Over the Dither and Through the Words

            “Always have a good time and enjoy life to the fullest.” These were the words she wrote into a high school yearbook of a friend, and these are the words she lived by with grace and beauty. Her life began on June 25, 1972. She must have been the best birthday gift her father, Robert Ewart, could ... Read More »

Yesterday, we went to the Living Traditions Festival. This is a great event not only for the cultures it celebrates, but for the amount of varied people it brings together. I get to watch them.  Here are a few things I got to experience. I saw Isaac Asimov. Well, he’s dead so it couldn’t have been him, but it was a ... Read More »

There is nothing quite like having babies.  No, I don’t mean the birthing process, though my statement could apply just as well there.  I mean, being the mother of a small human newly come into this world.  Contrary to popularly expressed experience, I’ve always felt like the first year or two of life is the longest.  There are several reasons ... Read More »

Turning onto the street on the way home the other night, I happened to see a woman in a car that was turning the opposite direction.  There was another world in that car  It wasn’t just that there was a bruise on her face, but the timid way she signaled an apology to me for I don’t know what – ... Read More »

During a recent medical visit, I had the opportunity to be witnessed by and to witness a student doctor. At one point, my doctor briefly explained something to the student. Terminology passed my aural canal that had never done so before. I found myself in the interesting position to have heard something spoken in English that was completely incomprehensible to ... Read More »

She trembled a little as she looked at the small, clear blue disk on the tip of her finger. She blinked hard. Then, one more time, she pulled back her eyelids and carefully positioned the contact onto, hopefully this time, and yes… placed the contact in her eye. She jumped a little, and her eyelid fluttered, protesting the foreign object ... Read More »

I started this blog in the wake of Katrina. I thought about saying something about it at the time, but decided against. Many had already said much about the tragedy, and I felt that I would be commenting only to stand among the masses to affirm that I, too, was horrified, moved to compassion and action, outraged, and any other ... Read More »

I saw this bumper sticker on a car the other day. On my very first reading, I saw only “HATE THE ENEMY”. It was a few seconds later before I was able to see the tiny “is” and “only” that had been designed to look like they were written in later, so that the bumper sticker read “HATE is THE ... Read More »

When I was a teenager, I received a book for my birthday from a cousin. I must have gotten a puzzled look on my face as I looked at the cover depicting a barbarian brandishing a war hammer in space*. “Your sister said to just get something I don’t understand,” she explained. “Thanks.” I think. “You can take it back ... Read More »

After you hear an accent for a while, you forget the speaker has it. To me, there is nothing exotic about a Russian accent. I live with it every day. I married Vladimir in August of 1991. Yeltsin was standing on top of tanks yelling something about a junta while Gorbachev played cards and drank vodka in the Crimea, and ... Read More »