We got back from our trip to Germany a couple of weeks ago and have been going non-stop to catch up with things ever since!   Shortly after we returned, we had family visiting us for a week.  My sister-in-law & brother-in-law (my husband’s sister & her husband) flew down from Vancouver, WA.  We had a [...]

 
I first learned about this ingenious little flea-killing device from my mother. Her neighbor had loaned her one to use when he heard she was having flea problems in the house. When my mom told me she caught 75 fleas in a month, I was so impressed I ordered a flea trap for myself.
It works [...]

The body—
out of my hands,
doing as it may
without asking first
if it’s OK with me,
or if I have
other plans for myself,
so obedient for so long—
lift this, I say, eat that,
walk there, fling
yourself headfirst
where you shouldn’t—
it’s time for an uprising,
the body says, a protest
against all the injustices
placed upon it, a tide
of rebellion I’ll ride
to the end.

I wonder sometimes if angels
take the form of other creatures,
descending out of heaven into your darkest
of alley-ways, shedding wings
and glowing robes for fur and spiny whiskers—
for there is nothing like the lean
of cat around your ankles,
the bend of furry body tight
around your own, holding you on days
you cannot hold yourself.     

We eat a lot of salad at our house, and often buy the prewashed, “bagged” salad for convenience sake. However, the so-called ”stay-fresh” bags that the salad comes in often leave the greens wilted and yucky sooner than I’d like. When I get home from the store, I’ll shake the salad out of its bag into a regular produce [...]