Ten Good Things

Sometime around late 1999 or early 2000, I experimented with an evening practice that quickly took root: each night while getting ready for bed, I counted off ten good things from that day. There were no rules about what could or couldn’t be included in the list, and nothing was too big or too small. […]

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Upside-down US flag pussyhat pattern

I’m not supposed to be knitting so much: doctor’s orders. I’ve aggravated the arthritis in my hands and developed tendonitis in my left thumb. I have at least slowed down and taken time off from knitting when my joints need to rest. But there aren’t many things I can do, physically, to protest the travesties […]

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A collection of hand-knitted pussyhats

the resistance, one hat at a time

Not everyone is able to show up in person to protest. The will is there—along with the outrage, the idealism, and all of it—but physical circumstances and disabilities can make it difficult and dangerous to go to marches and rallies, or even to appear at a senator’s or congressperson’s field office. There are other ways […]

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almost two weeks into recovery

So much for my plan to blog regularly about my post-surgical recovery. The truth is, after my total knee replacement surgery on July 18, it took a long while for me to feel up to writing anything. I don’t mean that to sound scary or ominous; rather, surgery is a major trauma to the body, […]

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choosing pain

  The surgery is tomorrow morning! I’ve been running through my checklists to make sure I get everything done. I’d set aside some time today to attend to what seemed like a huge amount of prep work—like preparing ready-to-go meals for the week ahead, and laundering the bed linens and towels—and then found that I […]

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TKA jitters: a matter of perspective

With major surgery coming up next week, I’m taking a stab here at documenting my experience in case it helps someone else. Anxiety and excitement share the same physical characteristics: increased heart rate, butterflies in the stomach, singular mental focus, and so on. Years ago, I was on the eve of a skydiving adventure with […]

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Jax, the Manatee of Dogs

Jax!

If you subscribe to my newsletter or follow me on social media, you already know that we recently adopted a dog. Everyone, please meet Jax—aka, the Manatee of Dogs, because he is a sweet-tempered, gentle giant. Our current guess is that Jax is a Great Dane/Black lab mix—a Labradane (or a Danelab, if you want […]

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