So, I leave for New York tomorrow. I’ll be back Monday. It was sort of last minute, in the sense that I knew two months ago that I would probably have to go, but I didn’t want to think about it so soon after getting back from Greece. The very idea of getting on a Read more >>

It’s been awhile since I’ve written, and all the movement of these passing days merits an update. We have been home from Kansas City for a month, and I am surprised at how much we’ve accomplished, and the enormous amount we have left to do. Between clearing the house out in preparation for some renovations, Read more >>

There is a lot to discuss here. I haven’t written since I posted about my mother’s death, being otherwise preoccupied, but there is more to say. I should write about her last night, but I’m not sure this is the space for it – my family reads this, and it was a hard night for Read more >>

FRIDAY July 21st Lake Arrowhead Resort, 7pm Located in Lake Arrowhead Village. SATURDAY July 22nd Mtn Calvary Lutheran Church, 2pm Located behind Rim High School Obituary: ANNETTE PRIVETT of Crestline, CA, died Friday, July 14th after a long and brave fight against pancreatic cancer. Beloved daughter of Barbara Carpenter and Albert Nuijens, cherished sister of Read more >>

My mother, Annette Frances Carpenter Privett, died this morning at 4:45am with her family at her side. She was not alone, and she is not in pain any longer. My aunt Tammie has been managing most of the arrangements. I went to sleep at six am, was briefly roused when the mortuary arrived, then went Read more >>

Today, Mom did not wake up. She is sleeping right now. She’s been sleeping later and later each day, waking around eleven or noon, then having one of her brothers carry her out to the deck for a few hours of book reading and bird feeding and enjoying the fresh air. Today, when she hadn’t Read more >>

I posted, below, a draft I began a few weeks ago. When I re-read it this morning, I realized it was more complete than I had thought. Since I wrote it, Mom has been catheterized and is bedbound. She can still manage an hour or two on the deck feeding the scrub jay, smoking cigarettes, Read more >>

I didn’t intend to write an entry today. It’s been nearly a month since the last one, and I haven’t let myself have enough time to do the kind of ruminating that usually leads to an entry. Some notable events have occurred – I was accepted into the grad program I applied for, and if Read more >>

It is hot. The air outside on the deck is swarming with yellowjackets and no-see-ums and caterpillars dangling on silken threads from the eaves of the roof. Mom sits outside with her books and I flit from inside to outside, out in the yard to check gopher traps and refill the birdbath, back inside to Read more >>

When I lament here that I do not write daily, it isn’t because I think there is some particular merit in regularity. My mother’s days are numbered, and I am afraid of regret. I am afraid of what might happen to my memory if I don’t mark down the moments. Any of them. So today Read more >>