A catalog of the stuff in my apartment
In Portugal’s medieval legend of the Barcelos rooster, an innocent man is found guilty of theft and sentenced to hang. But before the execution, the guy persuades the authorities to let him see the judge while the latter is having dinner. As Portugal’s official tourism website tells it, the condemned man points “to a roast […]
Every day after I finish up work (I work from home), I carry out what I call the Five o’Clock Tidy Up. This involves going from room to room in my apartment and, as you might have guessed, tidying things up. There are housekeeping tasks that have to be undertaken on a daily basis—kitchen counters […]
My husband, Frank, and I just got back from our 2020 vacation. We didn’t take it till this year on account of the plague—even though the destination was Egypt, which can, per the Book of Exodus, withstand 9 out of 10 plagues thrown its way. We took a Nile River cruise from Aswan to Luxor, […]
Some people pick up refrigerator magnets or shot glasses or HPV during their travels. I collect pencils of the world. I used to have a lot more, but I’ve thinned the ranks. The collection is housed in a large cylindrical glass vase I keep on my desk, and I’d like to avoid expanding to a […]
My husband and I keep a candle and a book of matches on top of the toilet tank cover should anyone who uses the bathroom need to mask the odor of a momentous bowel movement. I call such an event a Poopapalooza. As in, “Whoa! It smells like somebody hosted a four-day Poopapalooza headlined by […]
I remember next to nothing about visiting George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon, in Virginia when I was 9 years old. But I do remember the conversation my mother and I had with some Japanese tourists while we were lined up out front. I don’t know how the chat got started, though if I had to […]
Toward the end of a beach vacation my family took when I was a kid, my parents let me pick out a souvenir at one of those overstuffed shops designed to help travelers remember the locations they visit by stocking up on shot glasses and refrigerator magnets made in China. I chose a set of […]
Indirect Objects 