As I’ve surely told you by now, when I was little my father occasionally gathered the family—Ma, my older brother Jay, younger sister Kate and me—around his big old tan Ampex reel-to-reel recorder for “Family Nights,” during which he’d interview us in turn and have us each perform little songs and answer a variety of questions. He was a ham. Put him in front of a microphone and he’d take off, in his faint Virginia […]
Read moreMonth: September 2020
Life in the Time of Coronavirus
On January 20, 2020, Eleni and I exchanged texts: Eleni: I’m feeling vaguely, constantly anxious [about medical concerns she’d had at the time]. Thanks for asking. I wrote a list of all the upcoming challenges so I can cross them off as we go: ultrasound results, poss. biopsy, biopsy results, telling mom I’m pregnant again… Ginna: You’re [expletive deleted] kidding, right? Eleni: Nope. Sorry. Nine months later (a few days ago) she wrote to me: […]
Read moreChesapeake
In yesterday’s post I neglected to include something crucial: a tribute to Chesapeake Allison. Chessie, along with her brother Percy, came into our household (Eleni’s cat had kittens) in 2003, when she was only days old and Molly but 14. My father (who died shortly after) and mother helped name Chessie, after the mascot of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. For seventeen years she’s been Molly’s loyal companion. I should say here that I really […]
Read moreEnd Times
Man, yesterday was weird, when, because of the fires, which are a result of climate change, despite what the deniers say, the sky went red and the sun couldn’t break through until late in the afternoon when the atmosphere lightened from brick to yellow ochre before going dark two hours before sunset. (If Proust gets to write long sentences, shouldn’t the rest of us?) It was a literal Twilight Zone. I took this picture from […]
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