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Ten Days Puny

Ten days I have been puny. As in 103 spiked temperature, followed by a long slow decline. The fever was a reaction to medicine. I recovered, fully enough to enjoy a writing conference in the Kiln. But the next week I spent more time horizontal than upright. Low grade fever. Constant headache. Abdominal pain. I finally decided it was a kidney stone,...

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Weather + Me

Soon, I will be able to show you this year’s decorations for Mardi Gras. But I’m waiting until the cold, cold, cold passes to put them up. That is supposed to happen today, so perhaps on Tuesday. This icy weather got me stuck in Jackson for several days. More importantly, it derailed the schedule I created January 1 (and was following)...

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Defragmenting Ourselves

When I was practicing law and computers were becoming networked, our IT expert insisted we turn off our machines every night. While the computers were sleeping, they were busy defragmenting, which meant pulling back together the pieces of data that had broken apart (at least that was how I understood it.) She said, if I didn’t turn off my...

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How I Forgot 2023

Going back through my 2023 date book to add recurring appointments to the 2024 book was eye-opening. It made me see how I forgot 2023. I could easily remember some wonderful new developments in my life in 2023. The Contemplative Writing Group, for one. My informal group of NOLA women asking the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana to own up to its founding...

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Let the Magic Be

I am a woman who likes a stool for my feet. Stepping stones along a garden path, too. I want my dog nestled beside me on the screened porch, holding watch—trespassers beware! Which reminds me of Winnie-the-Pooh and “Trespassers Will” a remnant of a sign hanging in The Hundred Acre Woods. I always identified with this woods because my...

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The Comfort of Winter

I am thinking today about how I’ve always hated fall for being the death of summer, but I’ve never split that from my love of winter. In a short story, I gave the narrator the sentiment that he loved Mississippi best in winter when color kicked in. Yellow grass, orange sage, black limbs against the clarified sky. In summer, Mississippi...

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A Walk on Milan

We follow our usual route for a walk on Milan Street: away from the river and toward the lake, though at this distance Pontchartrain is a mere idea. At the end of Milan, we turn left on Magazine. That’s a street, not a periodical. The asphalt of Milan is gravelly, its edges bleeding into St. Augustine runners. Magazine is a proper street with...

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What is a Gratitude Attitude?

“I’ve got a gratitude attitude,” the kids sang in their joyful voices this week on Grandparents Day. And the emails arriving in my inbox on this Thanksgiving Day encourage an attitude of gratitude. Some religious, some touting its emotional benefits. My friend who died of cancer back when I was on Facebook posted every day at least...

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