Category: Aging

historic postcard image of the Old Edwards Inn in Highlands, NC
Aging, Chef David, Descriptive Writing, Dogs, Essays, Family, Home, Memoirs, Non-Fiction, North Carolina, Parenting, Reflections, Scout-the-Goldapeake-Retriever, Storytelling, The South, Writing

Reflection: Can We at Least Finish This Thing?

Over the course of the long holiday weekend I have fairly devoured this novel by Catherine Newman, whose main character and plot resonate with me in 10,000 kinds of ways. The setting for her story is a favorite summer vacation rental on Cape Cod where the protagonist-narrator, a menopausal mom, has returned for a week (the standard annual stay) with her husband and now-grown children, … Continue reading Reflection: Can We at Least Finish This Thing?

Unknown's avatarDeb German1 Comment
Aging, Essays, Home, Non-Fiction, North Carolina, Photography

Almanac: An Afternoon With Brownie Harris

If you work full-time remote as I do, maybe you’ve grown accustomed to the irksome Zoom environment so essential to calls and meetings. (I use ‘Zoom’ here generically like ‘Kleenex’ to describe the many platforms—Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Slack Huddle—our marketing agency relies upon to conduct bidness depending on client preferences and time constraints and who’s got access to the paid versions and such.) Aside … Continue reading Almanac: An Afternoon With Brownie Harris

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Aging, Chef David, Communicating, Dogs, Essays, Family, Food, Home, Journaling, Knoxville, Tennessee, Memoirs, Non-Fiction, Parenting, Reflections, Scout-the-Goldapeake-Retriever, The South, Travel

Reflection: A Father’s Day Gift

It is Monday, the first full day in my week-long visit to Dad’s place down in Chattanooga, to his comfortable house in the suburbs (more properly in Ringgold, just over the Georgia state line) he shares with Sheryl, his lovely wife of many years. These travel plans have been in the works since way back in the fall; Sheryl and her two daughters who straddle … Continue reading Reflection: A Father’s Day Gift

Unknown's avatarDeb German5 Comments
Aging, Baking, Bread Baking, Cuisine, Family, Food, Food Photography, Home, Journaling, Music, Non-Fiction, Photo Essay, Photography, Scout-the-Goldapeake-Retriever, Vermont, Wilmington, North Carolina, Writing

Almanac: Labor Day 2022

Well, the sun’s not so hot in the sky today and you know I can see summertime slipping on away. James Taylor, September Grass Another birthday week has come and gone with relatively little fanfare (although it was a significant year for one of us), but it included plenty of inspired cuisine as always. The Chef has returned to pastry, not professionally yet in this … Continue reading Almanac: Labor Day 2022

Unknown's avatarDeb German5 Comments
Aging, Great-Grandmother Gracie, Knoxville, Tennessee, Memoirs, Non-Fiction, Reflections, The South

A Mother’s Day Reflection: Great-Grandmother Grace

My Great-Grandmother Grace was born in 1899, died in 1991, and lived her entire life, as far as I know, in Knoxville, Tennessee. She was not so much a Southerner as an Appalachian, a flavor of Tennessean native to the eastern region of the state known as ‘hill country’ (hence ‘hillbilly’) because of its proximity to the Great Smoky Mountains—the particular stretch of the Appalachian … Continue reading A Mother’s Day Reflection: Great-Grandmother Grace

Unknown's avatarDeb German2 Comments
Aging, Ballet, Cross-Training for Runners, Essays, Reflections, Running, Running Injuries, Running With Dogs, Scout-the-Goldapeake-Retriever, Vermont, Wilmington, North Carolina, Yoga

Reflection: Six Big Truths About My Running Habit

If you are a runner, you understand it is an addiction. You know the science of this, the natural ‘high’ that comes with the release of endorphins during exertion—running, or any kind of exertion. For most of us, it is a healthy addiction (I’ll take exception to the extreme runners whose hearts explode after running 60 miles at a stretch; it is also science to … Continue reading Reflection: Six Big Truths About My Running Habit

Unknown's avatarDeb German1 Comment
Aging, Essays, Mortality, Non-Fiction, Reflections

Reflection: Meat Loaf Has Left the Building

That’s Mr. Loaf to you, as one reporter evidently addressed him years ago during an interview. Or call him Mr. Salacious, or Mr. Lugubrious, they’d make good monikers for him. They both popped into my head when I heard Marvin Lee Aday, a.k.a. Meat Loaf, had died last week at age 74. Meat Loaf, he said, was a childhood nickname and he kept right on … Continue reading Reflection: Meat Loaf Has Left the Building

Unknown's avatarDeb German1 Comment