Give me back my Internet!

An awful thing happened yesterday.  At two in the afternoon, I lost my Internet connection.  Oh, my Wifi still had full signal, but Comcast was not reaching it. This wasn’t a total surprise.  I’d been hearing trucks outside my window during the few hours preceding that and figured work was being done in the neighborhood. …

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Wading into the political

Politics and religion are the two things I avoid in my writing.  Oh yes, my regular readers can guess my leanings.  But I don’t discuss them outright in my books.  My readers come from all walks – right and left, north, south, and central.  They expect a good story, not a diatribe.  And I respect…

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New Year’s resolutions gone wrong

Broken them already, have you?  Personally, I can’t count the number of years I vowed to diet, only to pig out within days of the holiday.  New Year’s resolutions are tricky that way.  Too often we set ourselves up for failure with yet another promise to work out or quit smoking or limit screen time.…

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Sleep habits of the grudgingly mature

Here’s a pressing question: Does the need to pee wake us up, or do we wake up for another reason entirely and then decide to pee? And another one: Do we wake up early because our eyelids have thinned out so that even the first light of dawn penetrates, or do we wake up early…

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Being Grumpy

I’m a positive person. I pride myself on that. But there are times – there are times – when frustration sets in, and I need to vent. I’ve shared pet peeves with you in the past, but I’m revisiting them now. Do you agree with any? Do you have your own? First and worst, drivers…

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Giving Thanks

  Exit polling done during last week’s election shows widespread discouragement and dissatisfaction. And yes, I understand that the economic heyday of the past hasn’t returned. But there’s still much to be grateful for. This is one of the things for which I fault our leaders. Politicians paint a dismal picture of anything and everything…

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Too many ads

Do you see ads? I mean, do they actually register with you? I ask this after reading an article in my local paper, The Boston Globe.  It’s about Gen Y-ers, or Millennials, and though I’m way older than they are, I like the fact that I occasionally behave like them.  They ignore ads, says this…

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Ever lost your cell phone?

Panic!  We’re talking cold turkey withdrawal and then some, because cell phones have become key to our lives.  When did that happen?  Most everyone over thirty remembers when land lines were the go-to phone connection.  When one of my sons decided to cancel his land line for cell-only status, I was worried.  What if the…

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Are you a typo freak?

Inevitably, when each of my books first comes out, I get notes from readers catching typos.  “ Doesn’t anyone proofread anymore?” they ask plaintively. The answer?  YES!  I carefully read through looking for errors, as do my editor, my agent, my assistant, and more people at the publishing house than I care to count.  And still, when the…

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Knitting vs. beading

If you regularly read this blog, you know I love knitting and crocheting.  I’ve also done weaving, macrame, and gimp-ing, and I sewed my wedding dress myself, which says I’m an all-around crafts person, right?  Well, maybe.  Or not. Last Friday, I went looking for a tube bar clasp for a cuff (bracelet) that I…

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