Ocean

 (Morning) I suppose it’s fitting that I am traveling alone to the northern parts of Italy. You could say I became who I am here a long lon...

A tight squeeze of a day. Early classes, a sixty minute window to zip from school and catch flight out (thanks Ed!), an inconveniently out o...

Perhaps the brightest moment of the day came in the evening when, walking past my kitchen herb garden (so many of these guys survived!), I n...

When I am not teaching or working on teaching, you’ll find me today reading Supreme Court arguments about broccoli and, I suppose, our natio...

I wake up and automatically check the temps outside. 34. Oh dear. Ed, we’re going to pay a price for not taking in the tomatoes last night. ...

In the last few weeks, I’ve received a number of “lurker” emails – people who read Ocean and just want to let me know that they do. It trul...

Going shopping alone (for nongrocery stuff) has become a distressing experience. If I don’t buy what I intended to buy, I feel that I wasted...

Why can’t you come with me? Why do you need to go? One Q is mine, the other is Ed’s. We’re really not asking, because we know the answers....

Do you like pink? I ask Ed. Pink’s okay, he answers, then goes back to his reading. I recognize it as meaning – how could color matter? Ev...

There are many many things to admire and respect in Ed, but the trait that came to mind today is his utter tolerance for another one’s condu...

Happy spring! ...but really – thank you for this time of summer! It is a long work day, but it's made easier with a start of oatmeal o...

I will never forget this insignificant fact about the house I lived in during my daughters’ formative years: it had ugly wallpaper in the ki...

Here’s a “Polish proverb” for you: in life, there’s always another weed to pull and another flower to encounter. I used to write Polish pr...

It continues to be warm. The kind of warm that lets you sleep with windows wide open and, most importantly and sublimely, eat breakfast out ...

Early in the morning, I tell my girl – I don’t have to shower, eat, any of it. Do your morning as you would if I were not here. She looks a...

For whatever inconsequential reason, I came to work this morning with almost no sleep from the night before. It happens. One thing you learn...