When Timmy got agitated, which was often, he’d go to the wooden frames throughout the house and scratch. That or the carpets. He’d left the leather sofas alone but they were still ruined from him jumping up and down on… Read More ›
Humor
Walter Mitty, Walter White
Can a person die from too much Kringle? I have tried. And why does it all come from Racine, Wisconsin? Why not Denmark? Do Danes in Wisconsin have the actual recipe? This pillowy danish with crack cocaine icing and nuts… Read More ›
Meditation on fake body parts
It was really hard to sit in the dark in the early morning and do nothing. Blame it on the coffee but my mind raced. There was an odd peace at that time of day standing in the yard with… Read More ›
Chewing the furniture
The dog would just stay upstairs and sulk when Dawn was away, only coming down to feed. It’s like she took it personally. All the aluminum foil balls we used to keep the cat distracted were clustered under the sofa…. Read More ›
Cleaning the scissor traps
Re: trapping the moles, I was going to have to let go of that. Turns out I wasn’t the best trapper. I knew from the start that would be dumb (like trying to fight the moss in the PNW), but… Read More ›
I hate you
In typical Seattle fashion the first day of summer was 15 degrees below average with rain. I threw open the windows to celebrate and turned on the heat. Dried the bath towels over the vents and got up at 4,… Read More ›
Everything is beautiful
After six months of escalating daylight I was ready for it to end. I’d been falling asleep to an Egyptian oud player with the volume so low it sounded like he was slapping his drum right next to me. It… Read More ›
Dirty rag
Dawn unemployed, me about to be, Charlotte’s school nearing the end and Lily not working yet, the four of us are often at home dirtying it. Then there is the dog and cat and the kids’ friends leaving their paints… Read More ›
Knees post
Like other kids growing up in the 70s my dad had a lead discus, a discus like the kind they throw in the Olympics, a discus that looked like a 1950s photograph of a UFO, perfectly saucer shaped and black,… Read More ›
Cheese post
Cheese when it’s starting to go off smells the way I remember the boys locker room smelled. Like feet and bodily gases, something chemical-like or blooming, something alive that shouldn’t be. I consumed things well past their shelf life as… Read More ›