After all I went through with this house, and despite all the new parts to it, much is the same – the architecture, the possessions, the view. The great room isn’t quite the same – half the books are gone from the shelves. The wall hangings are still in a box. The stained glass lamp … read more Unchanged
Tag: 1999
Keeping watch
Time was that I could rattle off the election regulations for Georgia – the Republic of Georgia, that is. In 2000, 2001 and 2002, I was in Tbilisi for a month at a time, working with local journalists to help them cover elections. Part of training them about their role in a new democracy was to train … read more Keeping watch
Coiled and trapped
The rattlesnake was coiled in a large Ziploc bag, the kind that you can pump the air out of. Someone had stuffed a gray sock into its mouth. It was barely alive. I didn’t want to kill the snake. It was fairly small, and I felt it was best to take it to a place away from me … read more Coiled and trapped
1959 odds
If you were born in 1959, what are the odds of pulling a penny with the year of your birth from a $25 box of rolled pennies at the bank? In the wee hours of this morning, I came up with a completely unscientific answer: One out of 2,500. I stayed up late sorting pennies, … read more 1959 odds
Rainy day spirits
It’s just crumpled plastic wrap. It’s sitting there in the trash can in big wads. I took a quick snapshot of the plastic wrap to illustrate my post about unwrapping. But the light in the office is good – subdued, cloudy, coming through the windows and skylights in filtered soft grey because the rain is pouring … read more Rainy day spirits
Remnants
I’ve been back to the house a half-dozen times now, maybe more. Each time there is some other small thing to gather up. Fragments of the life of this house. The packers, who wrapped, boxed and inventoried every single item in the entire house before carting it off to storage, randomly left little pieces. They … read more Remnants
A helping hand
The wooden stairs in the physical therapy room at the rehab hospital were on a platform, with a landing in between two sets of steps. About six steps on the steep side, and maybe ten on the set with a gentle slope. The handrail was wood, on both sides of the stairs within easy reach. Tom used these … read more A helping hand
I’ve just seen a face
I was relaxing on the porch, enjoying the morning solitude of Booger Hollow. Thinking about my life and what to do with it. Then I saw a face. A woman. A slender face. Long slim nose, pouty red lips, very high cheekbones, ivory skin. Somehow she looks Japanese. It honestly took me a minute to believe … read more I’ve just seen a face
Separate but not equal
The northern suburbs of Atlanta don’t actually end. They just hit the mountains and crawl up the sides of them. In nearly nine years that I’ve lived here, I’ve watched new housing developments fill in land that was farms and forest. The prices on the billboards run from “the $200s” to “the $700s”. All the … read more Separate but not equal