Since my dad died 2 1/2 years ago, I’ve been paying especially close attention to the local obituaries. Perhaps because my dad died after having just turned 71, which seems much too young to my 48-year-old soul, I noticed that I was seeing an awful lot of deaths among the 40 to 60-year-old cohort, joining those who were over the age of 85. (It’s not uncommon to see people reach the high 90s or even…
Zombies and me, we have a thing. Last year I became supremely interested in zombies having had no prior interest in them before. (Heck, worse than no prior interest … I despised zombies because blood and gore. Yech!) What turned me into a zombie-lover? An idea. I wanted to use zombies to create a role-playing conference session to teach museum people about disaster planning. What better emergency can there be but the chaos caused by…
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the microbiome … all the microorganisms that hang out in and around human beings, many of which don’t (necessarily) kill us. A number of articles about the microbiome have come to my attention recently, including this one that makes me think Charles Schultz’s character Pigpen was an accurate representation of human beings. My sister-in-law shared this YouTube video, “Live Dirty, Eat Clean! Why The Microbiome Is The Future of…
My husband Erik and I have been living a life of barely managed chaos since his dad, Art, died on August 16. We’re not alone in this roller coaster, whirlwind day-to-day. Erik’s mom, Jan, is there too, as is my co-worker, who lost her mom two weeks after we lost Art. As if massive grief from the loss of a loved-one isn’t enough, two close family members are in the process of moving (we’re helping…
I’ve had the opportunity over the past week to watch several bouquets of white flowers wilt. In case you haven’t noticed from my blog, I have a thing for taking close-ups of flowers and plants. Naturally, I couldn’t pass up taking pics of the flowers as they decayed in the vase. While most might find wilted flowers sad or disappointing, I think they are beautiful and enjoy watching the transition. Roses, especially, take on this…