She was in her front yard, with a camera on a tripod, trying to photograph the sun. I’d been out running errands all day long; when I got back to LaBelle, I was exhausted. I wanted to go inside and rest and write. But my menacing neighbor who likes to abuse and terrorize us was out there in the front yard staring at the sun through her camera. I have no place to park except parallel to the street in... Read more
There will not be a garden this year. People who mean to be encouraging keep telling me to conquer my terror of the menacing neighbor, to talk back to the police and somehow force them to do as I say as if they are my own private militia, to carry a camera to snap a photo of her whenever she trespasses on the property or starts harassing me, but I can’t do that. I just can’t. I get panic attacks... Read more
I saw a yellow spider, riding on a yellow leaf. I was swimming laps in Raccoon Creek Lake, back and forth by the buoys at the edge of the swimming area. The water is deep green, the lake weeds that tug at your ankles are medium green, and the buoys and ropes are blue. There’s nothing yellow in that part of the lake, which is why the leaf caught my eye even though I’m extremely nearsighted, and my glasses... Read more
Hi folks! This is not a real post, it’s just the periodic boilerplate where I remind you that Steel Magnificat, and my family, live almost entirely on tips. I get a tiny paycheck, sometimes as much as three figures, from Patheos for clicks in the United States, a small royalty check once a year for books, and the whole rest of my living is gratuities from readers who like what they see and want to pay my light bill so... Read more
Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi. I always thought that was a terrible word: “corpus.” When I was little, hearing “Corpus Christi” made me think of skeletons and Halloween. “Do you know what ‘Corpus Christi’ means?” I asked my daughter last night. Rosie shook her head. “Well, what does ‘corpse’ mean? You know that. If I said ‘there’s a corpse in the backyard,’ what would I be talking about?” Rosie smiled with recognition. She watches nature documentaries all day... Read more
I wish I could tell you everything that goes on in Rosie’s dollhouse world. She used to just have a beat up old Barbie Dreamhouse with stacks of legos instead of furniture. Now she has the Barbie dreamhouse, a log cabin, a Calico Critters grocery store, a Calico Critters pizzeria, and a Fisher Price garage which is used as the “rescue center” for her ambulances and fire trucks. The name of the city is UltraVille because most of the action... Read more
There were two announcements of newborn babies in my Facebook news feed, one after the other, when I first looked at it this morning. The first one was my friend’s daughter, a great surprise as my friend is forty-one. “No, we were neither trying nor not trying,” she preempted in a comment, and we laughed. She wanted it to be a surprise to most of her online friends to avoid the nitpicking and advice, since forty-one is high-risk. The... Read more
The menacing neighbor woke me up just before dawn. I heard the jangling of the chain as she let the dog out to relieve itself; then she screamed at my window, “I can say anything I want on my property! You’re surveilling me all night!” She’s been saying that a lot lately. She told the police on Thursday that Michael presses his face against the window and watches her all night without sleep while whispering racial slurs at her.... Read more
I want to say just a few words about the shocking, tragic news coming out of Canada, about the remains of 215 innocent children found buried on the Kamloomps Indian Residential School grounds. I want to keep my words brief, not because this news is unimportant, but because I would far rather you listened to indigenous voices than to mine. I’m not a Native American. There are plenty of voices of Native American victims of the residential schools out... Read more
Two days ago was the best day I’ve had in years, and I am thankful. Today was one of the worst in recent memory. I was supposed to get the oven I bought with the Biden money in April delivered, but they told me at the last minute it was yet another victim of the nationwide appliance shortage, and had been postponed until almost July. The ancient oven that came with the rental house has a busted door and only... Read more
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