a radio was on.

Return to the world.  I can't see the labyrinth right now--blanketed in snow.  In the autumn, Avery planted dozens of bulbs and I know there are flowers curved into their seeds, under the frozen earth right now, biding their time.  I saw the muddy stretch she created when she planted rows of tulips pointed out to the labyrinth.   Neighbors report sighting bobcats on the neighborhood app where we talk about lost dogs, the destruction of signs and mailboxes, the abridged hours of the coffee shops desperate for help.  Coyotes are mating in the woods at the edge of our backyard and our golden doodle is mad for a chance to what? He barks and barks into the dark, bemoaning his electronic collar, wishing to fight them? join their strange cries in the night? What would my giraffe of a dog--all limbs akimbo and full heart and scant brainpower--do out in the wild woods with the real animals? Sebby is a Velveteen rabbit of a dog--almost a child's version of a dog, all...

Return to the world.  I can't see the labyrinth right now--blanketed in snow.  In the autumn, Avery planted dozens of bulbs and I know there are flowers curved into their seeds, under the frozen earth right now, biding their time.  I saw the muddy stretch she created when she planted rows of tulips pointed out to the labyrinth.   Neighbors report sighting bobcats on the neighborhood app where we talk about lost dogs, the destruction of signs and mailboxes, the abridged hours of the coffee shops desperate for help.  Coyotes are mating in the woods at the edge of our backyard and our golden doodle is mad for a chance to what? He barks and barks into the dark, bemoaning his electronic collar, wishing to fight them? join their strange cries in the night? What would my giraffe of a dog--all limbs akimbo and full heart and scant brainpower--do out in the wild woods with the real animals? Sebby is a Velveteen rabbit of a dog--almost a child's version of a dog, all...

 I'm going back to Minnesota where sadness makes sense     Danez Smith O California, don't you know the sun is only a god if you learn to starve for him? I'm bored with  the ocean I stood at the lip of it, dressed in down, praying for snow I know, I'm strange, too much light makes me  nervous at least in this land where the trees always bear green. I know something that doesn't die can't be beautiful. Have you ever stood on a frozen lake, California? The sun above you, the snow & stalled sea--a field of mirror all demanding to be the sun too, everything around you is light & it's gorgeous & if you stay too long it will kill you & it's so sad, you know? You're the only warm  thing for miles & the only thing that can't shine. Winter stole in when we briefly looked away at Christmas, a gray ghost of fog and light rain that slowly cooled your blood.  The squirrels and cardinals have been in a flurry, scooping the seeds from the bi...

 I'm going back to Minnesota where sadness makes sense     Danez Smith O California, don't you know the sun is only a god if you learn to starve for him? I'm bored with  the ocean I stood at the lip of it, dressed in down, praying for snow I know, I'm strange, too much light makes me  nervous at least in this land where the trees always bear green. I know something that doesn't die can't be beautiful. Have you ever stood on a frozen lake, California? The sun above you, the snow & stalled sea--a field of mirror all demanding to be the sun too, everything around you is light & it's gorgeous & if you stay too long it will kill you & it's so sad, you know? You're the only warm  thing for miles & the only thing that can't shine. Winter stole in when we briefly looked away at Christmas, a gray ghost of fog and light rain that slowly cooled your blood.  The squirrels and cardinals have been in a flurry, scooping the seeds from the bi...

When I was young, I always began Halloween with aspirations to fill my entire pillowcase with candy.  We lived in a neighborhood simply crammed with streets, with houses upon houses, all set close to one another, almost all of them, really every one, with a bright light on, signifying yes, this house was participating in Halloween.  You could knock on a stranger's door and take the Three Musketeers bar, or the Tootsie Roll, or the Lifesavers, and it was okay.  Unlike all the other times in the seventies, when a stranger offering you candy signified danger.  Which is not to say that strangers with candy are any less dangerous, but for many of us, we mitigate the risks for our children with our presence.  In my seventies, we children were often alone, walking to school alone, walking to the playground alone, biking to the pool, coming home from Girl Scouts, trick-or-treating with friends--alone.  Our mothers worked or didn't work, but we weren't chauffeured t...

When I was young, I always began Halloween with aspirations to fill my entire pillowcase with candy.  We lived in a neighborhood simply crammed with streets, with houses upon houses, all set close to one another, almost all of them, really every one, with a bright light on, signifying yes, this house was participating in Halloween.  You could knock on a stranger's door and take the Three Musketeers bar, or the Tootsie Roll, or the Lifesavers, and it was okay.  Unlike all the other times in the seventies, when a stranger offering you candy signified danger.  Which is not to say that strangers with candy are any less dangerous, but for many of us, we mitigate the risks for our children with our presence.  In my seventies, we children were often alone, walking to school alone, walking to the playground alone, biking to the pool, coming home from Girl Scouts, trick-or-treating with friends--alone.  Our mothers worked or didn't work, but we weren't chauffeured t...

Listen to this. No, first a photo.   This is a Viking ship, the Oseberg ship, which was found in a burial mound in Norway.  Inside the ship were two women, two skeletons, almost certainly of exalted status because of the nature of the burial. The year was 834.  One woman was 80 years old, arthritic, dressed in a red wool dress, with a twill pattern, wearing a veil of white linen.  One woman was in her 50s, wearing a blue wool dress, with a wool veil.  Blue dress woman had Morgagni's syndrome, which would have given her a masculine appearance and the ability to grow a beard.   No one can say with certainty, but some scholars believe the older woman, whose dress may belie higher social status than the woman in the blue dress, is Queen Asa of the Yngling clan, mother of Halfdan the Black.  Others think she was a shaman. The younger woman used a metal toothpick, which was rare and a luxury in the 9th century.  Both had diets composed of meat, ano...