I was in my greenhouse this very morning, watering away when a certain mishap occurred with a hose, a wheelchair and God knows what else. In any case, the watering of plants in a greenhouse is not without precedent, so this does not require an elaborate description. Still, a meticulous account of things might reveal exactly how the ridiculous occurred. But, damned if I’m not digressing. Or, more accurately deflecting. It was a small thing that revealed a big thing. OK? Ready for the big news? My Read more [...]

Jane has said that she thinks it is inevitable that one of us will get COVID-19. Interestingly, I do not share in this pessimistic assessment. For once, I come down on the benefit-of-the-doubt side of things. Rightly or wrongly, I assume that one can get through this episode of pandemic 1.2  without catching the disease in question. Why I can’t say. Faith, perhaps. Or a determination to get out and do things with a reasonable level of risk. After all, my whole life is about that. Recently, Read more [...]

Jane has said that she thinks it is inevitable that one of us will get COVID-19. Interestingly, I do not share in this pessimistic assessment. For once, I come down on the benefit-of-the-doubt side of things. Rightly or wrongly, I assume that one can get through this pandemic without catching the disease in question. Why I can’t say. Faith, perhaps. Or a determination to get out and do things with a reasonable level of risk. After all, my whole life is about that. Recently, with both knees giving Read more [...]

Life imprisons everyone. I tell myself this very thing several times a week, because I forget it almost daily. And it’s an important part of our background circumstance as humans. For example, whenever I think of the less fortunate, people who are deprived of rights or opportunity or money or all of the above…I also recall that most of these people can move their bodies. They can wander down the hallway, up the hallway, and do whatever they want. I, of course can’t. And this does need to be Read more [...]

Ours, we are told repeatedly, is a consumer society. And if this is true, and obviously it is, what is a sane person to do? That is to say, being a sane person (supposedly) how do I not fall into the collective attitudinal trap? I refer, of course, to COVID-19. As we all know, the Delta variant has undermined whatever optimism the collective had. Now we have to face unpleasant facts. And frankly, no one is having a harder time than I am. Really, I have things to do. Things to enjoy. Does this Read more [...]

The papusa place, we called it. Particularly my siblings. Whenever they came to visit, we often headed to the Nicaraguan restaurant on Mission Street. Papusas are stuffed cakes made with sweet corn flour. The stuffing includes cheese, pork or an edible central American flower. Naturally, everything comes with the standard regional accompaniment, rice and beans. Not to mention cerveza. But there’s more. The restaurant is run by a family. In an era in which San Francisco has become terribly haute, Read more [...]