Ready to run First things first, or last things first, the hot chocolate (with marshmallows) was delicious last Sunday at the end of the annual 5K, the Hot Chocolate Run for Safe Passage, in Northampton. The run is festive and fun, but, not surprisingly, when being made for so many people, the hot chocolate is not always the best. This year, many of us remarked on how good it was. I would have lingered if the people I came with didn't want to leave.  The event was fun, but the run, not so much. The delayed start time (about 15 minutes) made me stiffen up. I hadn't been training ..read more

Too many choices Yesterday was the first time I talked in person to my vet after the mess at the Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Hospital, or VESH, in Deerfield, surrounding Maddie's death. It is a great irony that they saved her life when she was hit by a car years earlier and made life so miserable at her passing. I like to think that she didn't know what was going on. She liked everyone and obviously wasn't wondering why people were poking at her and vets were giving her a surgery that she didn't need. My vet said she and the others aware of the case were greatly disappointed ..read more

Young Maddie at Tailgate The day that my beloved dog Simon died, my friend Pam, who had gotten Simon with me at a pound near Vassar, was visiting, so it was a bookend. He took his last breath in the back seat of my car after a visit to Dr. Ruder, as in, couldn’t have been ruder, when we took him there after his legs went out from under him in the yard. He was about as old as my big dogs got (11 or 12, until Maddie came along). We had tickets for Tanglewood that night, so we went ahead and went. I sat on the lawn and cried. The next day, still crying, I picked up the phone to hear my ..read more

 I wouldn't want to say that a bone marrow biopsy can prepare you for anything, but when it comes to pain and discomfort, it's right up there. I tried to keep that in mind when I went to Worcester to get the steroid injections in my fingers a couple of weeks ago. I thought she was going to do it in my cuticles. Somehow that idea was more freaky to me than what the  dermatologist actually did – injections BELOW the cuticle, in the top joint of my finger. I asked if this was a series, and if she was going to do it in every finger even though not all were involved, i.e. disintegrating ..read more

I almost forgot how to start a new post. At the Canoe Club on a beautiful day back in the summer, Donna said don’t stop the blog. I have to do what she says, as in “yours” in tennis, but I am only kidding about that and am giving it a try.  Funny how things work out.  I started this way back when Delta got worse, school for Nell was going to start, and Ben understandably didn’t want to take a chance with Cape trip #2. Joe also couldn’t come. So although we missed them, Diane, David, Katie and I had a lovely weekend. We went on the boat, which we might not have done if the whole c ..read more

  Big kid, little kids, on Wellfleet trip . I didn't write for a long time because in the height of the pandemic, everything that I was going to say seemed so trite and trivial. As you can see, I did it for a while, and then it was all I could do to concentrate on my paid writing. I was used to doing it out of the house, inspired by the coffee shop noise that due to my newsroom years makes me concentrate better than I do at home. But I'm not complaining, because I was privileged to be able to stay at home. In any case, for the handful of people still checking in, I should sa ..read more

  I ran a 10K! No I didn't, but I looked at my mileage and it was 6.2 miles with a combination of dog walking, walking with a friend, and a few miles of jogging.  I was so excited after the second dose of the vaccine that I went for a run. I felt better the first couple of days after and then on the third felt a little off...Just that feeling that you are fighting the flu. Hopefully it's a good sign. The other day I went jogging before the rain and ended up being passed by a young guy who was really kicking up his heels. He sped by me. Harumph, I thought. Then I thought, wait, he's ..read more

Wintry day at Ashley Reservoir I got my second shot today, yay! And on the same day, I found out that our beloved Shakespeare in the Park is going to happen again this summer. So, things are definitely looking up. I have a new doctor whom I have only met once. Here is something I wrote about getting a new doctor. These changes make me think of my sweet friend Kelly and how devastated she was when her therapist left the area. Of course there was so much more to what caused her to take her life. But it is the last thing I remember her talking about. Sorry there is no transition to this ..read more

  This photo makes me look better than I actually looked in motion. I went twice and was thinking that I might try it again because the third time could be the charm. I have gotten SO timid going down the tiniest little incline. We went to the golf course across the street. I used to go zooming down the hill and into the woods. (Ouch, when I wrote zoom it hurt me because I am so tired of it but also grateful for it, especially the Y yoga and exercise classes.) Now, to get to the flat part, when we went down on the other side with a slighter incline, I landed on my bum both times. Boyfrie ..read more

Nobody can deny that many things have made it hard to concentrate and along with that, easy to forget. Election, insurrection, inauguration, crazies in Congress, and of course, COVID. As a person with what one friend jokingly called "50 co-morbidities," I have been worried about the slow, and some say, ineffective, vaccine rollout in Massachusetts, the supposed pinnacle of healthcare in the country. Friends and relatives in the 65 and up group in other states have gotten their first shot, while in Massachusetts, Feb. 1 marked only the beginning of 75 and over. I have gotten on some waiting l ..read more