#14 Peasant Stock

#14 Peasant Stock

So much of how I view the world has to do with how to be a good person; what does that even mean? A few things come to mind. Having a set of values and priorities that are in line with helping the world. Living and taking actions that are in harmony with those values....

#13 Recalculating

#13 Recalculating

#13  Recalculating For decades Paul and I have brought together an ever-lovely group of friends and family on our backyard Mt Pollux for Rosh Hashanah. This year it felt important to continue our tradition. I wasn’t feeling 100%, but had so many people help with all...

#9 Bare Bones

#9 Bare Bones

We leave Amherst at 8 am for a day of appts at MGH in Boston Wednesday. Slated for bloodwork, a conversation with the clinical trial nurses, meeting with the PA, and a PICC line dressing cleaning (which I immediately reframe as a spa experience! Ah the cool cleansers...

#11 Grape Juice

#11 Grape Juice

We drive part way to Boston before answering a call that in fact, they do not have a bed for me. When we return home to our bonus day, we think together, what shall we do? We harvest our overflowing patch of tomatoes and Paul makes his famous slow-cooked-with...

#10 Buzz Cut

#10 Buzz Cut

I am blessed with a head of thick, dark, hair, often long and usually straight. If there is a quick, low-maintenance way to wear it, I do, from a pony tail, to tucked up in a bun with a chopstick. In my 40s, as eager strands of silvery white wisp into the mix, I like...

Field Notes from Fifty-Five Fruit  Street #7. Pain

Field Notes from Fifty-Five Fruit  Street #7. Pain

I was not thinking much about pain when I was getting ready to report to duty at Fifty-Five Fruit Street. Mine has been a life devoid of physical pain. Never have a headache, never broke a bone, never had dental pain, don’t suffer from a chronic inflammatory ailment...

Field Notes from Fifty-Five Fruit Street #6.  Context Dependent

Field Notes from Fifty-Five Fruit Street #6. Context Dependent

In our family’s work, each of us is involved with team building and creating unified efforts with articulated goals across our chosen areas of expertise — medicine and healing, the arts, technology, and sports. One thing we all appreciate is that most everything in...

Field Notes from Fifty-Five Fruit Street #5. Shower

Field Notes from Fifty-Five Fruit Street #5. Shower

In 1986 when Paul and I honeymoon in the North Cascades, neither of us is an experienced backpacker. On one leg of our journey, we arrive at Nancy Lake, at the far end of Lake Chelan at an exquisite campground along the water. After being in the woods and carrying...

#3  Field Notes From Fifty-Five Fruit Street: Introducing RALPH

#3 Field Notes From Fifty-Five Fruit Street: Introducing RALPH

The biggest challenge about living at a hospital for a month or so is the head game. For me it’s about creating routine, being kind to everyone, getting exercise, doing “normal” things, being creative, and staying in the moment. Many of you know I love to dance. So...