Apples on sale for 68 cents a pound Bun Cha Hanoi, especially in Hanoi Children who run to hug me Dancing like mad on Friday nights Eric for making me happy Friends who have my back no matter what Gluten-free bread that actually tastes good Housemates we like Internet access, without it I’d be lost […]
Gratitude from A-Z Read More »
There are a lot of things a kid can miss out when they’ve only got one parent, but what my kids have missed the most wasn’t someone to play baseball with or someone to teach them how to shave or draw or make music. What my kids really missed out on was that second income.
Some 18-year-olds get cars Read More »
One of the benefits of being [cough] 40, is that I’ve been on the Internet for a long, long time now. I made my first website in 1994. Back before ‘bots trolled these parts. But now they are everywhere, with all sorts of supposedly tricky ways of getting their links out there. The ones I
The GuyFriend wandered into a pub over near his house for the first time a few weeks ago and found our new pastime: shooting pool. Last week the two of us went and both sucked miserably at the game. Back and forth we went, neither getting anything except the cue ball into the pocket for
You’d think I just wouldn’t want to stop writing about our travels in Vietnam, but truth be told it’s been almost a month since I went to task on it. The process is always a tad bittersweet for me. Vietnam was wonderful and it was hard. Some days I miss the place so much I
another chapter down Read More »
In the last few days before we left Thanh Hoa last September, I asked Mr. Thanh to help me with some shopping. I really wanted a hammock. They are all over Vietnam, in all sorts of styles. In Hanoi, street vendors try to sell them to the Westerners–“Silk. Very nice. You buy only $20.” I
Since it’s just down the block from their school and I needed to go anyway, I asked the kids to meet me at the grocery. The timing was perfect and I drove by them unnoticed. But I saw them–laughing and teasing with each other as they strolled down the block. It was a proud mother
Catching a Sneak Peek Read More »
September is always a difficult month for me. When I was in university, I never had any money until the financial aid check came at the end of the month. Working for the school system isn’t any better; they send checks on the very last day of the month. But of course, the kids’ school
it’s just a number Read More »
A. had spent the last hour moping around upstairs, sure that her beloved computer game was forever corrupted by her own barely considered and swiftly enacted change of her computer’s resolution. Click. Click. Black. It had happened too quickly for her to back out. Control-Z. Restart. Still black. It was at that point that she’d
pre-teen trauma drama Read More »
