Category Archives: General

Whether captured in a sphere of crystals or crackling at the top of a wooden-wicked candle, a little flame holds all the warmth and light a winter night needs to recede into the shadows. The last stretch of winter is always the longest, and usually comes with the worst storms. March is tricky that way. 

After last year, when winter lingered longer than necessary, and summer failed to properly arrive at all, we learned that we couldn’t be dependent on the weather for happiness, as much as it augmented the feeling. And so, whatever may come, we will trudge through it, feeling hope when winter wanes, feeling frustration when spring stalls, but feeling it all and moving on the next day. 

For a few days now I’ve been gleefully gloating over the fact that we are well over halfway through with the final full month of winter, happy to report on the rushed hustle winter has suddenly decided to take. The days were gladly crossed off whatever calendar was in my vicinity, and winter weeks ticked away, lost without regret or mourning, and here we are, with just a week of February left. As is often the case in these twist-filled lessons, I find myself wanting it to slow and stop now, to pause and dwell here in this moment, where the magic of winter is still at work, the way it can always be at work when we work to be present and mindful. 

I’m reminded in the gentle words of a friend that it’s never too late. She was being ambiguous, droning on with tried and true cliches, and though they echoed with emptiness, they also echoed with comfort. 

Rather than rushing us through the rest of the winter, I will re-connect with the intention to be mindful, to be present, to be here for all of the moments, especially with the ones I love. I felt myself rushing on a recent Sunday when I was departing from Boston. Attempting to avoid Sunday traffic, I was antsy to get on the road, while Kira stalled a bit, taking her time and inadvertently showing me a different way to live. 

And here I am, already jumping ahead to the end of the weekend when I want to go back and do it all over again, enjoying every moment, being mindful of the time we had together,  making it all count when it happens rather than when it’s over. I will slow it down, and tell the story in a little while. 

A day filled with 2’s…

2 – 22 – 22

And on a Twosday no less.

It all adds up.

To 10. 

And a time ripe for the two-to-too-tutu lesson.

But I’m not here to teach it.

Live it.

Love it.

Laugh it. 

2

22

22

One is such a lonely number.

February tightens its frigid grip on us as a spell of bitterly cold and powerfully windy days brings us into the last full week of this treacherous month. Yes, the last full week, and then the lions of March arrive with royal fanfare and flare. Until then, a quick look back… 

Ever in green.

Moroccan hygge.

Olympic drama: why I stopped watching this year’s events. 

A snowy expanse for meditation. 

Blue villain bad guy.

Shirtlessness and mindfulness.

A Go Fund Me for a friend.

A trio of Tom Ford Private Blends fresh from his rose garden.

Murmurs of Madonna…

… and a return to the Madonna Timeline. 

A hug from the inside out.

Somewhere between peach and pink.

Bare of branch, rich of sky.

Dazzlers of the Day included Erin Jackson, Jacksepticeye, Aneesa Waheed, and Zendaya.

Andy surprised me with a bouquet of flowers before Valentine’s Day, and I surprised him with this bouquet of roses after Valentine’s Day. (He also came through with a trio of roses on the day itself.) These peach/pink beauties called to me from Trader Joe’s, and while I prefer the hot and fiery colors in a rose, Andy enjoys the softer pink and purple palette, so I veered to the pink as much as possible. Where peach and pink meet is a dreamy place. 

More and more spring flowers are appearing in the market these days, a sure sign that spring is well on its way. That is reason for happiness! As eager as I am for that, and as antsy as we all seem to be feeling at this stage of winter, there is more to this season – though only about a month more, which means there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Let’s fill the rest of the tunnel with roses. 

In the Olympic figure skating world, judges are very much aware of which skaters are known for under-rotated jumps (when a skater goes for, say, a triple and doesn’t quite make the full third spin around) and as such they watch those skaters a little closer, judging them a little harsher because they have a history of under-rotation. While judgment is very much on the specific performance given on the day of competition, the entirety of what brought that skater to that point can’t help but play a part in how they perform – and how they are judged. Their past is undeniably part of their present. 

