Month: March 2021

Just a little more than two years ago, I wrote a piece on obituaries.  There is so much sadness attached, and it’s a very sensitive subject. It reflects a great deal of person’s style.  Some people write their own ahead of time, and can thus make a personal statement about what is and was important to them, while others allow family members or others close to them to perform the task.  

Continue reading “Obituaries II – An Update”

Yes, it’s coming up again.  The snow is melting, exposing all of the dead stuff that I left from the fall.  Little green shoots are beginning to, well, shoot up.  Even the evergreens that were planted in an attempt to look like an Asian, Zen garden are starting to look a bit less tormented.  

Continue reading “Ode to Spring, or More Garden Adventures”

I heard a new word the other day on a news show.  “Catastrophizing”.   I guess it truly is a word, because spell check on my computer didn’t put that little squiggly red line under it.  Does it mean “make into a catastrophe”?  How does one do that?  Is it like a skier that starts an avalanche?  He or she “catastrophized” an existing natural phenomenon?  All right.  I bow to greater minds than mine.

Continue reading “Inventing Language”

This is a retread of a blog I posted some time ago – in fact, back in 2018.  It’s a bit more serious than my usual stuff.  The topic remains timely, and it’s been updated. It follows on the heels of discussions at all levels about where people get their information, and what they’re willing to believe.

Continue reading “When Perceptions Become Reality”

In lessons learned from Project Runway, there is a razor-sharp line between bold innovation and truly ghastly – likely to get you sent home. Certain color combinations, elements of line and form can either please the eye and capture the imagination, or they can cause us to avert our eyes or worse, run to the bathroom.  Now, as we are in the bleakest of midwinters, when the always relevant and lively debate topic of “winter white” inevitably comes up, can there be middle ground, or are there absolutes in play?  

Continue reading “Winter White and Other Fashion Controversies”