Do I need a cognitive test? The current POTUS claimed proudly that he was able to repeat a sequence of five words; person, woman, man, camera, TV, and boasted about getting extra credit for repeating them in order. I sincerely doubt that those somewhat related words were the five he was asked to recall, but […]

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Posted in Corona Virus,eating well,Health,self image,Travel
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  • September 17, 2020 - 2:11 pm

    northie - What you have to do bears no relation to what Trump says he did. There’s stress, pressure, and as you say, the endless permutations. I enjoyed your snatches of humour but also totally get your tiredness. Keep strong.ReplyCancel

    • September 17, 2020 - 2:56 pm

      nrlowell@comcast.net - Hi Northie, thanks for the encouragement!ReplyCancel

  • September 17, 2020 - 10:53 pm

    asha - Nancy, I really like the repetition and the rhythm you set up here. Echoing the cognitive test was a great way to establish the monotony of your tasks and also express your frustration at the particularly low bar set to demonstrate the President’s competence.ReplyCancel

Autumn in New York Autumn in New York should be gorgeous, which is nice because that’s where I’ll be spending it this year. You are probably almost as surprised as I was to discover this. Then again, we are past the time of shock and surprise. We’re now in the era of everything changes faster […]

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  • September 3, 2020 - 1:56 pm

    Jen Mierisch - I was missing seeing you on the grids and now I know where you went. You were a tiny bit busy recently! This was my favorite line: “I love the slant of the sun in autumn and the silver-grey clouds that form a low dome and catch the sunlight beneath them.” Beautiful.
    I have to confess that while reading I went to YouTube and played “Autumn In New York” by Billie Holiday and it went with your piece perfectly, the somewhat melancholy mood and the note of hope. “Autumn in New York lifts you up when you’re run-down…” hope the lyrics come true for you!ReplyCancel

    • September 5, 2020 - 8:08 pm

      nrlowell@comcast.net - Hi Jen, yes it’s been a little hectic. It looks like I’ll be back for a while though.
      Thanks for stopping by!ReplyCancel

  • September 16, 2020 - 9:40 am

    Person,Woman, Man, Camera, TV » Chefs Last Diet - […] I arrive home (such as it is) nightly, I’m exhausted. My feet and legs ache and if it’s been a very […]ReplyCancel

A fleeting glimpse As I pass the restaurant, from the corner of my eye I catch sight of a woman in a straw hat. When I turn my head and see her hat, glasses, and mask, she seems both alien and familiar. She looks old, well, older. It’s a hot day. I feel the heat […]

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  • August 6, 2020 - 5:21 pm

    Melony Boseley - Even without masks and hats and such, I will see a person, casually, on the street and spend hours trying to figure out who they were. I liked that your focus in this piece was on that glance and less about the meeting with your friend and that there was really no resolution to the question, as is often the case. There were a few instances, though, that you used the word “as” which breaks the pace of the piece a bit. Namely in the second paragraph, the first two lines have this repetition. I recommend a great editing tip from a fellow blogger on “Kick Your As’s Goodbye” (https://jenspenden.wordpress.com/2015/08/12/jens-editing-tips-kiss-your-ass-goodbye/) for ways to overcome this. (Note: I still find myself doing it too!) Loving seeing you on the grids, Nancy!ReplyCancel

    • August 6, 2020 - 5:58 pm

      nrlowell@comcast.net - Melony, Thanks for that feedback. I’ll definitely check out that link. If you have time, I invite you to reread the piece, and if you still can’t find the resolution I’ll tell you.ReplyCancel

  • August 6, 2020 - 7:53 pm

    Kate - To be completely honest, the woman in the straw hat was troubling me this afternoon as well! Upon reading the above comments, I did find the resolution and I think it is very clever! I love how you use the walk home as a vehicle for rumination. My only critique is that I think there are is some comma misusage, but I am only a hobby writer.ReplyCancel

    • August 6, 2020 - 7:56 pm

      nrlowell@comcast.net - Thanks, Kate. I’m glad you solved the riddle.
      I am a notorious comma abuser and rely on Grammarly to keep me in line. I will follow up with them 🙂
      Thanks for reading!ReplyCancel

    • August 7, 2020 - 11:06 am

      Rowan - I don’t mind the breaking-up of the sentences that the commas do, but I agree that some of them (especially “She looks old, well, older.”) could be replaced with em-dashes if you really hate parentheses. Last time I used Grammarly it didn’t like em-dashes on principle, though, so that might be something you have to explore for yourself!ReplyCancel

Summer isn’t quite over When I was a kid the first day back at school meant a ‘how I spent my summer vacation’ essay. I doubt that any of those essays delved into either the physical changes and emotional growth that we experienced over those summer months. That was the real story that none of […]

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  • July 29, 2020 - 11:37 pm

    Jen Mierisch - I found your focus on the pleasures of daily life (reading, writing, etc.) refreshing… some people seem compelled to come out of the pandemic boasting some brand-new skill or language learned or whatever… nothing wrong with relaxing and doing what you like to do! As far as concrit, I found myself wanting a bit more visual detail (e.g. “worked out” – what kind of workout, a treadmill? an elliptical? A Jane Fonda exercise tape?) to make the scenes easier to picture.ReplyCancel

I don’t believe in bad luck Though I don’t believe in bad luck or good luck for that matter, I’m starting to feel like a character in a  Lemony Snickett story. Lately, it seems as if the world is conspiring against me, and it’s making me a little edgy. I’m not waiting for the other […]

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  • July 23, 2020 - 6:05 am

    Sic Fayl - Okay, so I’m not gonna lie: The last comment/question made me laugh. The way you tried to see the positive in it all and in the end, even looking at that only lead to wanting to get a little drunk, just turns the text even more personable than it already was.

    And I can’t believe your text is only about two thirds of the word limit – it reads as so much more than that! (Which is meant in a very positive way, trust me, because it shows how well you can wield words, that you only need to use so few to perfectly express what you mean to say.)

    In the end, I’m really just left with one question: Why IS all of this happening to you? Because honestly, at this point, I’m nearly as confused/curious about that as you are.ReplyCancel

    • July 23, 2020 - 12:00 pm

      nrlowell@comcast.net - Thanks for the read and I’m glad you found it funny, that was my intention.
      As they say, life comes at you fast sometimes.ReplyCancel

  • July 23, 2020 - 1:34 pm

    Margaret - I laughed out loud at “I’m not waiting for the other shoe to drop, I’m waiting for the whole shoe tree to tumble onto my roof. Did I mention I recently had my roof replaced?” Your tongue-in-cheek style in this (sarcasm?) worked well. It lets the reader feel your frustration and gives us the feel that you’ll make it through this anyway.
    You definitely have had more than your share. Hope this is the end of the bad luck.ReplyCancel

    • July 23, 2020 - 1:39 pm

      nrlowell@comcast.net - Margaret, I’m glad you Found this piece funny. Humorous writing is difficult (for me) so I’m happy I managed it.ReplyCancel

  • July 24, 2020 - 12:11 am

    Jen Mierisch - “the whole shoe tree” – haha! I had to look up “scarcity mindset,” and I read a whole article about it only to realize it’s my husband to a T. You taught me something new today.ReplyCancel

    • July 24, 2020 - 11:21 am

      nrlowell@comcast.net - Jen, glad you enjoyed it. Scarcity is a tough one. It sneaks up on you.ReplyCancel

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