At midnight, my grandmother wanted to talk. She’d fallen asleep earlier in the evening, sometime around nine, and now it was midnight and she was done with her nap. She opened the door at the bottom of the steps, and began to ask questions. “Are you cool enough?” she asked. No. “Yes,” I said. “AreContinue reading “On Late Night Conversations”
Tag Archives: grandmother
On Burnt Toast
A smoky haze filled the dining room. But it wasn’t my first sign that something was burning. The acrid odor wafted up the stairwell. But naturally, the smoky haze had me concerned. “What’s burning?” I asked my grandmother when I stepped into the kitchen. She stood at the toaster. Around it was… something. “Nothing’s burning,”Continue reading “On Burnt Toast”
On My Grandmother and the Beach
My grandmother has a strange fixation on the beach. Today is gorgeous in Charm City. Generally clear, save for large puffy clouds. It was on the chilly side in the morning — mid-forties — but by lunchtime the temperature had climbed into the high-fifties, low-sixties, and there was a brisk wind behind it. In short,Continue reading “On My Grandmother and the Beach”
On Fun With Grandmother
There is one thing that I hate most in this world. Okay, maybe not hate, because that’s a bit strong. And maybe not most, because it’s a minor thing, really. But I don’t like it. Can’t stand it. Don’t want to be near it. And that’s burnt toast. Burnt toast is smelly. Burnt toast isContinue reading “On Fun With Grandmother”
On the Two-Week Round-Up
I think a biweekly recap makes more sense than a weekly recap. At least, until I change my mind again. 😆 Let’s step back two weeks, to the day before St. Patrick’s Day. There, I mused on The Return of the King, which I watched the night previous. Specifically, I talked about the original endingContinue reading “On the Two-Week Round-Up”
On the Backyard Bricks
From upstairs I heard yelling. My grandmother was yelling about something. She’d been quiet all day long — she hadn’t shown any interest in watching whatever race was on FOX, instead she wanted to spend the day going through her box of cancelled checks from twenty years ago. (Among those checks, by the way, isContinue reading “On the Backyard Bricks”
On My Grandmother and Politics
Years ago I hated having any sort of political discussion with my grandmother. I won’t say that I was then the raving progressive that I am today; over the past decade my politics have moved steadily — and progressively — to the left. It’s not a reaction to the Bush Crime Syndicate, per se, butContinue reading “On My Grandmother and Politics”
On Grandmother Conversations
I wonder sometimes at my grandmother’s perceptions. Last night she said to me, “I’m watching the airplanes. They’re getting ready to take off.” “Airplanes,” I said, flat but with the hint of a question. “Right out there,” she said. She pointed out the kitchen window. “Airplanes.” I looked out the window. “That’s your neighbor’s house,”Continue reading “On Grandmother Conversations”
On Grandmother Conversations
I had conversations yesterday with my grandmother. She likes to talk about trips to the ocean. How, when me and my siblings were little, we would come to visit, and then we’d go down to the shore for a week or two. These trips come up at least twice a week at dinner, and myContinue reading “On Grandmother Conversations”
On a Sad Feeling
My grandmother’s sense of time has gone out the window. She sleeps during the day, then doesn’t understand why it’s dark at dinner time. Her understanding of the weather is tricky at best. She has no idea where she is in relation to North Carolina — she thinks we’re twenty minutes from Rocky Mount, whichContinue reading “On a Sad Feeling”