I don’t have much in the way of eyebrows. They were victims of too much plucking back in the 1960’s and when you do that, sometimes they don’t grow back. There’s a very nice woman in Solana Beach who shapes and darkens what I have left, infrequently, when I bother to think about it which… Continue reading Primum Non Nocere
Ring Out The Old
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light: The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring… Continue reading Ring Out The Old
All I Want For Christmas Is You
Today, along with millions of other Americans, I made a last minute dash to the mall. Since Hanukah fell most improbably on Thanksgiving this year, and since I was too busy burning the turkey and side dishes to burn candles, we decided to celebrate Christmas instead. It will be a small celebration—my daughter is on… Continue reading All I Want For Christmas Is You
Happy Birthday To Me
Ex-marines are some of the toughest patients I ever see, when it comes to dealing with pain from cancer. And CAREER ex-Marines have the market cornered on toughness. Take for example, an elderly friend in Kansas who woke up one morning with severe upper back pain, feeling faint, and decided as was his Marine Corps… Continue reading Happy Birthday To Me
A Month Late and Several Dollars Short
San Diego is a desert and the last few years have been completely rainless from April to November with a few light sprinkles in the winter months. So I didn’t think too much of it when some of the lesser landscaping started to die off—an azalea here, a rhododendron there, a wilted geranium. And the… Continue reading A Month Late and Several Dollars Short
The Case of The Missing Chicken
It happened two or three weeks ago, and it’s still bothering me so I might as well write about it. Harvest Ranch Market, in Encinitas where I work, makes a pretty good rotisserie chicken. I don’t have much time to cook during the week, so many Sundays I’ll head over there and pick up two… Continue reading The Case of The Missing Chicken
The Way I See It
When it comes to surgery for cancer, having a “positive margin” is a bad thing. It means that when the surgeon said he “got it all,” even though he meant it with all of his heart, likely he didn’t. For a woman undergoing a lumpectomy for breast cancer, that positive margin means a re-excision of… Continue reading The Way I See It
The Techno-Freak in Me
At home, I have trouble working the audio-visual system. A few years ago, my husband bought a television set for our family room with a huge screen, for better sports and movie viewing. Gradually components were added on—a surround sound system, the keyboard to stream video from Netflix, the standard DVD player, and, a gift… Continue reading The Techno-Freak in Me
Parlez-Vous Espanol?
Sometimes I meet the most amazing people. A few weeks ago I had a medical student who was visiting from the University of Vermont. His name was Stanislaus and he spoke perfect English, with a delightful Russian accent. As we got to know one another, he spoke of growing up in a village in Chechnya,… Continue reading Parlez-Vous Espanol?
Be Prepared
My friend Rachel and I have done a fair amount of traveling together over the last ten years. Mostly we’ve gone to dog shows, with occasional side trips thrown in. We like a lot of the same things—deerhounds, horses, art, jewelry, and husbands who stay home with the animals while we jaunt around the country.… Continue reading Be Prepared