Category life

Team roster photo of the 2026 U.S. Women's Olympic ice hockey team.

More Sports!

The Olympics are over but not the drama. In case you haven’t heard, the U.S. women won ice hockey gold! Then the men won. Who did the president speak to as they celebrated? The men. He invited them to the State of the Union address, adding, per USA Today (and, well, everyone), “I must tell […]

Photo of a ceramic mug with a replica of the Boston Herald Traveler front page: B's Do It! Give Hub Cup" from 1972. Rangers fall, 3-0. B's Drink from Cup. Image is Johnny Bucyk holding the Stanley Cup.

Sports!

We’re midway through the Olympics and I’m enjoying them—while wondering how many more winter games can exist in this warming world. But that’s not what this blog is about. I’ve discovered women’s ice hockey. Well, I’ll be damned! That’s the game I used to love! But with women! I’m sure women have been playing ice […]

Black and white photo of Diana Rigg as Mrs. Emma Peel from the opening credits of The Avengers.

The Appeal of Mrs. Peel

I’m sure much has been written about Diana Rigg’s turn as Mrs. Emma Peel in the 1960s British TV show The Avengers. I’m rewatching it now and I have my own thoughts. I first watched this show when I was a kid. My dad and I loved it. The rest of the family didn’t care […]

Photo shows a mass of leaves, birch bark, and twigs to form a cardinal's nest

Nature, Red in Tooth and Claw*

This has been quite the year, hasn’t it? If you need a break, stick around, though I can’t promise it won’t make you squeamish.

I believe in letting nature do its thing. And by that I mean on some level life only exists to feed other life.

Black and white photo of a military parade in Paris, France, on VE Day, 1945. With an airplane flying overhead.

The State of the State of My Mind

I woke up yesterday morning with many thoughts racing through my mind. And this was before the shocking ambush of an ally in the Oval Office. That often happens, and it’s what gets me out of bed. Usually the thoughts swirl around whatever I’m writing—a cool plot twist, a key conversation, the realization or solution […]

Photo shows the Boston Women's March Jan. 21, 2017, with people wearing pink "pussy" hats and a sign "Women's Rights are Human Rights"

Putting a Marker Down on 2025

I’m a lousy blogger, which is fine since you all have more than enough in your daily feed to keep you thinking, laughing, obsessing—whatever you need. It’s not that I have nothing to say. I have more than enough—see the daily feed above. I just can’t settle on one topic long enough to say what […]

Book cover with title Wishbone showing a wishbone lying on painted boards, byline Elaine Burnes

Revisiting Wishbone

Back in better days, mid-October, I got word that my novel Wishbone would be included in the I Heart SapphFic Reading Challenge for “Main Character in Uniform.” I was thrilled! I didn’t think about how I might feel this week. Knowing this was an election year, my emotions have ranged from hopeful optimism, to concern, […]

Image shows a parchment of the Declaration of Independence

Happy Fourth of July!

I hope this isn’t the last time I can say that. There are a lot of horrible things going on around the world, and I care about all of them deeply even if I don’t write about them. Sudan is on the brink of famine, China and Taiwan are on the brink of war, the […]

Photo shows a line of flat gray stones set into grass.

Planting Rocks

I don’t consider myself a gardener. I say I’m the laborer to my wife’s gardening. I grew up with a shaded yard, so my mother’s feeble attempts didn’t yield much. She had a rock garden though, but I don’t remember much about it. My grandmother was quite the gardener. She had a terraced back yard, […]

Lies, Damn Lies, and…More Lies

I’ve started a new document on my computer called Rants. You’ll read the fruits of that here. I know the world is full of horrible bad news everywhere you look, so this isn’t something I want to dwell on. I write because I need to process my feelings about the world and my little life […]

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