You know what I don’t like?  People who say, “Can’t complain,” and people who wear those buttons that say “No Whining.”  Of course you can complain.  And whining helps. The British say “whinging.”  Isn’t that a great word?  It’s got the nasal irritation of the word whine, the messy soft g; and in addition, you  Read the Rest…

There’s nothing like busting open the head of the Blessed Virgin Mary to remind you to slow down.  Here’s what happened:  I was having one of those mornings when I was not in the moment.  There were way too many moments trying to be represented in every in-breath.  I had a chiropractic appointment and a  Read the Rest…

One of my students (Jackson) recently inspired me to learn Brahms’ Intermezzo Opus 118 No. 2 in A.  It’s one of the most difficult pieces I have worked on in some time.  In recent years, I have done more sight reading than I have dug into juicy classical pieces. Another of my students (Jenni) singlehandedly  Read the Rest…

I was on my way to Traffic Court this morning when I thought, “I feel a blog coming on.”  When I got the speeding ticket, I didn’t get to talk enough about it because everyone had a story about their own ticket.  My friend Joan, the one with the theological chops, was 8 months pregnant;  Read the Rest…

People always comment on how huge my cats are.  They are rescue cats, mutts, hefty survivors.  Since I work at home, they know how to work me for food and I am the first to admit that I am intimidated by them.  While my cats may be the size of farm animals, there’s a hint  Read the Rest…

I’m on my second hour of Free Cell solitaire.  Ok, my third, maybe.  I really don’t keep track.  But here’s the thing: there are Life Lessons in Free Cell solitaire.  I’m not saying I play it to find them;  but I do think about brain wiring when I play, especially since I figured out that  Read the Rest…

When did everyone start talking about Core Muscles?  Was it around the same time everything we put on our bodies became Product?  I only ask because my back problems became intolerable in the late1980’s, but it was twenty years before someone told me that I needed to suck up my gut—only the terminology was “engage  Read the Rest…

One of my cats is called Freud because I like to give weighty names to my cats and because I am completely enamored of psychoanalysis.  I have travelled all over the world, but the five years I spent in analysis was the most fascinating journey of all. I put Freud, along with Darwin, Nietzsche and  Read the Rest…

I was in the middle of a project when I ran out of those little tab thingys for hanging files so I buzzed over to Office Depot for supplies.  The place looked like a storm had blown through it.  Of course. Tomorrow is the first day of school for kids in the Seattle School district.   Read the Rest…

I am an Anglophile.  It started early in my life and was enhanced by finding an address for my Cornish relations in my great Aunt Ann’s address book after she died in the 1970’s.  I wrote to my distant cousin Hazel, then 68 years old, and we began to correspond.  Since then I have made  Read the Rest…