Day Eighteen, in which one realizes that sometimes, one doesn’t want to do something one has never done before. One thinks, I just want to stick with the tried and true. But one has taken a vow, and one must forge on. One casts one’s eye about the kitchen, wondering if something ne’er-done-before can be … Continue reading Day Eighteen: In which one goes against one's grain
It was raining lightly in the early morning as my trusty canine companion, who answers to the human name of Pete, and I headed out. We were acting on a hot tip from a friend, whose mysterious instructions were only “Go to the Black Forest right away and look in the alley behind it.” This was … Continue reading Day Sixteen: and wild and sweet the words repeat
All my life I’ve admired those women who grab their long hair, twist it up into a lump on the back of their head, shove a pencil through the lump and then walk around for the rest of the day with a perfect pencil-held bun in their hair. I’ve attempted this little trick many times … Continue reading Day Fourteen: In Chinese we call this "kuaizi toufa." Or at least I do.
Today’s challenge? To find something on the ground, take it home, and use it for an interesting new purpose. Here is what I found on the ground near Famous Dave’s BBQ, once I had hauled my sluggish self around the lake in pea soup-like humidity and gone to the Y, where I watched in awe … Continue reading And on Day Thirteen we cast our eyes downward
Since it looks as if the universe doesn’t want me to eat with my left hand only, which is a nice way of saying that once again I couldn’t seem to manage even a sip of coffee without using my right hand hand, I’ve moved on to other things. If you click here you’ll be able … Continue reading Day Twelve of the never done before challenge: Handstand!
Despite the fact that I put an X on my right hand before I went to bed last night, as a reminder to myself of today’s challenge –to eat only with my left hand all day– I failed again. At 6:45 a.m. I stood in my kitchen before the giant jar of peanut butter, bike … Continue reading Day Eleven: Ugh again.
Both yesterday and today I failed at the never done before challenges that I assigned myself. Actually, it was the same challenge both days; yesterday I failed in the first minute of the challenge, while today I made it a full hour. Who was it that said “Tomorrow is another day”? Scarlett O’Hara? If so, … Continue reading Day Ten of the never done before challenge: A Small, Good Thing
One of my worst fears is losing use of my fingers. How would I type? How could I write? Horrifies me so much I have nightmares about it. Voice recognition software is supposeod to be good, but I can only write when my fingers are flying on the keyboard. No planning things out ahead of … Continue reading Day Nine: Ugh
Day Eight (or Day Nem as we say in phonetically-spelled Mongolian) of the never-done-before challenge started out easy. The challenge: select three words you’ve never heard of before and use each of them in ordinary conversation with a straight face, as if you assume the other person is familiar with the word. This challenge, which … Continue reading Never Done Before challenge: Day Eight
You know what? Doing something truly new every single day is not all that easy. It’s only Day Seven, or, as we say phonetically in Mongolian, “dahshawr,” and I wish, like God, that I could take the day off and just bask in the glory of the accomplishments of the last six days. But no. … Continue reading Never Done Before challenge: Day Seven
Goodies from my mailbox and camera
Telling all sides of the parenting story
Waking Up to Your Dreams
On James Baldwin and Diverse Literature
Putting those recalcitrant toddler cancer cells to bed...
your own PDK for writing
a collection of beautiful words.....
Objects, Memory and Meaning
If it can't be said in a hundred words, then it can't be said in a thousand.
sewing a handmade wardrobe
"drink from the well of your self and begin again" ~charles bukowski
Musings on poetry, language, perception, numbers, food, and anything else that slips through the cracks.
Thoughts on the world around me
Alison McGhee 