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So here we are in the month of December, and tomorrow being the feast of St. Nicholas, I was reminiscing about what this day meant to me growing up. Eastern Europeans and their ancestors celebrate this saint’s feast day in a variety of ways. (I read a newsclip about a parade in the Czech Republic…
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Well, it’s been an interesting end of 2021 and a new beginning in a fun year word to say, 2022. The day after Christmas, my life took a left turn. I fell and broke my arm. In my bathroom. Doing nothing other than walking across the floor to grab something. (honestly, I was going too…
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I opened a magazine that came in the mail. Thumbing through it absentmindedly, as I usually do with magazines like this one, I stopped, stunned by a seemingly innocuous article about a parade in Massachusetts. There, in a large photograph accompanying the article, walking in the parade, was my look-alike. I don’t mean a sort-of…
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I placed a hold on Marie Benedict’s book THE ONLY WOMAN IN THE ROOM, about Hedy Lamarr’s life and her scientific contributions, through our public library system. When I checked it out, I was hoping it would hold my interest, as I had read good things about the novel, but I wasn’t sure if the…
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June always seems to fly by- the days are long and lovely, yet erased from the calendar too soon. Flowers are in bloom, the grass is sweet, and fireflies appear at dusk. I sit on my front porch most nights, enjoying the sun sinking over the swimming pool, until the sky is blue-black and starry.…
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Last Thursday was a long day. I had a split work day, which means my schedule varied from my usual 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. routine to early morning and late afternoon blocks . In between these mini-shifts, I had a doctor’s appointment, lunch, errands, etc. The last two hours of my workday were spent teaching a…
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It was another Mother’s Day surrounded by children and flowers, flowers everywhere at the garden center. We brought home enough to get a start on spring planting. My son built me a beautiful rolling raised flower bed from a discarded flowerbox liner. Now it’s filled with an array of petunias, snapdragons, cuphea, impatiens, and caladium.…
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I started my 25th year at my job yesterday. In the last 24 years, I’ve held 5 titles, reported to 5 buildings, and had10 offices. I’ve been located in a basement of a mansion that tended to flood in heavy rains, an old examining room of a medical clinic (in that office, I had my…
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My work shuts down for the holidays, a holdover from the days when the public agency I work for was a school. It was a productive Thursday, the last working day of 2023. The skies were gray but the temperature was moderate, and we were all glad that, except for a strange Hallowe’en night snow…
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It’s the middle of December, the 15th is at midnight. The Geminid Meteor Shower was visible this week in my part of the world, although not to me, as I live in the city, and between the light pollution, the cloud cover, and my need to be in bed before midnight meant I saw pictures…
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The end of Daylight Savings Time happened last weekend. It always take me several days and nights before my body (and sleep schedule) return to normal. In a good-news bad-news way, I’m happy that the sun is shining on my morning commute, and not so happy when it feels like 6 p.m. is 9 p.m.…
Freelance Writer
margaret.r.zotkiewicz 