There are no words for the tragedy in Texas last week. The pain of it hits physically; I feel sick to my stomach as well as sick at heart, not only that lives were cut so very short but that the only action Republican politicians take is to offer the usual “thoughts and prayers.” This country’s spiral is terrifying. When Eleni mentioned that these murders make her reluctant to send her kids to school, I—ever […]
Read moreCategory: Family
Stories from the hearth
A Waiting Game
The earthquake retrofit is pretty much done. Here’s the footprint of my house, with the green representing already reinforced parts, and the red the newly done stuff. The back part of the basement, then and now: Up until a few days ago, my keyboard was acting up so that every keystroke lagged behind by almost a second, driving me insane. I test-typed a sentence to evaluate the situation so I could report details to Molly […]
Read moreFear of Steeking
Last week when I reached under the kitchen sink to grab a cleaning product, my unsuspecting hands sunk into a stinky, slimy lake. I have no idea how long there’s been a leak, but it’s a big one. Little by little I removed the dripping contents (amazing how much I’d crammed under there) and blasted the area with a fan for a few days. I’ve asked the contractor who’s doing my upcoming quake retrofit to […]
Read moreBudding Composer
I must now dig into my rapidly dwindling savings to unearth nearly $10K for an earthquake retrofit. I did one twenty years ago but recently learned that it’s not complete or up to today’s standards. Since I don’t have quake insurance, this is crucial. Over the past few months I’ve met twice with a structural engineer, name of Scott, and last week had an appointment with him and his contractor, Mario, to figure out exactly […]
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