Goodbye, Facebook

I don’t like friending. I don’t like following. I don’t like liking. I don’t like the faceless, fake culture of having loads and loads of super duper friends, patting each other on the back and saying how fantastic everyone is. I was on Facebook for a few years and today left. The reason was that […]

Origins

I’m having a series of epiphanies as I read my way through the Capital Hill History Project, an oral history of the neighborhood I grew up in for 19 years before coming to Germany. The memories of many of our old neighbors are there, going back to the the 60s, and it’s simply amazing for […]

Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud

We sang my mother-in-law’s favorite song at her funeral: Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud, with a text by Paul Gerhardt (1656) and music by August Harder (1813). Her heaven is full of birds and flowers. Who needs angels when you have nightingales? RIP dear Heidi. Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud 1. […]

Chuck Brown in Funk Heaven

He’s up there now, the creator of gogo, making them dance up in heaven. Bustin’ Loose was the best thing on the dancefloor when I was 17. But man, did his sound age well. This sound is home. So DC. “You can’t leave cause your heart is there. It’s a family affair.” So now he […]

John Prine: Dear Abby

The wonderful singer-songwriter John Prine turned 65 yesterday (thanks Eamonn).“Dear Abby” was an advice column founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pen name of Abigail Van Buren, and was syndicated in the Washington Post. Or was it in the evening paper, the Evening Star (later the Washington Star)? We got both. I never […]

Compare and contrast

Thanks Helmut. There’s a personal story that goes with this, as you can well imagine. My first present from my husband was a… Blog challenge! Please join in and add two similar but different pictures to your blog! Brad Patterson had the nice idea after I’d posted this. Looking forward to seeing your pictures. The […]