The same thing is at work when the world watches the Russian doping scandal of 2022, wherein Kamila Valieva was discovered to have tested positive for an illegal drug earlier in the season. For a country that was previously suspended for a state-sponsored doping scheme in the 2014 Olympics, it seemed like more of the same. Yet someone somewhere decided that it was ok for her to compete, despite the fact that she had the drug in her system during the time of her qualifying path to the Olympics. True, she did not test positive while at the Olympics, but she tested positive when everyone else around her was competing against her for a spot at the Olympics. That’s how this works. 

The first story that came out to explain why the drug was in her system was that it was a mix-up with her grandfather’s medication. I don’t buy that. If you’re in the running for the Olympics, and you live in a house with a substance that could get you banned, you make damn sure not to take the wrong pill. As for whether such a drug would help or enhance her performance, there is more of a question, particularly when you consider her powerhouse quads – the first for a woman at the Olympics. But when you are dealing at such a high level of performance, and tenths of a point make all the difference, every little thing counts.

When the decision was made to allow her to compete, skaters like Adam Rippon, Tara Lipinski, and Johnny Weir all posted their disagreement with the call via their social media accounts, as well as numerous others. Their reason for being against allowing Valieva to compete was the same as mine: whether it was her choice, whether it was intentional, or whether it was in the weeks leading up to the Olympics – the fact remained that she tested positive for a banned substance while on the competition path. The other skaters who were being tested as they competed did not test positive. How is this fair to them? 

That’s what it came down to for me – the other skaters. The ones who worked through their Olympic journeys without testing positive, without ‘accidentally’ ingesting a banned substance, without the shadow of a history of doping behind them. I could no longer watch them with the same joy and thrill I felt when suddenly I had to doubt about the veracity of how one of them got there. But I’ll leave the rest of this post to people who know way more about skating that I do:

“Kamila Valieva is allowed to compete. What a dark day this is for the fight against doping in sports.” ~ Christine Brennan 

“I am so angry. The ladies event tomorrow is a complete joke. It’s not a real competition and it most likely won’t even have a medal ceremony. So many Olympic experiences stolen from clean athletes who got here without the help of performance enhancing drugs. What a shame.” ~ Adam Rippon

“I can’t condone the decision. There was a positive drug test, therefore the athlete who tested positive, at fault or not, regardless of age or timing of test/result, should not be allowed to compete against clean athletes.” ~ Johnny Weir

“I strongly disagree with this decision. At the end of the day, there was a positive test and there is no question in my mind that she should not be allowed to compete. Regardless of age or timing of the test/results. I believe this will leave a permanent scar on our sport.” ~ Tara Lipinski 

The sun has been deceptively stronger these past few days, filling our Western-exposure bedroom with late afternoon light. Just when it seems the winter is getting unbearable, these breaks of sunlight sustain us to the next day, and I can already feel the way the light lasts a little longer every afternoon. We hang onto that hope, with flowers and dreams and fragrances.

Along with an aforementioned floral bouquet, the greens of evergreens have caught my notice this winter – their refusal to give up green living even in the face of the chilliest temperatures is an exhibition in beautiful defiance. The thuja and junipers in our yard have provided not only an outside bit of beauty, but a wonderful indoor display utilizing just a branch of two. I’ve had several vases of Thuja ‘Steeplechase’ in the attic since the holidays – and they show no signs of letting up. They are a wonderful yet overlooked way of bringing the outdoors in – not the dried and brown desiccated skeletons of branches – but the living, fresh and vibrant backdrop to the blandness of winter. 

If you’re looking to clip a few evergreen boughs for indoors, they benefit from a soak in cold water (‘foliage’ and all) as they may be extremely dry. (Being that I don’t have a big vat of water anywhere, I just set them in the sink and showered them from the faucet.) Then I clipped them at an angle and plopped them in their respective vases. There they remain, as fresh and green as the day they were brought indoors. No rose could last half as long. 

