“how sad and bad and mad it was ― but then, how it was sweet” ― Robert Browning. Yesterday it snowed in Comfort. Of course it did. The last day of 2020 and what else would I expect but the unexpected. How mad. Not a layer accumulated, but how sweet to warm by the fireplace … Continue reading Take Comfort into 2021
She folds towels like the mom I watched as a child — aligning corners, sweeping her fingers across the terry, smoothing before flipping for a final fold, her accomplishment culminating in a smile of satisfaction. Before dementia, her folds had purpose, a mother caring for her family. Now she folds while not knowing why. A … Continue reading A Practice Run to the Finish Line
My friend’s phone rang. When she answered, another friend asked, “Is Karen just devastated?” The bark looked the same. Skin of decades. Protecting. Rough and furrowed. Covering — like lined up and laid out potato chips, the wavy edges lifted as if exfoliating, peeling open trails that if followed could share stories from every season. … Continue reading A Tree is Nice
“‘But,’ said his father, stopping in front of the drawing-room window, ‘it won’t be fine.’” Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse The day to begin the tile repair arrived… and so did the thunder, lightening, a downpour, and three tornado emergency alerts. Since the fateful … Continue reading All in a Day… or Two
The turn in weather started with a hint. I glanced across the yard toward the horizon, and the sky appeared glaucous — a lusterless bluish-gray — the perfect word to characterize the mood. Glaucous? Really? Why not use the word blue? The word Glaucous has both Latin and Greek roots. In Latin, glaucus means gray … Continue reading Design and Life — Rolled and Double Munched
Curse or coincidence, who is to say? Friends and family know that when I travel, have out-of-town guests, or plan a party, a weather event occurs — often an apocalyptic weather event. This is not an exaggeration. A volcano eruption, several tropical storms, too many unexpected downpours, and a 500-year flood are example interruptions to my … Continue reading A Flood of Tears, But Not for the Flood
"The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected." — Robert Frost Like an alarm bell, the sprouting sedums announce the passage of time. Could it be more than a year since the first post on Take Comfort? I had three reasons to start this blog: To share stories with my kids; to challenge myself … Continue reading Take Comfort: A Year Flew Softly By
“Get out you damn fool,” she shouted. To her caregivers, Eleanor’s words were too easy to ignore, just another refusal from a memory care resident not wanting to be changed at the prescribed time. Her fingernails dug into their skin. “Stop it you damn shit.” Without pause, they pulled my mom into the restroom, her … Continue reading Noooo! Mom Did Not Say That!
It was two o’clock on Sunday when the summer sun was high in the sky, baking the blades of grass that were already brown, thin, and parched from lack of rain. But my eyes were not on the ground as I drove through the gate and gazed across the ranch. I searched for the familiar … Continue reading Clouds on a Summer Sunday
A couple months ago, after a long, chilly, morning gorge walk, I was dragging my feet down the road in the direction of the house a mile away. Exhausted, exuberance is not an exaggeration of the emotion that flooded in when I saw Jim driving toward me. As I jumped in the Ranger, relieved for … Continue reading Finding Gold in the Grass