and relieved to hear that I have a gorgeous placenta. TFG. Baby is alive with a healthy heartbeat, and the clot has diminished to a few very small clots. Apparently, “I bled in the right direction.” (Who knew this was even possible?) The big fear was that…
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