Rehashing some Valentine-themed photos from the distant post is the best I can muster for this year’s faux-holiday festivities for the day of hearts. Valentine’s Day is traditionally a cheese-fest, and while I’m usually here for such nonsense, it’s a Monday in the middle of winter, and we are going to need more than chocolate and roses to raise the spirits. Luckily, Andy is way more than chocolate and roses, so we shall celebrate quietly and happily at home while the rest of the world goes bonkers for restaurant reservations. If you’re celebrating V-Day, good for you – and if you’re not, even better. On with the weekly recap…

Every morning is better with a cider doughnut.

Of coup and sustenance.

Zac Efron, simply shirtless.

A year beneath the Buddha tree.

Lemon cardamom life.

Little roses.

The unexpected delights of love.

Pause for winter meditation.

Channing Tatum’s naked ass cheek.

Olympic Spotlights fell on Julia Marino, Chris Mazdzer, Mikaela Shiffrin, and Lindsey Jacobellis.

Dazzlers of the Day included Christopher Nassise, Karen Chen, Alan Ritchson, Chloe Kim, Ayumu Hirano, Dylan Efron, and Vanessa James & Eric Radford.

February Mondays tend to be terrible, thanks to the usually awful weather and winter blues setting in for the long haul. The good news is that today marks the first week of February to be ticked off the calendar, and it’s a shorter month too, and so we carry on… let’s do our quick recap then trudge through the rest of the week together. (PS – The photo is of Suzie’s soup, one little way to warm up on a cold day.)

Greenwhile…

February shiver.

Snow pho.

Bruschetta bravado.

A winter antidote by Andy.

A Valentine’s Day wish from Tom Ford.

Winter Olympians gather again.

A peek of February gold.

A chocolate chip breakfast.

Undiscovered flaws.

Icy beauty captured by Andy.

A jolting embrace.

A winter meditation at dusk.

Dazzlers of the Day included Carrie Coon, Diego Barros, Shaun White, and Michael Musto.

Olympic Spotlights included Nathan Krumpton, Kristen Santos and Kamila Valieva.

There is a soul-serving power in going outside at least once a day. Even in the winter, when it seems like the most inhospitable place to be, a simple and quick walkabout can cure the milder winter blues that may be afflicting one. In these days of telecommuting and staying at home, these little breaks can be necessary acts of survival. For me, they simply reinvigorate the constitution. 

In a week like this, ravaged by winter storms and plummeting temperatures, there is still a joy in stepping into the crisp air, a jolting embrace by the season, like some overzealous priest who grinds his hands too deeply into a young altar boy’s shoulder. There could be danger there, or there could be innocence, just like the fall of snow. 

This particular storm brought about layers of ice and sleet, ending with a few inches of pure snow, the top inch or so of which was this fine and crystallized powder, fluffy enough to be whipped into the air by the slightest wind, ready to sparkle and reflect the sun in whirling slivers of light. 

The tracks of some brave little animal run through the front yard. And maybe the creature wasn’t brave at all, maybe it was merely running, out of fear or desperation or hunger. 

There is always hunger in the winter. 

Andy sent me these photos as the recent ice storm began, capturing the magic and beauty of the dark night in a way that I’m not sure I could do quite as well. I love the lines of the first one, the way the ice-laden branches form a sort of nest from afar, mimicking the homes of the cardinals in our front hedge. On the day before the storm arrived, I watched them frolicking and flitting about the front yard, flying from tree to bush to tree, across the street and back again. It reminded me of spring, giving me hope that we are on the right path. 

Taking pride of place in this post is the gooey melted goodness of my first successful endeavor at making ensaymada. That’s really all that mattered this week. Winter raged, spring presaged, and our emotional state was gauged. It’s there in all its messiness with this wintry recap. 

The maybe-not-so-minor magic of mindfulness.

The first green of a coiled spring not quite ready to pounce.

Like the whiskey that I’m not drinking, we are aged and mellow.

A necessary Madonna reminder.

When and where passions collide.

The wonder of Wordle, and a little bit more. 

Here & now, work & play.

Meditating through the madness of Mercury in retrograde.

Saturday night candlelight.

My first attempt at ensaymada, and I did not burn the kitchen down, thank you.

Sunday morning sunlight. 

Dazzlers of the Day included Heather Small and Will Bryant.