A catalog of the stuff in my apartment
The photo on the holiday card sent out this year by my husband, Frank, and me shows the pair of us at the ancient Greek theater in Taormina, Sicily, where we went in September. The image came out more grainy and low-res than we wanted. It looked better in the digital mock-up when we were […]
When my husband, Frank, and I were in Vietnam in the spring for our annual Big Trip, the theme of the vacation seemed to be Hats ‘n’ Holes. We kept being led into tunnels and caves and such, and we kept donning various types of headgear, such as pith helmets in the caves (presumably to […]
Three people I knew died in the fall—two of them on the very same day. That would be guidebook legend Arthur Frommer, who founded the travel media company I work for, and Kris Vire, my editor at Time Out Chicago back when I was a part-time freelance theater journalist. Because Kris and I came from […]
Thanks to my ongoing Spanish classes, supplemented by daily Duolingo lessons and consistent pestering of my Puerto Rican spouse (who could stand to show a little more interest in the finer points of the subjunctive, if you ask me), I have progressed in my Spanish learning to the “High Beginner/Low Intermediate” stage, according to the […]
I started dating my husband, Frank, almost 18 years ago; we met on October 2, 2006. If our involvement with one another were a person, it’d be old enough to join the military—probably the Navy, since that’s the gayest branch of the armed forces, owing in large part to the indisputable truth that sailors get […]
Since March, I’ve taken three regional trips—to Martha’s Vineyard; Rockport, Mass.; and Provincetown—and two trips to farther-afield destinations: El Salvador and Valdez, Alaska. Needless to say, this flitting around has left me concerned about my finances, my disrupted sleep schedule, and my chances of contracting the fungal skin infection evidently poised to ruin my “Hot […]
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 […]
Anybody know what this thing is supposed to be? My husband, Frank, and I got it shortly after moving to the Boston area. Having installed our new dining table, we figured we should adorn the surface with a vase or bowl or something. So we went to HomeGoods and came back with this . . […]
Not long ago, a travel reporter from the Washington Post contacted me about a story she was working on. The topic was tiny lights in hotel rooms—the annoying little beams emitted from TVs, smoke detectors, alarm clocks, air conditioners, and so on. Many hotel guests find this constellation of artificial twinklers unwelcome at, say, 3am. The reporter […]
I envy people who have no trouble sleeping on planes and long car rides. I, on the other hand, never know where to put my head. It just kind of rolls around. Going to sleep is no problem for me when I’m lying down, but snoozing while sitting up is beyond me. On a plane, […]
Indirect Objects 