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Question: What role do elderly parents play in your life?

Posted by Anne on November 29th, 2009

My mother died last week, and I’m mourning and thinking back. When I decided to stay here in Germany, an ocean away, I automatically decided against sharing her day-to-day life and being there to help her with her big and small needs. Not being there has felt morally wrong, always. After all, you simply can’t [...]

What’s my line?

Posted by Anne on October 15th, 2009

I have a new job, translating for an upmarket agency two days a week. I wanted to do something for my brain that involves longish trains of thought and very concise formulation, and I think this will be good for me. So Tuesday and Thursday I’m over there. Then, on Mondays I’m writing an online [...]

Care

Posted by Anne on October 12th, 2009

to care for someone/ something
to take care of someone/ something
to care about someone/ something
to provide care to someone
to be careful with
to be caring
caretaker
caregiver
a careworn face
not to have a care in the world…
… hopefully

Down with Jammern. Drunk on D.C.

Posted by Anne on October 10th, 2009

Washington, D.C. is where I was born. My hometown. A most beautiful city. Warm from April through October. Hot and sticky in the summer. Lush, aromatic gardens, permeated by the song of the cicadas all night. People have this special walk in DC, an elegant, gliding thing. It’s funny to hear my brother Larry say [...]

How I learned Latin… and French

Posted by Anne on September 24th, 2009

Since I grew up bilingual in German and English, Latin was the first foreign language I learned. My dad taught me Latin when I was 5, using the Nature Method, a book of texts featuring a family with kids my age on up, talking about everyday life, with a brother beating up on his little [...]

Respect

Posted by Anne on September 15th, 2009

Did you follow the story this week about how Kanye West upstaged Taylor Swift as she was collecting her MTV award, and made a fool of himself in the process? Now, I happen to have have very strong feelings about excited men stealing a woman’s fifteen seconds of fame, as I have four older brothers [...]

Yellow jacket

Posted by Anne on August 24th, 2009

When we put away the sailboat at the end of our stay on Drummond, we managed to set the trailer right down on a nest of yellow jackets in an old rotten log – or perhaps it was a nest up in a tree, we’re not quite sure. We didn’t notice it right away. But [...]