Category: Personal

  • Close Encounters

    When I woke up this morning and opened the door of my bedroom, my kittens weren’t waiting right there at my feet, which they usually are doing. Yeah, they’re that cute. I stood there, worrying for a moment that something had happened to them, but in the next moment a very frightened bird soared down…

  • Back

    I’m back from Florida, which was wonderful. It was both weird and wonderful to be applauded and go up on a stage and give a little acceptance speech for an award for my writing, and I’m still tingly from the whole feeling. This week, however, has been very busy for me, and I had to…

  • Off

    I’m off to Florida tomorrow, to attend the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts, where I’ll be presented with the Crawford Award.  Very excited, naturally, but it’s been hectic around here lately.  Renovating my office, which has included scraping paint off all the woodwork and sanding and restaining and finishing it, as well…

  • Where I’m Writing From

    Greg Van Eekhout is always posting pictures from cafes where he writes, and I always like looking at his blog to see what sort of place the cafe is today, and what sorts of mugs or cups they use to serve coffee. I know, mundane, and yet it fascinates me. Maybe because I don’t write…

  • Sabishii

    After a night spent reading my journal from when I started it back in 2002 up until I came home from Japan in 2006, I can officially say that a.) I’m glad I’m no longer a twenty-something, b.) I’m SO glad I went to Japan and grew the hell up (well, at least a little)…

  • Why are they running around Youngstown and NE Ohio?

    Why are Obama and Clinton running around Youngstown and its surrounding suburbs like it’s the newest thing since, well, whatever–you know that saying. It’s been so strange these recent days leading up to March 4th to see so much attention being paid to this area. Part of me, frankly, wants to give any of these…

  • Excerpt from a letter to a friend

    Something I wrote to a friend today: Like you said, Hilary is a strategist, and it is just so evident.  I agree with you on how the president sets the tone, too, a sort of narrative for the country.  But interestingly enough, yesterday I was listening to NPR and this English man living in America–a…

  • Another room down and done

    Two views of the new dining room.

  • Two days of spring in winter

    Yesterday and today we’ve had the most gorgeous weather. 65 degrees, mostly sunny. It’s no wonder the squirrel came out to try to get back in before it becomes winter again. This sort of weather makes it feel like spring, or mid-autumn. The light and warmth must send some sort of signal to every living…

  • Returning to the Scene

    Earlier this fall, when I had just moved into my new house, a squirrel was living in my attic.  He had chewed a little hole in an old wooden vent up there, and would squeeze in during the morning and run around above where I slept in my bedroom making all sorts of scrabbly noise…