This year, as in other years in the past, I decided to give a monthly, year-long donation to two charities in lieu of the usual gifties to friends and acquintances. While most of my professional life has been devoted to improving conditions for companion animals, in reality I work mostly …
I really intended my next post to be more upbeat and positive – it’s been a lot of loss and death and gloom lately, I know. But Facebook wrecked that – well, actually someone named Trish did with the photo she posted of her holding her sweet old dog, now gone …
A week ago a pal and colleague was found dead by her own hand, done in a merciless way and leaving literally thousands of her friends and fans shocked, saddened and at a loss to explain what had happened. Early the next morning I was one of a handful of people …
Robin Williams killed himself yesterday. We are shocked, stunned, hurt, and so very sad – but we aren’t surprised. We can’t possibly be surprised. Anyone familiar with the miserable illness that took him knows that every day is a brave decision. Everyone gets tired. The question is always how soon you’ll …
There is nothing more to say than thank you. I love you. Fingers digging through soft, deep fur and the comforting heft of shoulders that have walked along side for so many years. A few last, precious licks onto bare toes resting on weary legs. A deep inhale of everything familiar as tears fall for the …
Today Betty staggered then collapsed while eating her meal – the second meal in a row she’s left unfinished. Unable to move she quietly, calmly waited until I could get to her, lift her with a towel under her belly and move her out into the sunshine and cool breeze on …
I’m writing because it’s the only way I’m going to get “We built this city,” the first five syllables from what has widely been accepted to be the worst song of the 1980s, out of my head. It enters my head many mornings when I push one minute and forty seconds on my …
A few years ago, when the boys were still in high school, I opened up the napkin drawer and realized with a pang that I no longer needed the plastic cutlery I had piled in a container in the back. No more would I assemble just-so peanut butter sandwiches. No …
I often think of my grandmother Joan when I read pretentious food blogs. I spent many a formative year panicking when people spoke of frozen desserts, hoping they’d stick to “ice cream” if she was around. My grandmother pronounced the Italian version of that “Gelatio.” With a long “a.” She …
It’s something early in the morning – I always wake up between 4:30 and 5:30 these days – and the loudest noise outside of my head is the aquarium filter pouring water down into the tank. The goddamned thing serves as an eternal reminder of my failings as a fish …