I had a blessèd Chanukristmas holiday with rose and my baby sister and my dad out at his lake house. I finally got everything together so that I could make him the shrimp/oyster gumbo that he's been after all along. I even managed to keep the hooligans from dipping into it too early, so I was able to simmer it on the stove all of Christmas day. ( Read more... )

hey, gang... please continue to keep my niece in your thoughts and prayers. the test results we were hoping for to give us some answers got fouled up. there was human error somewhere along the way, so we still don't know exactly what's going on. the doctors are loath to diagnose with certainty until another specialist can be called in or the ( Read more... )

my little niece, Rebecca, is in deteriorating health. This is exactly in line with the previous episode she had, but the docs want her in the hospital for the more intensive monitoring available there. please keep her and her parents in your prayers/thoughts/meditations/etc ( Read more... )

everybody who reads this, please just say a prayer today for my niece. her name is Rebecca, if that helps you to know it. she is having a scary episode with her health right now, and it is overwhelmingly sad for me to think of this sweet baby going through such a difficult thing. while you're at it, her parents (Joy and Tom) could use a big pile of ( Read more... )

i am periodical, grumpy, and cramping. grrrrr ( Read more... )

p and i had our reception a couple of weeks ago. we had my gay ex-boyfriend from high school staying over with us, along with our new roommate. so my family stayed in a hotel. i was happy and i feel not a whit of guilt. friday night we had raw oysters, shrimp etouffe, and copious quantities of wine and watched the Sex and the City movie. i ( Read more... )

I spent all of last week in Austin and I got to reconnect with some dearly beloved and sorely missed friends. Why is it, in the internet/information age, that I can still lose touch with people? I'm miserable at keeping in touch. I have this rotten sense of elapsed time; and so, like a dog, I'm always happy to see you arrive, but I don't think ( Read more... )

last night, i had dinner out at a neat little belgian restaurant in chicago called The Hopleaf with childthursday and her lovely partner. we had a fun time, good beer, great mussels, and awesome conversation. i really like sitting down with smart people and talking about IDEAS. i spend most of my damn day at these trade shows talking about things, or people ( Read more... )

lots of little things in my life are in the process of changing right now, and more changes may be on the way. some of them are even big changes, really... none of the changes themselves are important. it's just the way i always get to feeling when this sort of stuff happens. i like the be the most fluid thing in my existence. and right now, ( Read more... )

hrmmm... my life at home is so busy that i only have time to post when i'm traveling because i have enforced sitting and waiting before my flight. clearly, it's time to slow down. now if i can just find a little chip in this schedule so i can jam a brake lever in there!

while i was in toronto i had a delightful dinner with acoupleloonies who fed me up on ( Read more... )