By Sue Murphy There’s a sign in my laundry room that says, “Today, I will try to live in the moment, unless it’s unpleasant and then I will eat a cookie.” I’ve eaten a lot of cookies this year. But now, me lovelies, it is officially cookie season, when it would be positively (negatively?) unsociable to leave a macaroon just sitting there on your plate. My must-do Christmas … [Read more...]

By Sue Murphy There’s a prayer offered before meals that asks for God’s blessing on the food on the table and “the hands that prepared it.” I’d like to ask the same. 2020 has been a year like no other, and the fact that any of us are still functioning at all is testimony to the work of the hands of some wonderful people. Where to start? Let’s begin with a GIANT thank you to … [Read more...]

 By Sue Murphy I had a double snake encounter last week and, as I get ready for Halloween, that’s as scared as I want to get. My knee-jerk reaction was to put a For Sale sign in my front yard and start looking for an antiseptic condo, and I might have done it, too, except that, later that day, I looked down to find a large brown insect calmly making his way onto … [Read more...]

By Sue Murphy The holidays are coming. That much is certain. I don’t know what they will look like, but I’ve learned from expert sources (The Grinch and other Whovillians) that Christmas will indeed arrive even if we don’t have baubles or boxes or tags. I haven’t heard rumblings about a bauble shortage on the horizon, but I laid in a supply just in case. Mid-August, I … [Read more...]

By Sue Murphy The day before my scheduled semi-annual checkup, the nurse called and asked if I would prefer to see the doctor over the phone. I said, “Sure!” I mean, if you’re trying to avoid getting sick, it makes sense to avoid places where sick people congregate. After I said that, of course, my brain started downloading images of what a telephone checkup might look like. … [Read more...]