Holiday Greetings

Yes, it's really too busy to write blogs--and certainly too busy for anyone to bother reading them. Still, maybe after the tinsel is no longer shiny, I will want to feel I've kept up anyway.

There's almost nothing to be said of the season that hasn't already been better expressed by a legion of others. So my comment is only that we try to keep in mind the basics and be grateful.

So the view has to be forward with hope. Merry Christmas! Best hopes for the new year for the whole planet and all who inhabit it.

My Mother Taught Me...

Odd things come to mind sometimes. Today as I struggled to put on a pair of socks tightened by washing, I remembered that my mother taught me how to turn the sock inside-out down to the heel so it was the shape of a mule, insert foot, and pull till the toes reach the end, then unfold the instep and cuff and pull them up to the ankle.

That led to the memory of trying to get socks onto kicking baby feet. We needed socks in a cold New England winter, but I might have given up without that trick my mother taught me.

I wonder what special helps you learned from your mother. Kitchen hints would likely top the list, but what about other domestic things? And what would be much more interesting: what did you learn about how to make judgments, how to deal with incompetent and/or rude sales clerks and airline ticket agents, how to figure out what to make of the remark you overheard at a party or that was tossed your way by someone you thought was a friend? Did she help you to decide what to say to someone bereaved, or have a mantra to help dispel a disappointment?

We could compare notes right here, if you feel like replying.